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Congressman Introduces Bill to Require
Door-to-Door Mail Delivery for Seniors
-Congressman Jim Saxton (R-NJ)
introduced a bill requiring USPS to deliver mail to the homes
of senior citizens age 55+ living in age-restricted
developments. Saxton’s bill directs that housing facilities
intended for seniors age 55 and up with at least 80 percent
occupancy to be serviced with door-to-door delivery.
Ray Daiutolo, spokesman for USPS South Jersey District,
said delivering door-to-door takes longer and costs more than
delivering to cluster boxes..
Saxton introduced a similar bill last year,
but it never reached the House floor. This bill is likely to be
attached to a postal-reform package under consideration in the
Senate .
Carriers would not be
required to deliver door-to-door in high rises with cluster
boxes in the lobby, said Jeff Sagnip Hollendonner, a spokesman
for Saxton. The Congressional Budget Office will determine how
much a change in delivery methods would cost the Postal Service,
Hollendonner said.
(4/7)
Saxton Introduces Bill for Mail Delivery
for Seniors
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - With the U.S. Congress poised to consider postal reform
legislation, Congressman Jim Saxton today introduced a bill to
require the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail to the homes of
senior citizens living in age-restricted developments.
"There’s a good chance postal reform may be taken up in the
109th Congess, and I want to make sure this bill is on the
table," Saxton said.
Saxton has advocated legislation to require the U.S. Postal
Service to deliver mail directly to seniors’ door steps. His
bill, introduced on the House floor last night, is H.R. 1475.
"Seniors who have to walk to get their mail can put their health
at risk," said Saxton (NJ-3rd). "Icy walkways, curbs, leaves and
snow pose dangers for seniors who are less mobile. One slip can
lead to severe disability. It can end their independent living
at home."
Saxton’s bill directs that housing facilities intended for
seniors age 55 and up with at least 80 percent occupancy of
seniors 55 and older to be serviced with door-to-door delivery.
The postal service would plan its own means of implementation.
Delivery would be required within six-months of enactment of the
law.
The increasing popularity of senior communities in New Jersey
and across the country means more and more seniors will be
denied daily access to send or receive letters, pay their bills
and do other business conducted through the mail.
"Daily mail can be a main source of communication with the
outside world for older Americans," he said. "Mail order
medicine, shopping, paying bills and other business is often
done by mail."
As folks get older, they can have physical limitations that keep
them from outdoor activities, particularly during inclement
weather, Saxton said.
Senior citizens in the congressman’s Third Congressional
District came up with the idea, and Saxton wants policy-makers
at the Postal Service to consider their needs.
###
To require door delivery of mail sent to persons residing in senior
communities. (Introduced in House)
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1475
To require door delivery of mail sent to persons residing in
senior communities.
IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
April 5, 2005
Mr.
SAXTON introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government
Reform
A BILL
To require door delivery of mail sent to persons residing in
senior communities.
Be it enacted by
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DOOR DELIVERY
OF MAIL REQUIRED FOR INDIVIDUALS RESIDING IN SENIOR COMMUNITIES.
(a) In General- The
United States Postal Service shall take such measures as may be
necessary to ensure that all individuals residing in senior
communities shall receive their mail through door delivery service.
(b) Senior
Community Defined- As used in this section, the term `senior
community' means a housing facility or community which is intended
and operated for occupancy by individuals 55 years of age or older,
and at least 80 percent of the occupied units of which are occupied
by at least one individual who is 55 years of age or older.
(c) Exception-
Nothing in this section shall be considered to require door delivery
service for persons residing in a structure that consists of or
contains 2 or more dwelling units if delivery is made in a manner
that allows such persons to receive or retrieve their mail without
having to exit such structure.
(d) Effective
Date- This section shall apply with respect to mail delivered after
the end of the 6-month period beginning on the date of enactment of
this Act.
H.R.1810
Title: To require door delivery of mail sent to persons
residing in senior communities.
Sponsor: Rep Saxton, Jim [NJ-3] (introduced 4/11/2003)
Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 4/11/2003 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform.
SUMMARY AS OF:
4/11/2003--Introduced.
Requires the Postal Service to take
measures to ensure that all individuals residing in senior
communities receive their mail through door delivery service, except
for persons residing in a structure that consists of or contains
four or more dwelling units
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Tax-Break ‘Commuter
Program’ Launched for Postal Workers
December 8, 2004
Working with a company called
WageWorks, the Postal Service has set up a plan that allows
employees to pay commuting expenses on a pre-tax basis.
Under this program, no
federal income, Social Security, Medicare, or (in most cases),
state or local income taxes are withheld from the pre-tax amount
of eligible commuting expenses.
APWU-represented
employees are now eligible under IRS rules to purchase as much
as $100 per month, pre-tax, in public-transportation fares.
These purchases can be used for anything classified as mass
transit: buses, trains, van-pools, or any combination of these.
Employees can also be reimbursed as much as $195 per month for
work-related parking expenses.
Through the
WageWorks Commuter Program, you can purchase transport-related
expense items beyond these limits. But any amount over the
$100/$195 cap will be paid with taxed dollars.
To enroll, postal
employees can call WageWorks at 877-924-3967 (toll-free) or go
to www.wageworks.com.
After completing the required information online, consumers
create their own usernames and passwords, and can place an order
for whatever is needed in terms of tokens, paper passes, swipe
cards, etc.
The
transportation-expense elections need to be made before 11:59
Eastern Time on the 10th of the month, two months before the
commuting month (to start receiving this benefit in February,
you need to enroll by Dec. 10). You can change your order at any
time; it just won’t go into effect until about two months later.
WageWorks sends
transit chits directly to the employee and lets the USPS know
how many pre-tax dollars to deduct from your pay. By the way,
this special payroll deduction does not affect the total number
of allowable allotments.
USPS, APWU
Discuss Commuter-Costs Benefit
April 13, 2004
The APWU is holding discussions with the Postal Service concerning a
pre-tax “Commuter Benefit.” Working with a company called WageWorks, the
Postal Service is setting up a plan that would allow commuting-related
expense items on a pre-tax basis.
APWU-represented employees would be eligible under IRS rules to purchase
from WageWorks as much as $100 per month’s worth of “pre-tax”
public-transportation fares. These purchases typically are for use on
anything classified as mass transit: buses, trains, van-pools, or any
combination of these.
Employees also could be reimbursed as much as $195 per month for parking
as a work-related expense. If a worker’s actual expenses are greater than
that, employees could still purchase whatever they needed through
WageWorks. Any amount over the expense cap, however, would have to be paid
with taxed dollars.
Participating employees would either call a toll-free number or go to
www.WageWorks.com, and place an order for tokens, paper passes, swipe
cards, etc. WageWorks then sends the chits to the employees and lets the
USPS know how much to deduct from their pay. (The system, of course,
would have to have been tested and proven secure.)
The commuter benefit would be paid by a special payroll deduction and
would not affect the total number of allowable allotments currently
available.
The proposed program is similar to Flexible Spending Accounts except that
there is no “use it or lose it” provision. Because of this, the
Commuter Benefits program should prove to be very valuable.
(source: APWU)
Getting
There May Get Easier
May. 4, 2004
Mike Causey
FederalNews Radio
Getting to, and parking at,
major postal service facilities might be a lot easier, and less costly
under a plan being worked out by the U.S. Postal Service and
the American Postal Workers Union. The union represents most of
the "inside" rank-and-file workers of the largest federal agency.
The APWU says its talking
with the USPS about a pre-tax commuter benefit program coupled with a
plan that will reimburse some employees up to $195 per month for
parking as a work-related expense. This would be a giant step forward
for the USPS which often lags behind other federal agencies whenit
comes to perks.
The union says the USPS
is working with a company called WageWorks to administer the
program. It currently acts as the vendor for a variety of
commuter-choice programs including the Washington metro area SmarTrip
card program, as well as commuter discounted programs in San Francisco
and New York City. To check out the benefits, click
here.
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House Subcommittee Passes
Bill to End TSP
Open Season & Revise CSRS
Benefits for Part-Time Workers
The bill revises the Civil
Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuity computation with respect to
part-time civil service before April 7, 1986, to credit all service of
such employees, no matter when performed, as full-time for purposes of
such computation. The bill also eliminates open seasons for TSP. The open
season language must clear the full House and the House-Senate conference
before it is signed into law.
More info from
Congressional Budget Office
Bill # H. R. 1601 & S 129
Civil Service Retirement Benefits for
Part-Time Service. Section 103
would alter the way retirement benefits under the Civil Service Retirement
System (CSRS) are calculated for workers with part-time service. The bill
would apply to workers who performed work prior to April 7, 1986, have
some part-time service, and retire after the bill is enacted.
Under current law, benefits for CSRS
workers with part-time service are calculated using a two-step process.
For workers with service prior to April 7, 1986, the current formula uses
the highest salary the worker actually earned to reflect the part-time
employment. For work on or after April 7, 1986, the formula uses a deemed
salary (what the worker would have been earning if the worker had been
working full time) to determine benefits and applies a pro-rata factor to
adjust for part-time service. In effect, the current formula tends to
treat new retirees with part-time service early in their careers more
favorably than those whose part-time service comes at the end of their
careers.
Section 103 would calculate CSRS benefits
for all part-time service according to the formula currently used to
determine benefits for service performed on or after April 7, 1986. The
legislation also contains a hold-harmless provision to ensure that no one
receives a smaller annuity under the proposal than they would get under
current law. CBO estimates section 103 would affect benefits for several
thousand new CSRS retirees each year. Depending on an individual
employee's work history, benefits for those retirees could be more than 30
percent higher than they would be if calculated under the current formula.
Allow Time Spent at Service Academies
to Be Creditable For Civilian Retirement.
Section 104 would continue to allow time spent at any of the four U.S.
military academies be considered creditable service under CSRS and the
Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS). These two pension programs,
which cover most civilian federal workers, allow time served as an
active-duty member of the U.S. armed forces to be used as creditable
service provided that it is not already being credited toward military
retirement benefits and a deposit to purchase the credits is made to the
Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF). Virtually all
civilian employees who have performed military service and are not
collecting military retirement benefits choose to have their military
service credited toward their civilian pensions.
Although current law is silent about
whether time spent at a military service academy--typically four
years--should be treated as creditable military service under CSRS and
FERS, OPM historically has allowed such service to be credited. Following
several court rulings, however, OPM has indicated that it no longer
believes such treatment is permissible under the law. As a result, at some
point in the near future, time spent at military academies will no longer
be creditable under either civilian retirement program. CBO assumes this
change will take place in early 2005.
Based on data from OPM and the Department
of Defense, CBO estimates that, of the current federal civilian workforce
(including Postal Service employees), approximately 2,200 employees or
just less than 1 percent have graduated from a U.S. service academy. Of
the 120,000 federal employees who begin collecting retirement benefits
each year, we further estimate that about 100 will have graduated from a
service academy. For those retiring with CSRS benefits, four years of
creditable service represents 8 percentage points of their annuity. For
those retiring under FERS, four years of service represents between 4.0
percentage points and 4.4 percentage points of their annuity. By allowing
time spent at a service academy to continue being used as creditable
service under CSRS and FERS, this bill would increase retirement benefits
above what they would be once OPM stops crediting such service. CBO
estimates this section of the bill would increase direct spending on
retirement benefits by less than $500,000 in 2005, $5 million during the
2005-2008 period, and $28 million over the 2005-2013 period.
In order to have military service credited
toward civilian retirement benefits, a deposit must be made by the
employee into the CSRDF. For those under the CSRS program, the deposit
equals 7 percent of the basic pay received while performing the service,
and under the FERS the deposit equals 3 percent of basic pay. Once OPM
stops crediting time spent at an academy as military service, refunds will
be made to employees who already made such deposits.
Related Links:
- Switching to Part-Time
Late in Career Can Trim Size of
Retirement Annuity
-APWU Retiree Director John
Smith
-
CLOSING Open Seasons-GovExec.com
-
Panel passes bill to increase
benefits and hiring incentives
-GovExec.com
Text
of bill
H. R.
1601
Title I: Reforms Relating to Federal Human Capital Management
SEC. 103. CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM
COMPUTATION FOR PART-TIME SERVICE.
Section 8339(p) of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(A) subparagraph (A) of such
paragraph shall apply to any service performed before, on, or after
April 7, 1986;
`(C) any service performed on a
part-time basis before April 7, 1986, shall be credited as service
performed on a full-time basis.'.
SEC. 104. RETIREMENT SERVICE CREDIT
FOR CADET OR MIDSHIPMAN SERVICE.
(a) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT
SYSTEM- Section 8331(13) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by striking `but' and inserting `and includes service as a
cadet at the United States Military Academy, the United States Air
Force Academy, or the United States Coast Guard Academy, or as a
midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, but'.
(b) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT
SYSTEM- Section 8401(31) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by striking `but' and inserting `and includes service as a
cadet at the United States Military Academy, the United States Air
Force Academy, or the United States Coast Guard Academy, or as a
midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, but'.
(1) any annuity, eligibility for
which is based upon a separation occurring before, on, or after
the date of enactment of this Act; and
(2) any period of service as a
cadet or midshipman at the military service academy of the Army,
Air Force, Coast Guard, or Navy, occurring before, on, or after
the date of enactment of this Act.
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