1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President, Congress, and the United 
  1.3             States Postal Service to maintain current levels of 
  1.4             service. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service, founded in 1775, 
  1.7   provides dependable, affordable mail service to all Minnesota 
  1.8   communities, rich and poor, urban and rural, with uniform 
  1.9   postage rates; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service remains an 
  1.11  important part of the nation's economic infrastructure through 
  1.12  which nearly one trillion dollars of economic activity is 
  1.13  conducted each year and in which 9,000,000 are employed; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, millions of older, disabled and economically 
  1.15  disadvantaged Minnesotans, especially in rural areas, do not 
  1.16  have easy access to the Internet or to electronic banking and 
  1.17  bill paying and are therefore heavily dependent on the United 
  1.18  States Postal Service for communication and the conducting of 
  1.19  business transactions; and 
  1.20     WHEREAS, Americans currently enjoy the most extensive 
  1.21  postal service at the lowest postage rates of any major 
  1.22  industrialized nation in the world; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, excessive below-cost postage discounts to large 
  1.24  business and advertising mailers drain billions of dollars in 
  1.25  revenue from the United States Postal Service causing small 
  2.1   businesses and ordinary citizens to subsidize those discounts 
  2.2   through higher postage rates; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, the commission on the United States Postal Service 
  2.4   has recommended changes to postal operations that would sever 
  2.5   postal employees from federal employee health, retirement, and 
  2.6   workers' compensation programs, and has recommended repeal of 
  2.7   laws that would pave the way towards reducing rank-and-file 
  2.8   wages and benefits while simultaneously eliminating the current 
  2.9   salary cap on executive-level postal positions; and 
  2.10     WHEREAS, the commission has recommended a new 
  2.11  President-appointed, corporate-style board of directors and a 
  2.12  new Postal Regulatory Board and the commission has proposed 
  2.13  giving these new politically appointed governing bodies broad 
  2.14  authority to set rates without prior approval or review; and 
  2.15     WHEREAS, the commission has proposed to refine the scope of 
  2.16  the United States Postal Service's "universal service" 
  2.17  obligation and uniform rate structure and change and restrict 
  2.18  the scope of services currently protected under postal monopoly 
  2.19  regulations; and 
  2.20     WHEREAS, the new board's broad authority would allow post 
  2.21  offices to be closed without community input and prices to be 
  2.22  set with a complicated postage rate structure or would turn over 
  2.23  postal operations to private for-profit enterprises despite a 
  2.24  recent survey whose respondents had an overwhelmingly favorable 
  2.25  view of the United States Postal Service, with three out of four 
  2.26  saying no major changes are needed; and 
  2.27     WHEREAS, replacing the United States Postal Service's 
  2.28  public service obligation with a profit-seeking mandate would 
  2.29  undermine the United States Postal Service's historical 
  2.30  "universal service" obligation, weaken its national 
  2.31  infrastructure, and divide our nation politically and 
  2.32  economically; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.33     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.34  that it urges the President, the Congress of the United States, 
  2.35  and the United States Postal Service to continue to maintain 
  2.36  affordable, dependable mail service at current levels because of 
  3.1   its social and economic importance to our nation. 
  3.2      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of 
  3.3   Minnesota oppose any effort to undermine the United States 
  3.4   Postal Service's "universal service" obligation and its uniform 
  3.5   rate structure. 
  3.6      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of 
  3.7   Minnesota urge that postal service hours be returned to levels 
  3.8   before the report of the president's Commission on the United 
  3.9   States Postal Service and prior to the implementation of the 
  3.10  Small Post Office Reviews and Standardization Program, and that 
  3.11  any recommendation from the commission that curtails public 
  3.12  services in the current postal service be rejected. 
  3.13     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of 
  3.14  Minnesota go on record against any changes that would harm 
  3.15  workers of the United States Postal Service, including 
  3.16  legislation to close small offices, take away or modify the 
  3.17  collective bargaining system of postal workers, or change the 
  3.18  current bargaining system for employee benefits. 
  3.19     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chairs of the House and 
  3.20  Senate Governmental Operations Committees of the State of 
  3.21  Minnesota are directed to prepare copies of this memorial and 
  3.22  transmit them to the President of the United States, the 
  3.23  President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the 
  3.24  Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  3.25  Representatives, the Postmaster General of the United States 
  3.26  Postal Service, the Committee on Ways and Means, Rules, and 
  3.27  Budget of the United States House of Representatives, the Budget 
  3.28  Committee of the United States Senate, and Minnesota's Senators 
  3.29  and Representatives in Congress.