LEGISLATION FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE POSTAL SERVICE THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1968 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 o'clock, in room 210, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Robert N. C. Nix (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. Nix. The subcommittee will be in order. Today the subcommittee will end its hearings for this session of Congress. On this last day we are going to take up a number of bills which were introduced by me as the chairman of the subcommittee at the request of the administration. These bills, we have been assured by the Post Office Department, are noncontroversial and bookkeeping in nature. (The bills to be considered are as follows:) [H.R. 18622, 90th Cong., second sess.] A BILL To curtail the mailing of certain articles which present a hazard to postal employees or mail processing machines by imposing restrictions on certain advertising and promotional matter in the mails, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1716 of title 18 of the United States Code is amended by inserting immediately after the sixth paragraph and before the seventh paragraph thereof the following new paragraph: "All metal or plastic bottle caps, jar tops, can lids, opening strips, and similar articles not specially wrapped or packaged in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Postmaster General are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried through the mails or be delivered by any postmaster, letter carrier, or other person in the postal service. Any advertising, promotional, or sales matter which solicits or induces the mailing of such articles is likewise nonmailable unless such matter contains wrapping or packaging instructions which are in accord with regulations promulgated by the Postmaster General." SEC. 2. Section 4001 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding thereto new subsection (c) as follows: "(c) The district courts, together with the District Court of the Virgin Islands and the District Court of Guam, shall have jurisdiction, upon cause shown, to enjoin violations of section 1716 of title 18, United States Code." [H.R. 18623, 90th Cong., second sess.] A BILL To provide that the qualification of municipalities for city delivery service be expressed in terms of revenue units, rather than cash receipts, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subsections (b) and (c) of section 6001 of title 39, United States Code, are amended to read as follows: "(b) The Postmaster General may establish city delivery service for the free delivery of mail “(1) at any post office of the first or second class which produced two hundred and fifty or more revenue units for the preceding fiscal year; or "(2) upon consolidation of two or more post offices situated within the corporate limits of a city, village, or borough, which offices together produced revenue units of not less than two hundred and fifty for the preceding fiscal year. "(c) The Postmaster General may continue city delivery service at post offices where it has been established, even though the office is thereafter relegated to third or fourth class status." [H.R. 18624, 90th Cong., second sess.] A BILL To readjust the Compensation of the Advisory Board for the Post Office Department Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 306 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by striking out "compensation of $50 per diem" in the third sentence and inserting in lieu thereof "compensation on a per diem basis” and by inserting the following new sentence immediately after the third sentence "The Postmaster General shall fix such compensation at a rate not in excess of the per diem equivalent of Grade 18 of the General Schedule set out in section 5332 of title 5." [H.R. 18625, 90th Cong., second sess.] A BILL To exempt medical officers and nurses in the Postal Field Service from the provisions of sections 3571 (a) and (c) of title 39, United States Code Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 3575 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof a new subsection as follows: "(e) Sections 3571 (a) and (c) of this title do not apply to medical officers and nurses." [H.R. 18626, 90th Cong., second sess.] A BILL To amend title 39, United States Code, to permit employees of the Post Office Department to accept checks or money orders, to provide penalties for the presentment of bad checks to the Post Office Department, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the catchline and subsections (a) and (b) of section 2403 of title 39, United States Code are amended to read as follows: "§ 2403. Adjustment of claims of postmasters, other accountable officers, and Armed Forces postal clerks "(a) When the Postmaster General determines, after investigation, that any of the following losses has resulted without negligence of a postmaster or other accountable officer, Armed Forces postal clerk, or assistant Armed Forces postal clerk, he may, subject to subsections (b)-(d) of this section, pay or credit the postmaster or other accountable officer, Armed Forces postal clerk, or assistant Armed Forces postal clerk, the sum he ascertains to be the amount of— "(1) the loss of funds or valuable papers from their official custody resulting from burglary, fire, or unavoidable casualty; "(2) the loss of funds deposited in National or State banks; "(3) the loss of funds remitted in accordance with instructions of the Department in the form of drafts or checks which have been returned unpaid or disallowed by reason of the closing of the bank issuing the drafts or checks; "(4) a remittance of funds or accountable papers, made in compliance with instructions of the Department, which are lost, stolen, or destroyed"(A) while in transit to a designated depository; or "(B) after arrival at the depository, and before the depository has become responsible therefor; |