Order Code RS21562
July 3, 2003
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Naming Post Offices Through Legislation
Nye Stevens1
Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Summary
An increasingly common form of legislation is the naming of post offices for
former Members of Congress or other figures of local or national renown. About one
in eight public laws passed by the 107th Congress was a post office naming bill approved
under suspension of the rules. Unanimity of a state’s congressional delegation is
required for the movement of naming bills to the floor of the House or Senate. The
costs of dedicating a post office in the name of an individual are modest, and this action
results in no change in public identification of the facility by its geographic location.
This report describes how the practice of naming post offices through public law
originated and how it is commonly done today. House and Senate practices for
approving such legislation, and procedures followed by the U.S. Postal Service in
organizing a dedication ceremony, are also described. This report will be updated in the
109th Congress.
Legislation naming post offices for individual persons has become the single most
common form of legislation if measured by the number of public laws enacted. Forty-five
of the 377 public laws passed by the 107th Congress, or 12%, were post office naming
bills. This report briefly recounts the history of the practice of naming post offices for
individuals, describes the process currently followed for enacting such bills, and explains
how a law changing the name of a post office is implemented by the U.S. Postal Service
(USPS).
History
The Post Office Department did not formally address the naming of post offices until
1891. Until then, the names of post offices were derived from a number of sources,
including the name of the town or township in which the post office was located, certain
neighborhoods, crossroads, local landmarks, and even the postmaster’s name or place of
residence. On February 18, 1891, Postmaster Miscellaneous Order 87 instructed the
clerks of post offices nationwide to utilize the post office names published in the bulletins
1 Oluwabusayo Temitope Folarin, an intern, contributed to the research and writing of this report.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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of the United States Board on Geographic Names in naming post offices. The next year,
in 1892, Postmaster Miscellaneous Order 48 instructed the fourth assistant Postmaster
General not to “establish any post office whose proposed name differed from that of the
town or village in which it was to be located” in order to avoid confusion, and facilitate
the expeditious and efficient delivery of mail. Even today, USPS guidance on postal
facility names specifies that an installation “may be named for an individual only with the
approval of the of the Postmaster General and only if the individual has been deceased at
least 10 years, with the exception of deceased U.S. Presidents or Postmasters General.”2
A search of legislative titles indicates that Congress first recognized an individual
by naming a post office through freestanding legislation in his honor in 1967, when P.L.
90-232 named a combined post office and federal office building in Bronx, NY, as the
“Charles A. Buckley Post Office and Federal Office Building” in honor of the late
Representative Charles A. Buckley, who had chaired the House Public Works Committee
through 1964. Courthouses and federal buildings, some no doubt containing postal
facilities, had been named before that. The United States Postal Service came into being
in 1971 with its own separate real estate authority. Legislation to name USPS facilities
was then referred to the House and Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committees, and
when these committees were abolished, to the House Government Reform and Senate
Governmental Affairs Committees. (Legislation naming courthouses and other federal
buildings is referred to the public works committees.)
Postal naming acts were relatively infrequent until recently, averaging 10 per
Congress for the 102nd through the 105th Congresses. In the 106th Congress, and again in
the 107th Congress, the number rose to 46.3 Retired Members of Congress — most still
living — were honored in 15 of the acts of the 107th Congress. While most of the others
appear to be people of local renown, some of the nationally known figures honored in
recent years include Ronald Reagan (twice), Cesar Chavez, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra,
Todd Beamer, Rev. Leon Sullivan, Walt Disney, and Jay Hanna Dean (better known as
“Dizzy” Dean).
Procedure
The first step a congressional staff member should consider in preparing a naming bill is
the selection of an appropriate post office. Most congressional districts contain many
postal facilities, and it often comes as a surprise to congressional staff that USPS does not
have a comprehensive list of those that have already been named for individuals, either
through legislative or administrative action. However, USPS government relations
representatives can determine the status of a particular post office on request. They may
also point out that local customers sometimes resent their post office being named for “an
outsider” without a strong and favorable local identification. The condition and activity
level of the building is also a consideration, since some post offices offer a better
2 U.S. Postal Service, Postal Operations Manual, (Washington, Nov. 29, 2001), section
123.413(e). Apparently this policy can be waived by the Postmaster General. Postmaster
General John E. Potter, for example, issued a proclamation renaming the Shawneetown, IL post
office for Einar V. Dyhrkopp at the end of his tenure as a member of the USPS board of
governors, on Nov. 4, 2002.
3 In addition, P.L. 107-225 redesignated the Brentwood Road, DC mail processing facility in
memory of two employees (Joseph Curseen, Jr. and Thomas Morris, Jr.) who died as a result of
anthrax exposure there, and P.L. 107-120 provided for the installation of a plaque to honor Dr.
James Harvey Early in the Williamsburg, KY post office.

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presentation than others. While few post offices have been closed in recent years, it is not
difficult to foresee that there will be an initiative in the future to close some of those that
are less active.
Once a post office has been selected, several key pieces of information are needed
for drafting the legislation. One is the precise address of the facility. Another is whether
the facility is owned by USPS or (more commonly for smaller post offices) leased from
a private owner. In the latter case, the building’s owner should probably be consulted.
Finally, a critical step is determining, from the person to be recognized or his or her
family, the precise form and spelling of the person’s name. Some public figures use
different names for formal and informal purposes.
All but four of the 46 naming acts passed in the 107th Congress originated in the
House. Wording of the legislation shows little variation. Public Law 108-17, signed by
President Bush on April 23, 2003, is typical:
An Act
To designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 2127 Beatties Ford
Road in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the
“Jim Richardson Post Office.”
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House
of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Designation
The facility of the United States Postal
Service located at at 2127 Beatties Ford Road
in Charlotte, North Carolina, shall be known
and designated as the “Jim Richardson Post
Office.”
Sec. 2. References
Any reference in a law, map, regulation,
document, paper, or other record of the United
States to the facility referred to in section 1
shall be deemed to be a reference to the “Jim
Richardson Post Office.”
The House Government Reform Committee has a policy (though not a formal rule)
that a post office naming bill will not be approved unless and until all Members from the
state where the post office is located have signed on as sponsors of the bill. In recent
years, the committee has generally not marked up or otherwise formally approved naming
bills in a committee meeting. Rather, committee staff keep a list of naming bills and other
measures appropriate for consideration under suspension of the rules, or by unanimous
consent, to be taken up when opportunities appear. Negotiations between the majority
and minority leaders determine when and how the bills are to be considered on the floor.

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Passage by the House is routine, commonly by voice vote or on a roll call vote that is
unanimous.
Senate procedures are less regular, and it is not uncommon for naming bills that have
passed the House to languish for several months waiting for action by the Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee and the full Senate. On June 25, 2003, the Senate
considered 14 post office naming bills en bloc and passed them all by unanimous consent
without debate. Under both Democratic and Republican leadership in the 107th and 108th
Congresses, the committee requires that both Senators from a state agree to a naming bill,
though formal co-sponsorship is not required.
Dedication
The practical effect of legislation renaming a post office is less than might appear.
For operational reasons, post offices retain their geographical designations in the USPS
addressing system, and there is no change in the way renamed post offices are identified
in the official listing of post offices. The 2003 National Five-Digit ZIP Code and Post
Office Directory, for example, which is widely circulated and available in post office
lobbies, does not contain names of individuals for whom certain post offices have been
named by law. Nor is there a separate list of named post offices that could be consulted
to determine which post offices have been named in law and which have not.
The tangible effect of naming a post office is the installation of a dedicatory plaque
in “a prominent place in the facility’s lobby, preferably above the post office boxes.” The
plaque, which is purchased locally at USPS expense running from $250 to $500, measures
about 11 inches by 14 inches and contains the following inscription:
THIS BUILDING
IS NAMED IN
HONOR OF
(NAME)
BY ACT OF
CONGRESS
P.L. 108-___
(DATE)
USPS, working with the sponsor of the legislation, may take responsibility for
organizing a dedication ceremony. The protocol includes invitations to the honored
individual and his or her family, an honor guard, a religious figure for an invocation,
media notification, and light refreshments such as cake and punch. Costs for these
expenses may be borne by USPS from its contingency funds, or shared with local
community interests.

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