Prefiled 12/31/18.Read first time 01/14/19.Referred to Committee on State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections.

TO THE HONORABLE DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

WHEREAS, The United States Postal Service handles 40 percent of the world's mail, totaling more than 150 billion pieces processed annually; and

WHEREAS, Revenue from first-class mail, the main source of revenue for the post office, increased by 3.7 percent in the last three months of 2014 compared to the previous year, and overall revenues grew by 4.3 percent; and

WHEREAS, The United States Postal Service eliminated overnight delivery of local first-class mail across the country, effective January 5, 2015; and

WHEREAS, Correspondence, invoices, bill payments, and other mail will now take, on average, two days for local delivery instead of one; and

WHEREAS, This change in delivery standards may impact 15,000 workers and result in the closure of mail processing operations in Tacoma, Wenatchee, and Redmond; and

WHEREAS, Elections and ballot initiatives can be decided by a few hundred or thousand votes and this change will impact state and local elections in Washington State by delaying, by one day, mailed ballots in contested elections; and

WHEREAS, One hundred three members of the United States House of Representatives, including Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington, cosponsored H.R. 784, the "Protect Overnight Delivery Act," which was introduced in the 114th Congress and would remove the service standards introduced by the United States Postal Service in 2015 and restore the previous standard;

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress preserve and protect United States mail service as a valuable and cherished public resource across the state, including six-day mail service to all Washington state addressees, which is managed, operated, and directly accountable to the people of the United States.

BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Donald Trump, President of the United States, the Postmaster General of the United States, the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.