[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 78 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2846-H2849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MAIL TRAFFIC DEATHS REPORTING ACT OF 2024
Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 7527), to direct the United States Postal Service to issue
regulations requiring Postal Service employees and contractors to
report to the Postal Service traffic crashes involving vehicles
carrying mail that result in injury or death, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 7527
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 ``Mail Traffic Deaths
Reporting Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. REGULATIONS ON TRAFFIC CRASH DEATHS AND INJURIES
INVOLVING VEHICLES TRANSPORTING MAIL.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Postmaster General of the Postal
Service shall issue regulations to require the collection,
tracking, and public reporting of information related to
deaths and injuries resulting from traffic crashes involving
vehicles transporting mail. Such regulations shall establish
appropriate mechanisms to monitor
[[Page H2847]]
and enforce compliance with the reporting requirements of
this Act and may utilize existing reporting mechanisms in use
at the time of enactment of this Act.
(b) Reports on Crashes.--
(1) Employees.--Any employee of the Postal Service engaged
in the transportation of mail shall report to the Postal
Service any traffic crash involving the vehicle the employee
was operating during such transportation that resulted in
injury or death not later than three days after such crash.
(2) Contractors.--Any contractor (of any tier) of the
Postal Service engaged in the transportation of mail shall
report to the Postal Service any traffic crash involving the
vehicle the contractor was operating during such
transportation that resulted in injury or death not later
than three days after such crash.
(3) Contents.--Any report submitted under paragraph (1) or
(2) shall include detailed information describing, at a
minimum, the crash, including the date, time, location,
nature of the crash, information identifying the contractor,
number of injuries, fatalities, and any contributing factors
to the crash. An employee or contractor (as the case may be)
shall update the report, in such form and manner as the
Postal Service deems appropriate, to reflect any change in
crash-caused injuries or fatalities.
(4) Accommodations in event of injury.--The Postal Service
shall provide for procedures under which reports may be
submitted under this subsection under an alternative deadline
in the event a Postal Service employee or contractor is
unable to submit a report due to serious injury resulting
from the applicable crash.
(5) Standard form.--The Postmaster General shall create a
standard form available to Postal Service employees and
contractors for the purposes of submitting reports under this
subsection.
(c) Database.--
(1) In general.--The Postal Service shall maintain a
continuously updated internal digital database that includes
comprehensive information related to deaths and injuries from
traffic crashes involving vehicles transporting mail.
(2) Contents.--The database shall include any information
provided by Postal Service employees and contractors under
subsection (b).
(d) Report.--
(1) In general.--The Postal Service shall make available to
the public an annual report summarizing information related
to deaths and injuries from traffic crashes involving
vehicles transporting mail.
(2) Contents.--The report shall include aggregated
statistics, trends, and analysis to enhance transparency and
accountability.
(3) Privacy.--Information in the report shall be made
available to the public in a manner that does not personally
identify any Postal Service employee, contractor, or any
other individual.
(e) Penalties.--Any Postal Service contractor who fails to
report a traffic crash within the deadline prescribed under
subsection (b) shall be subject to appropriate penalties as
determined appropriate by the Postal Service, including
fines, suspension of contracts, or termination of contracts.
The Postal Service may take into account the severity of the
applicable traffic crash and the frequency of noncompliance
with the requirements of this Act by the applicable Postal
Service contractor when determining which penalty to apply
(if any).
(f) Crash Defined.--In this Act, the term ``crash''--
(1) means an occurrence involving a commercial motor
vehicle operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate
commerce which results in--
(A) a fatality;
(B) bodily injury to a person who, as a result of the
injury, immediately receives medical treatment away from the
scene of the accident; or
(C) one or more motor vehicles incurring disabling damage
as a result of the accident, requiring at least one of the
motor vehicle to be transported away from the scene by a tow
truck or other motor vehicle; and
(2) does not include--
(A) an occurrence involving only boarding and alighting
from a stationary motor vehicle; or
(B) an occurrence involving only the loading or unloading
of cargo.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas.
General Leave
Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7527, which requires U.S.
Postal Service employees and contractors to report traffic crashes that
result in injury or death to the Postal Service.
Last year, The Wall Street Journal published an article alleging that
the Postal Service contracted with low-cost trucking companies that did
not follow highway safety regulations. They also reported that postal
contractors have been involved in car crashes that have killed 79
people in the last 3 years.
To conduct oversight of this important topic, Congress needs to be
informed. The Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act requires the Postal
Service to report to Congress any traffic crashes that result in injury
or death.
Under the bill, Postal Service employees and contractors will have 3
days to report a traffic accident to the Postal Service. These reports
will include, at minimum, the date, time, location, nature of the
crash, information identifying the contractor, and number of injuries
and fatalities. The Postal Service will maintain a comprehensive
internal digital database of this information.
The Postal Service is also required to compile a publicly available
report summarizing annual stats related to injuries and deaths from
traffic accidents.
I thank Representative Connolly and House Oversight and
Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer for bringing this
necessary legislation to the consideration of the House.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation introduced
by Mr. Connolly.
Between 2021 and 2023, truck drivers contracted by the Postal Service
were involved in at least 68 different traffic accidents, and 79 people
were killed in them.
On February 27, 2024, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector
General found that the Postal Service failed to record all mail
transport accidents in a central database, including accidents
involving truck driver contractors. As a result, the Postal Service
failed to have a complete understanding of traffic accidents and the
comprehensive safety performance of its mail transport drivers.
With this new information from the inspector general, it is clear
that the level of fatalities across this period could even have been
higher.
The Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act, the excellent bill brought
forward by Mr. Connolly, would resolve these serious oversight
deficiencies by increasing transparency, comprehension, and
understanding of the full scale of mail transport accidents and
ultimately improve safety for postal transport drivers and for the
public. The bill would require all Postal Service mail transport
drivers, including 4,600 postal trucking contractors, to adhere to a
range of reporting, tracking, and accountability measures.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Subcommittee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly from
Virginia for his great leadership in strengthening Postal Service mail
transport safety, and I am pleased to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Connolly).
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Maryland, the
distinguished ranking member, for yielding, and the Republican manager
from Kansas.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the bill, the Mail Traffic
Deaths Reporting Act. This necessary bill which I am co-leading with my
distinguished colleague, the chairman of the Oversight and
Accountability Committee, Mr. Comer, has strong, bipartisan support. It
passed through our committee 40-0.
I am thrilled that the chairman and I could partner, write, and
introduce the Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act, which requires the
United States Postal Service to collect, track, and report on serious
crashes and fatalities involving vehicles transporting U.S. postal
mail.
The chairman and I have both met with the families of truck crash
victims. We have heard their painful stories and are committed to
stopping preventable tragedies involving mail transport. These
families-turned-advocates welcome this legislation which is
[[Page H2848]]
endorsed by the Truck Safety Coalition.
In June of 2022, the Godines family was traveling back to their home
in Gillette, Wyoming. Traveling behind the family on I-25 as they
passed Greeley, Colorado, was a contract freight truck carrying U.S.
mail on a U.S. Postal Service contract.
The truck's brakes were out of alignment, it was uninsured, and its
driver had no commercial driver's license. When that truck carrying
U.S. delivery material slammed into the back of the Godines' family
vehicle, in an instant, Mr. Speaker, three generations of Godines were
killed. They lost their lives, including a 3-month old baby, Tessleigh.
Safety concerns about the freight contract trucking practices at the
Postal Service have been increasing ever since.
Between 2020 and 2023, as has been noted, at least 79 people have
been killed in crashes involving trucks contracted by the Postal
Service. The true number is higher because just last year we learned
that the Postal Service did not report serious crashes involving
its trucking contractors.
That revelation raised serious questions about safety oversight by
the USPS involving their contracted vehicles, including the troubling
allegation that the Postal Service is managing truck freight operations
which do not adhere to legal and commonsense safety standards.
The Postal Service has, for example, set delivery schedules requiring
drivers to exceed hours of service requirements and has selected
carriers with extensive records of safety violations. It looks like
there is no vetting of these contractors at all.
Between December of 2020 and December of 2022, the Department of
Transportation identified a frightening 466 Postal Service trucking
contractors that had high rates of violations related to driving hours.
In 2021 and 2022, 39 percent of trucking companies carrying U.S. mail
by contract violated rules meant to prevent driver exhaustion and did
so repeatedly. Between 2017 and 2022, one single trucking group
contracted by USPS had broken those rules 200 times-plus.
When I asked the Postal Service for the number of deaths involved in
the contracted transport of mail, the Postal Service said that they
didn't have that information because they did not collect, monitor, or
report such information.
Imagine that comfort to grieving families.
That was until, of course, May of 2023 when I asked the Inspector
General of the U.S. Postal Service to look into this issue and, all of
a sudden, the Postal Service responded by establishing an ad hoc
centralized reporting mechanism for serious and deadly crashes
involving postal freight contractors.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the ``Contract Trucking Safety
and Compliance Report.''
Findings Summary
We found that the Postal Service's highway trucking
contract safety controls, contract compliance, and screening
oversight were not always effective. First, the Postal
Service did not track contractor accidents and fatalities.
Second, the Postal Service did not always develop appropriate
safety requirements, provide adequate oversight, or enforce
the terms and conditions of the contracts or freight auction
Ordering Agreements.
Lastly, the Postal Service's screening processes did not
always include a contract trucker's driving history. These
collective deficiencies hindered visibility into safety
performance and could compromise the safety and security of
the mail and motorists.
Finding #1: The Postal Service Does Not track trucking accidents and
fatalities by contractors
The Postal Service did not tract trucking contractor
accidents and fatalities and therefore, we could not
determine the total number of occurrences. We analyzed
incident data between October 2018 and December 2022 tracked
on the DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA) website to help assess Postal Service contract
trucker safety performance. This list does not contain all
contractors utilized by the Postal Service as FMCSA does not
track company safety data separately. However, we were able
to identify at least 373 accidents resulting in 89 fatalities
that were directly related to 43 on-duty contractors
servicing Postal Service truck contracts. These 43
contractors were associated with Postal Service contracts
totaling about $1.34 bi11ion between October 2018 and
December 2022. We determined that the Postal Service had not
terminated any contracts with trucking companies involved in
accidents or fatalities prior to March 2023.
The Postal Service was unable to provide statistics and
information on incidents (e.g., frequency, location, time, or
involved parties) as it did not monitor FMCSA or have a
system for recording or tracking related contractor data.
However, when accidents or fatalities occur on trucking
routes contracted with the Postal Service, contractors are
required to report incident data to Postal Service
contracting personnel. As stated earlier, Postal Service
policy also requires AOs to report accident information to
the Postal Inspection Service. Despite these reporting
requirements, there is no centralized collection of
information concerning these incidents. Postal Service
officials acknowledged the lack of such a system, noting that
tracking this data was not previously required by Postal
Service policy or procedures.
The Postal Service has recently started to track this
information. In March 2023, the Vice President,
Transportation Strategy, stated that all traffic accidents
involving contract trucking drivers be reported directly to
him and the appropriate CO. This directive; however, was not
recorded in written policy. In June 2023, the Postal Service
stated they have an existing platform that could be used for
storing contract trucking safety data. However, as of
November 2023, the Postal Service has not created
corresponding policies governing the use of this system
(including related roles, responsibilities, and procedures)
to record contract trucking safety data.
The Postal Service is however, taking other actions to
monitor, assess, and potentially act on contractor safety
data. First, it hired outside experts to review changes in
the suppliers' safety ratings, create a list of suppliers to
avoid, and determine suppliers' insurance coverage risk.
Second, it is working to establish new contract trucking
processes and procedures to improve the quality of
contractors, including the removal of contractors with a
conditional safety rating. Collectively, these actions would
better inform the Postal Service when making decisions to
either (a) choose a contractor based on their safety
performance or (b) take appropriate termination or other
corrective actions in instances of poor safety performance.
However even with these actions, the lack of a finalized
method and established policies to track and monitor
contractor accident and fatality data in the existing safety
database limits the Postal Service's visibility into
contractor safety performance. This deficiency could allow
unsafe drivers to transport mail and put other motorists at
risk.
Recommendation #1:
We recommend the Vice President, Transportation Strategy,
finalize the method for tracking contractor accident and
fatality data and establish corresponding written policies
and procedures, including related roles and responsibilities.
Finding #2: Lack of Subcontractor and Team Driver Oversight
The Postal Service lacked requirements and clear policies
or did not always enforce the terms and conditions of the
contracts or freight auction Ordering Agreements to promote
safe highway trucking practices. We found the following
deficiencies:
Lack of Visibility in Subcontractor Use. The Postal Service
did not always know who was authorized to transport the mail
on its behalf. Freight auction brokers were not required to
obtain prior written approval or inform the Postal Service of
the specific contractors being utilized. Instead, the Postal
Service relied on the broker to complete subcontractor
authorization and vet the subcontractor, but those results
are not required to be reported to the Postal Service. The
onus is on the broker to ensure the subcontractor is in
compliance with Postal Service policies.
Specific to HCR contracts, per the procurement handbook,
contractors should specify their intent to subcontract route
operations during contract award and disclose any subsequent
subcontractor additions. Further, if a contractor wants to
use additional subcontractors, Postal Service policy states
this is an exceptional action and should be approved only
when the contractor can offer sufficient reasons for the
change. HCR contract terms and conditions also require the
contractor to fully disclose subcontractor relationships as
part of its proposal.
However, of the 15 COs and AOs interviewed, 14 (93 percent)
did not know when HeR contractors utilized a subcontractor.
Furthermore, HCR contractors must obtain prior written
approval from the CO to employ subcontractors. However, six
of the seven COs we interviewed were not aware of this
requirement and therefore did not have the required
documentation. Instead, the Postal Service relied on the HCR
contractor to determine when to use a subcontractor and to
ensure the subcontractor adhered to the terms and conditions
including safety requirements. Using subcontractors without
the prior written approval of the CO is a major irregularity
for which the contractor may be terminated without notice or
warning. However, while the SPs and Ps require approval from
the CO before subcontracting, it does not state that approval
needs to be written.
Mr. CONNOLLY. As the USPS OIG stated in a report released this past
March, while it is a welcome step, the Postal Service still does not
have a single written policy requiring the tracking of trucking
contractor accidents and fatalities.
[[Page H2849]]
The OIG's number one recommendation was that the Postal Service fix
this serious safety oversight immediately, and that is what we are
doing today.
Our legislation would codify the number one recommendation of the
OIG, to begin to improve USPS freight trucking safety and provide
accountability.
This bill will maintain an internal database, and I hope it will lead
to reforms by the Postal Service and save lives.
{time} 1645
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Connolly) for the purposes of a colloquy.
Mr. Connolly, is it the case that rules that would clearly apply to
USPS trucks carrying postal mail have not been applied to the
contractors?
Mr. CONNOLLY. I think that is a fair conclusion.
Mr. RASKIN. In other words, the postal truck drivers who are working
for the Postal Service have to have all the proper licensure and all
the proper certification and training. Presumably the brakes are
checked on their trucks, but because of the contracting out, they
somehow have been able to escape all the rules we have with respect to
road safety?
Mr. CONNOLLY. I think, again, that is a fair conclusion, Mr. Raskin.
Mr. RASKIN. Well, again, I commend the gentleman for bringing this to
public attention. That is an extraordinary number of people to lose
their lives on the road to private contractors, who seem to have
completely escaped the grasp of the rules that have been adopted under
the Postal Service. Additionally, we know that the Postal Service
traditionally has taken far more serious interest in public safety and
public welfare.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I say to Mr. Raskin, what is so troubling
is these are 100 percent preventable tragedies. Not one of these lives
had to be lost but for the callousness and lack of regard at the Postal
Service in vetting freight contractors.
Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Mr. Speaker, this is excellent bipartisan legislation with Congress
acting just as it should to address a serious public policy problem,
and let's hope that we pass this quickly, the President signs it
quickly, and we don't lose any more Americans or Postal Service workers
on the road.
Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to support it, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Mr. Speaker, the Postal Service is tasked with the challenging job of
providing fast, reliable mail service nationwide. While they do so,
their safety should be prioritized.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this
commonsense bill that increases transparency into the Postal Service's
safety record to improve public safety throughout our Nation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Higgins of Louisiana). The question is
on the motion offered by the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) that
the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7527, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________