Postal Service Improvement Act
Latest action · May 13, 2021 Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 23 - 17.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 11, 2021
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
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.
Cosponsors 16
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 11, 2021 to Jun 8, 2022; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MI | Brenda L. Lawrence | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-MA | Stephen F. Lynch | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | May 18, 2021 | |
| D-NC | Kathy E. Manning | Jul 9, 2021 | |
| D-CA | Pete Aguilar | Jul 9, 2021 | |
| D-MI | Andy Levin | Feb 28, 2022 | |
| D-NJ | Donald M. Payne, Jr. | Feb 28, 2022 | |
| D-MA | James P. McGovern | Feb 28, 2022 | |
| D-PA | Madeleine Dean | Feb 28, 2022 | |
| D-PA | Mary Gay Scanlon | Feb 28, 2022 | |
| D-FL | Darren Soto | Mar 30, 2022 | |
| D-FL | Debbie Wasserman Schultz | Mar 30, 2022 | |
| D-CA | Ted Lieu | Apr 1, 2022 | |
| D-NC | Deborah K. Ross | Apr 11, 2022 | |
| D-CA | Jimmy Gomez | Apr 11, 2022 | |
| D-GA | David Scott | Jun 8, 2022 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Oversight and Government Reform Committee | Referred May 11, 2021Markup May 13, 2021 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 13, 2021Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- May 13, 2021Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 23 - 17.
- May 11, 2021Introduced in House
- May 11, 2021Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 167, no. 81, May 11, 2021, page H2195.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 1307 | Vote by Mail Tracking Act | Related bill | Nov 17, 2022 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- 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.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Postal Service Improvement Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Employee leave
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government Operations and Politics
- Intergovernmental relations
- Postal Regulatory Commission
- Postal service
- State and local finance
- State and local government operations
- U.S. Postal Service
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 11, 2021Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
