BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SJR 11 Hearing Date: 6/29/2015
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|Author: |Leyva |
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|Version: |5/26/2015 Introduced |
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|Urgency: | |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Felipe Lopez |
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SUBJECT: United States Postal Service
DIGEST: This resolution urges the United States Congress to
require the United States Postal Service (USPS) to take all
appropriate measures to restore service standards in effect as
of July 1, 2012, and it further urges congress to oppose any
postal reform legislation that does not continue the mandate for
6-day delivery service to protect door-to-door delivery as it
currently exists.
ANALYSIS:
This resolution:
1)Urges the United States Congress to require the USPS to
restore service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012 and
place a moratorium on planned shutdowns of mail sorting
centers, and further urges the United States Congress to
oppose any postal reform legislation that does not continue
the mandate for six-day delivery service or does not protect
door-to-door delivery as it currently exists.
2)Urges the Secretary of State to publicly oppose changes in the
United States Postal Service that negatively impact the rights
of California voters who vote by an absentee ballot.
3)Declares that on January 5, 2015, the USPS implemented lower
"service standards" to virtually eliminate overnight delivery
of first class mail and periodicals, and further delay most
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other mail.
4)Declares that delayed mail negatively impacts businesses,
hurts residents, communities, and the economy, and drives
customers away, resulting in lower revenue and damaging the
financial situation of the USPS.
5)Declares that robust service standards implemented by the USPS
are essential to providing prompt and timely delivery of all
mail, including online purchases, local newspapers,
newsletters, bill payments, letters, invitations, packages,
and medicines.
6)Declares that planned shutdowns of mail sorting centers would
seriously affect hundreds of employees, over 22 percent of
whom are United States military veterans, many with
disabilities.
7)Declares at least one of these mail sorting facilities,
located in Eureka, California, is planning on shifting its
mail distribution, including absentee ballots, to Oregon,
which contradicts the obligation of the USPS to protect voting
by mail throughout California, which is now commonplace and
will remain essential to our democracy.
8)Declares that the USPS has the authority to reinstate
overnight delivery standards to hasten mail delivery and
prevent shutdowns of mail sorting centers.
Background
Purpose of the resolution. According to the author, "the USPS
is seeking ways to cut costs to its operations in disregard to
the service it is mandated to provide. Most of the unfunded
costs they are facing are due to actions taken by congress to
restructure their future retiree health benefit program. Due to
these financial issues they are moving to close processing
plants across the state. These plant closures would further
slow down the already delayed mail delivery provided by the
USPS. Furthermore these closures would seriously impact vote by
mail delivery across the state."
The author further argues that, "the USPS is proposing cuts to
Saturday delivery and replacing door to door delivery with
cluster boxes for all residential customers. Providing fewer
services and less quality will cause more customers to seek
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other options. Rural Americans, businesses, senior citizens,
and veterans will be hurt the most by ending Saturday mail and
removing customer's direct home delivery."
USPS Initiatives. Since 2012, the USPS has instituted several
initiatives aimed at reducing expenses in its mail delivery and
processing systems as part of a broader effort to address its
fiscal challenges and move towards financial viability. Some of
these initiatives include changing its delivery standards to
increase the expected number of days that it can take to deliver
some types of mail, consolidating mail processing facilities,
and realigning its operations to capture potential savings.
These initiatives were announced in response to declines in mail
volume and revenue in May 2012 as part of a two phase program
aimed at consolidating its mail processing operations and
network. In phase one, effective July, 2012, USPS changed its
delivery standards, which USPS stated allowed it to
significantly reduce the number of mail processing facilities.
During phase 2, which began on January 5, 2015, single piece
First-Class Mail is no longer subject to a 1-day delivery
standard and USPS plans to further reduce the number of mail
processing facilities by up to 82 facilities, from 320 to as few
as 238. At the time, USPS stated that after phase two
implementation, it projected that 20 percent of First-Class Mail
will be delivered in 1 day, 35 percent in 2 days, and 44 percent
in 3 days.
Prior/Related Legislation
SJR 15 (Hancock, Res. Chapter 122, Statutes of 2013) urged the
United States Congress to pass legislation that reflects the
value and intent set forth in the Postal Service Protection Act
of 2013 in order to ensure the modernization and preservation of
the USPS.
SJR 12 (Hancock, Res. Chapter 37, Statutes of 2013) urged the
USPS to rescind its decision to sell the Berkeley, California,
Main Post Office.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.:
Yes Local:
SUPPORT:
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California State Association of Letter Carriers (Source)
California American Postal Workers Union
California Labor Federation
California Rural Letter Carriers' Association
National Association of Postal Supervisors
OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The California State Association of
Letter Carriers believes this resolution properly addresses the
USPS' ongoing move to slow down delivery service while moving
forward on their plans to shut down mail sorting centers and
also addresses the USPS' current discussions to eliminate both
Saturday and door to door delivery for the millions of patrons
they are responsible to provide service for.