1.1     A resolution&#10;1.2     memorializing the President, Congress, and the United States Postal Service to &#10;1.3     maintain current levels of service.&#10;1.4     WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service, founded in 1775, provides dependable, &#10;1.5     affordable mail service to all Minnesota communities, rich and poor, urban and rural, with &#10;1.6     uniform postage rates; and  &#10;1.7     WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service remains an important part of the nation's &#10;1.8     economic infrastructure through which nearly $1 trillion of economic activity is conducted each &#10;1.9     year and in which 9,000,000 are employed; and  &#10;1.10    WHEREAS, millions of older, disabled, and economically disadvantaged Minnesotans, &#10;1.11    especially in rural areas, do not have easy access to the Internet or to electronic banking and bill &#10;1.12    paying and are therefore heavily dependent on the United States Postal Service for communication &#10;1.13    and the conducting of business transactions; and  &#10;1.14    WHEREAS,  Americans currently enjoy the most extensive postal service at the lowest &#10;1.15    postage rates of any major industrialized nation in the world; and  &#10;1.16    WHEREAS, excessive below-cost postage discounts to large business and advertising &#10;1.17    mailers drain billions of dollars in revenue from the United States Postal Service causing small &#10;1.18    businesses and ordinary citizens to subsidize those discounts through higher postage rates; and  &#10;1.19    WHEREAS, the Commission on the United States Postal Service has recommended &#10;1.20    changes to postal operations that would sever postal employees from federal employee health, &#10;1.21    retirement, and workers' compensation programs, and has recommended repeal of laws that would &#10;2.1     pave the way toward reducing rank-and-file wages and benefits while simultaneously eliminating &#10;2.2     the current salary cap on executive-level postal positions; and  &#10;2.3     WHEREAS, the commission has recommended a new President-appointed, corporate-style &#10;2.4     board of directors and a new Postal Regulatory Board and has proposed giving these new &#10;2.5     politically appointed governing bodies broad authority to set rates without prior approval or &#10;2.6     review; and  &#10;2.7     WHEREAS, the commission has proposed to refine the scope of the United States Postal &#10;2.8     Service's "universal service" obligation and uniform rate structure and change and restrict the &#10;2.9     scope of services currently protected under postal monopoly regulations; and  &#10;2.10    WHEREAS, the new board's broad authority would allow post offices to be closed without &#10;2.11    community input and prices to be set with a complicated postage rate structure or would turn over &#10;2.12    postal operations to private for-profit enterprises, despite a recent survey whose respondents had &#10;2.13    an overwhelmingly favorable view of the United States Postal Service, with 3 out of 4 saying &#10;2.14    no major changes are needed; and  &#10;2.15    WHEREAS, replacing the United States Postal Service's public service obligation with a &#10;2.16    profit-seeking mandate would undermine the United States Postal Service's historical "universal &#10;2.17    service" obligation, weaken its national infrastructure, and divide our nation politically and &#10;2.18    economically; and  &#10;2.19    WHEREAS, in the interim period prior to legislated postal reform, the United States Postal &#10;2.20    Service may unilaterally move forward with initiatives to close post offices in Minnesota prior to &#10;2.21    allowing full input by the affected communities; NOW, THEREFORE,  &#10;2.22    BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota  that it urges the President &#10;2.23    and the Congress  of the United States and the United States Postal Service to continue to &#10;2.24    maintain affordable, dependable mail service at current levels because of its social and economic &#10;2.25    importance to our nation.  &#10;2.26    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota opposes &#10;2.27    any effort to undermine the United States Postal Service's "universal service" obligation and &#10;2.28    its uniform rate structure.&#10;2.29    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the service hours should be returned to levels before &#10;2.30    the report of the President's Commission on the United States Postal Service and prior to the &#10;2.31    implementation of the Small Post Office Reviews and Standardization Program, and that any &#10;3.1     recommendation from the commission that curtails public services in the current postal service &#10;3.2     be rejected.&#10;3.3     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota goes on &#10;3.4     record against any changes that would harm the public and workers of the United States Postal &#10;3.5     Service, including legislated or United States Postal Service initiatives to close or consolidate &#10;3.6     post offices, take away or modify the collective bargaining system of postal workers, or change &#10;3.7     the current bargaining system for employee benefits.&#10;3.8     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the  State of Minnesota is &#10;3.9     directed to prepare copies of this  memorial and transmit them to the President of  the United &#10;3.10    States, the President and the Secretary of the  United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of &#10;3.11    the United  States House of Representatives, the Postmaster General of the United States Postal &#10;3.12    Service, the chair of the Senate  Committee on Budget, the chairs of the House Committees  on &#10;3.13    Ways and Means, Rules, and Budget, and Minnesota's Senators and  Representatives in Congress.&#10;