Pony Up Act

Pony Up Act

This bill requires the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to pay a citizen for late payment fees or penalties incurred due to late delivery of mail by USPS.

Late delivery of mail means that (1) USPS received a bill or notice of bill at least 12 days prior to the payment due date and delivered such bill or notice of bill less than 6 days prior to the payment due date; or (2) USPS received a payment at least 5 days prior to the payment due date and delivered such payment after the due date. 

USPS is not required to pay a citizen for late payment fees or penalties when a bill, notice of bill, or payment is delayed for reasons outside of USPS control (for example, if a major disaster or emergency declared by the President caused the delay).

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 431 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 431

 To require the United States Postal Service to reimburse fees charged 
 for the late payment of bills that were delayed in the mail, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 15, 2025

    Mr. Graves (for himself, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Alford, Mr. Bost, Mr. 
  Collins, Mr. Stauber, and Mr. Mann) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the United States Postal Service to reimburse fees charged 
 for the late payment of bills that were delayed in the mail, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Pony Up Act''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF FEES RESULTING FROM DELAYED DELIVERY.

    (a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 
United States Postal Service shall pay to a citizen assessed any fee or 
penalty for the late payment of a bill an amount determined under 
subsection (b) if such bill, notice of such bill, or payment is 
delivered late.
    (b) Payment Calculation.--The amount to which a citizen is entitled 
under subsection (a) is the amount that is equal to the total amount of 
the fees and penalties described in such subsection that such citizen 
is obligated to pay.
    (c) Application.--
            (1) In general.--A citizen seeking a payment under this 
        section shall submit to the United States Postal Service an 
        application at such time, in such manner, and containing such 
        information as the United States Postal Service determines 
        appropriate.
            (2) Application submission.--The United States Postal 
        Service shall allow citizens to submit the application required 
        by paragraph (1) on a publicly available website of the United 
        States Postal Service, by mail, and at any post office.
    (d) Unforeseen Circumstances Exception.--For the purposes of this 
section, a bill, notice of bill, or payment is not delivered late if a 
cause not reasonably within the control of the United States Postal 
Service delayed the delivery of such bill or notice, including a major 
disaster or emergency declared by the President.
    (e) Appeals.--
            (1) In general.--A citizen may appeal a determination made 
        by the United States Postal Service under this section to the 
        Judicial Officer by submitting such appeal in writing within 30 
        days after receiving notice of such determination.
            (2) Procedure.--The Judicial Officer shall issue a decision 
        with respect to an appeal under paragraph (1) as soon as 
        practicable, and such decision shall be final.
    (f) Regulations.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the United States Postal Service shall issue 
rules implementing this section.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Delivered late.--The term ``delivered late'', with 
        respect to a bill, notice of bill, or payment, means that--
                    (A) such bill, notice, or payment was mailed;
                    (B) in the case of a bill or notice of bill, the 
                United States Postal Service received the mail 
                containing such bill or notice not less than 12 days 
                prior to the date on which the payment for the bill was 
                due and the United States Postal Service delivered such 
                mail less than 6 days prior to the date on which 
                payment for the bill was due; and
                    (C) in the case of a payment, the United States 
                Postal Service received the mail containing such 
                payment not less than 5 days prior to the date on which 
                the payment was due and the United States Postal 
                Service delivered such mail after the date on which 
                payment was due.
            (2) Judicial officer.--The term ``Judicial Officer'' means 
        the Judicial Officer appointed under section 204 of title 39, 
        United States Code.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON MAIL DELIVERY DELAYS.

    (a) Annual Report.--Not later than one year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the United States 
Postal Service 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 on 
delays in delivering mail, including, for each class of mail--
            (1) the average delivery time and average delay time for--
                    (A) mail delivered under an agreement between the 
                sender, other than a sender primarily engaged in the 
                transportation or delivery of parcels or letters 
                carried out of the mails, and the United States Postal 
                Service; and
                    (B) all other mail delivered by the United States 
                Postal Service;
            (2) the volume of mail described in paragraph (1)(A) that 
        is presorted and an explanation of the effect of presorting 
        such mail on the average delivery time and average delay time 
        for such mail; and
            (3) the volume of mail described in paragraph (1)(B) that 
        is presorted and an explanation of the effect of presorting 
        such mail on the average delivery time and average delay time 
        for such mail.
    (b) Prioritization Audit.--
            (1) In general.--The Inspector General of the United States 
        Postal Service shall conduct an assessment of the policies and 
        practices of the United States Postal Service to determine if 
        the United States Postal Service prioritizes the delivery of 
        mail described in subsection (a)(1)(A) over mail that is the 
        same class of mail and is not described in such subsection.
            (2) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the United 
        States Postal Service 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 on the findings of the assessment 
        required by paragraph (1).
    (c) Class of Mail Defined.--For the purposes of this section, the 
term ``class of mail'' means the items described in paragraphs (1) 
through (10) of section 3621(a) of title 5, United States Code, and the 
items described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 3631(a) of 
such title.
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