Our Legislative Efforts Continue
By Ivan D. Butts
Executive Vice President
In an assembly during my senior year of high school, a science teacher called me and a friend to the stage for an experiment to see which one of us could make two magnets come together. My friend went first. She quickly brought the magnets together several times without issue.
Then came my turn. The teacher turned and handed me the magnets for my attempts, which all turned out to be feeble in bringing the magnets together. By flipping the magnets around, he had changed the polarity of the magnets, which made it impossible for me to bring them together. The magnets fought against one another to do what easily was done moments earlier.
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, it’s difficult to work toward a common, good goal. At our 69th National Convention, California State Branch 905 submmited a resolution with the best of intentions for the convention body to affirm the association’s support of current legislation. As your executive vice president, I was honored to see this resolution affirm the work being done legislatively for NAPS members. However, these types of resolutions can cause some confusion—not only for your NAPS Headquarters Legislative Team, but also for our partners in working to ensure the USPS has a sustainable future.
This is not because of the resolution itself, but because of the misinterpretation that can result from what some members may perceive these resolutions are stating outside the actual clear language of the resolution. Resolution 25 passed, as amended, by the convention body. The resolution stipulates that NAPS supports:
• H.R. 760, “Postal Service Financial Improvement Act of 2017”
• H.R. 942, “Postal Employee Appeal Rights Amendments Act”
• H.R. 3617, “Providing Opportunities for Savings, Transactions, and Lending Act of 2017” or the “Postal Act of 2017”
• H.R. 4024, “United States Postal Service Shipping Equity Act”
However, this cannot be the only legislation NAPS will pursue and support. The ever-changing legislative landscape dictates this cannot be the case. We are entering a new session of Congress and will be seeing new bills and bill numbers to review and offer—or not—support.
Rest assured your Legislative Team at NAPS Headquarters will continue to do its best to make the magnets connect to continue advancing the USPS and NAPS members. I appreciate the work of Branch 905 in coming up with Resolution #25. However, we are better served with our continued growth of active engagement at the local level to meet legislators in their home districts and reinforce and reaffirm our desire for their support.
In solidarity …
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