HR 8599
St. Louis Postal Accountability and Reform Act
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Bill overview
This bill, the St. Louis Postal Accountability and Reform Act, directs the Postmaster General to submit a report to Congress evaluating mail and package delivery performance in the St. Louis region. The report will analyze service performance metrics, investigate the causes of delays, examine workforce conditions, and assess the implementation of corrective actions identified by the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General. It aims to ensure residents and businesses in the area receive reliable postal service.
Key provisions
- Requires the Postmaster General to submit a report to Congress evaluating mail delivery performance in the St. Louis region.
- The report must compare St. Louis’ performance to national averages and similar districts.
- The report must analyze workforce conditions, including vacancy rates, turnover, and absenteeism.
- The report must assess the accuracy of delayed mail reporting systems.
- The report must detail the status of corrective actions based on prior Office of Inspector General audits.
- The report must examine management accountability systems to prevent future operational deficiencies.
- The report must cover fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025.
- The report must include metrics for First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail, Priority Mail, and Ground Advantage products.
Who is affected
- United States Postal Service
- Residents and businesses in the St. Louis region
- Congress
- The St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center
Sponsors
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119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
H. R. 8599
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To direct the United States Postal Service to submit a report to Congress on mail and package delivery service performance in the St. Louis region, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the St. Louis Postal Accountability and Reform Act
.
Congress finds the following:
The United States Postal Service serves as a critical piece of social and economic infrastructure for millions of residents and businesses in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
In August and September of 2025, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General published two audit reports in response to congressional inquiries from Senators and Representatives from Missouri and Illinois: the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25–097–R25, Efficiency of Operations at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center, St. Louis, MO
and the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25–100–R25, Kansas-Missouri District: Delivery Operations—St. Louis, MO
.
The Office of Inspector General identified over 89,000 pieces of delayed mail across seven audited delivery units on a single morning in June 2025, the majority of which went unreported in the United States Postal Service’s internal tracking system, limiting management’s ability to identify and address service failures.
The Office of Inspector General found that the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center missed its letter processing clearance time target more than half of the days reviewed between February and April 2025, and identified millions of delayed mailpieces during a site visit in June 2025.
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Postmaster General shall submit, to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, a report evaluating First-Class Mail service performance in the St. Louis region for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025. Such report shall include—
a comparison of on-time delivery performance for First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail, Priority Mail, and Ground Advantage products in the St. Louis region against—
the national average;
similarly sized postal processing districts; and
the Kansas-Missouri District’s own performance in prior years;
an explanation of the causes of any service performance in the District that lags behind national averages;
vacancy rates by position type, including clerks, mail handlers, carriers, maintenance personnel, and supervisors;
turnover rates for carriers and clerks;
absenteeism and unscheduled leave rates; and
the operational impact of workforce shortages on mail processing, transportation, and delivery;
an assessment of the accuracy of delayed mail reporting in the Delivery Condition Visualization system and the Mail Condition Visualization system across the Kansas-Missouri District, including a description of any systemic underreporting and the steps taken to correct it; and
the status of corrective actions taken in response to deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General Audit Reports 25–097–R25 and 25–100–R25, including—
improvements to preventative maintenance completion rates on automated equipment;
load and unload scan compliance trends;
outbound trip on-time, cancellation, and extra-trip rates;
package scanning accuracy across Kansas-Missouri District delivery units; and
implementation of the 12 recommendations issued in the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25–097–R25 and the 2 recommendations issued in the Office of Inspector General Audit Report 25–100–R25.
The Postmaster General shall include in the report required under section 3 a description of the management accountability systems in place at the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center and Kansas-Missouri District delivery units to prevent recurrence of the operational deficiencies identified in the Office of Inspector General Audit Reports 25–097–R25 and 25–100–R25, including—
the steps taken to ensure that delayed mail is accurately reported in the Delivery Condition Visualization and Mail Condition Visualization systems across all Kansas-Missouri District delivery units, and the mechanisms in place to verify reporting accuracy at the district, area, and headquarters levels; and
the processes in place to ensure that staffing shortfalls are identified and addressed in a timely manner, including recruitment, retention, and workforce planning strategies specific to the St. Louis region.