HOUSE MEMORIAL 58

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Rodolpho “Rudy” S. Martinez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING NEW MEXICO'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO KEEP RURAL POST OFFICES OPEN AND TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE USES OF NEW MEXICO'S RURAL POST OFFICES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF RURAL NEW MEXICANS.

     WHEREAS, the post office is a public service with a civic mandate central to American business, society and civic culture; and

     WHEREAS, the United States postal service is the backbone of a mailing and shipping industry that employs more than eight million five hundred thousand people and supports almost one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) in economic activity every year; and

     WHEREAS, the postal service is the country's second-largest civilian employer next to Walmart; and

     WHEREAS, low-cost parcel delivery by the United States postal service operates as a check on the pricing policies of private sector carriers; and

     WHEREAS, under pressure from the United States congress, the United States postal service has decided to reduce operations at rural post offices; and

     WHEREAS, according to some estimates, the expected savings from reducing the hours that rural post offices operate or from closing rural post offices altogether will not materially impact the postal service's budget shortfall; and

     WHEREAS, for many small towns and rural areas, the post office is a vital community center; and

     WHEREAS, rural post offices in Aragon, Capulin, Cuervo, Coyote, Encino, Gladstone, Holman, La Loma, St. Vrain, Trementina, Mills and Fort Stanton have been proposed for closure; and

     WHEREAS, El Defensor Chieftain reports that rural post offices in Lemitar, Luna, Pie Town, Polvadera, San Acacia, San Antonio and La Joya are facing reductions in weekday operating hours; and

     WHEREAS, these closings run counter to a recent New Mexico state university study of rural New Mexico economic conditions and trends that concluded that infrastructure and services to the state's increasingly educated rural population and work force is essential to establishing new businesses, creating jobs and building communities; and

     WHEREAS, other countries with rural populations, such as India, recognize that post offices offer an existing network that can be used to improve the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in isolated and remote areas;

      NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that New Mexico's congressional delegation be requested to support keeping New Mexico's rural post offices open and to support innovative uses of rural post offices to improve the lives and economic opportunities of rural New Mexicans; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to each member of New Mexico's congressional delegation and to the postmaster general of the United States postal service.

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