Postal Reform Act of 2013
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 564.
Postal Reform Act of 2013 - Amends provisions of federal law relating to the governance, workforce, and financing of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Title I: Postal Service Modernization - (Sec. 101) Authorizes USPS to establish a general, nationwide mail delivery schedule of five days per week that does not result in nondelivery of mail for more than two consecutive days, including as a result of federal holidays. Requires USPS, until December 31, 2018, to provide domestic competitive product service six days per week to each street address that was scheduled to receive package service six days per week as of September 30, 2012. Requires USPS, if it establishes such a schedule, to allow publishers of newspapers regularly mailed as periodicals access to curbside mailboxes on any day on which it does not deliver mail.
(Sec. 102) Declares that it is USPS policy to use the most cost-effective primary mode of mail delivery feasible for postal patrons. Requires USPS to implement a program to provide a primary mode of mail delivery other than door delivery to residential and business addresses. Provides for the phaseout of door delivery in favor of centralized or curbside delivery, with a waiver allowing door delivery in cases of physical hardship or physical safety risks. Requires USPS, by not later than September 30, 2022, to convert not less than 30 million of the door delivery points existing on December 31, 2012, to centralized or curbside delivery.
Requires USPS, in carrying out conversions to centralized or curbside delivery, to establish procedures to: (1) solicit, consider, and respond to input from the general public, postal patrons, state and local governments, local associations, and property owners; (2) calculate and make publicly accessible the cost and savings of the conversion to USPS, postal patrons, and state and local governments; and (3) place centralized delivery points in locations that maximize delivery efficiency, ease of use for postal patrons, and respect for private property rights.
The summary continues for 43 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House amended, Part I" stage on January 2, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 2, 2015: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 564.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DARRELL ISSA (R-CA) introduced it on July 19, 2013, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 19, 2013, 4801 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4269 days ago, on January 2, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers