Postal Service Improvement Act

Postal Service Improvement Act

This bill requires mail-in ballots for federal elections to meet certain design and tracking requirements and revises authority to provide parental leave to postal employees.

Specifically, each mail-in ballot must be carried or delivered in an envelope that

• contains a USPS barcode that enables tracking of each individual ballot,
• satisfies USPS requirements for ballot envelope design and for machinable (i.e., able to be processed using USPS equipment) letters, and
• includes the official election mail logo.

The federal government must reimburse each state (including the District of Columbia and any U.S. territory or possession) for the cost of using the barcode service.

The bill also provides paid parental leave to officers and employees of the USPS and the Postal Regulatory Commission.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3077 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3077

  To require mail-in ballots to use the United States Postal Service 
    barcode service, to provide paid parental leave to officers and 
        employees of the Postal Service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 11, 2021

 Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York (for herself, Mr. Lynch, and Mrs. 
  Lawrence) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require mail-in ballots to use the United States Postal Service 
    barcode service, to provide paid parental leave to officers and 
        employees of the Postal Service, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Postal Service Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. MAIL-IN BALLOTS AND POSTAL SERVICE BARCODE SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Section 3001 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) Any ballot sent within the United States for an election for 
Federal office is nonmailable and shall not be carried or delivered by 
mail unless the ballot is mailed in an envelope that--
            ``(1) contains a Postal Service barcode (or successive 
        service or marking) that enables tracking of each individual 
        ballot;
            ``(2) satisfies requirements for ballot envelope design 
        that the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation;
            ``(3) satisfies requirements for machineable letters that 
        the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation; and
            ``(4) includes the Official Election Mail Logo (or any 
        successor label that the Postal Service may establish for 
        ballots).''.
    (b) Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply 
to any election for Federal office occurring after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (c) Reimbursement to States.--
            (1) In general.--The Federal Government shall reimburse 
        each State (including the District of Columbia and any 
        territory or possession of the United States) for the cost of 
        using the Postal Service barcode service as required under 
        subsection (p) of section 3001 of title 39, United States Code, 
        as added by subsection (a).
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated for fiscal year 2022 and each fiscal year 
        thereafter such sums as may be necessary, to be derived from 
        the general fund of the Treasury, for reimbursing States for 
        such cost.

SEC. 3. PAID PARENTAL LEAVE FOR POSTAL SERVICE AND POSTAL REGULATORY 
              COMMISSION EMPLOYEES.

    The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612), is 
amended--
            (1) in section 101(2)(E)--
                    (A) in the subparagraph heading, by inserting 
                ``USPS, and postal regulatory commission'' after 
                ``GAO''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``the United States Postal 
                Service, or the Postal Regulatory Commission'' after 
                ``Government Accountability Office''; and
            (2) in section 102(d)(3)--
                    (A) in the paragraph heading, by inserting ``USPS, 
                and postal regulatory commission'' after ``GAO''; and
                    (B) by striking ``the Government Accountability 
                Office'' in each instance and inserting ``the 
                Government Accountability Office, the United States 
                Postal Service, or the Postal Regulatory Commission''.
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