SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 2

        A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging the United States Postal Service to reconsider the closing of post offices in rural South Dakota.

    WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service has proposed the closure of eighty rural post offices in South Dakota; and

    WHEREAS, the post office closures will place South Dakota's rural communities under stress due to a lack of locations to pick up and drop off mail; and

    WHEREAS, of the eighty post offices to be closed, twenty-six are located in western South Dakota, leaving a greater burden on the Rapid City postal service; and

    WHEREAS, these post office closures will result in first-class mail delivery changing from overnight to two- or three-day delivery service; and

    WHEREAS, the loss of six-day mail delivery will have a negative impact on South Dakota's larger rural communities where mail is delivered on alternating days; and

    WHEREAS, the United States Postal Service has been an institution whose purpose for over two hundred years has been to unite our nation with a continuous flow of information. The closing of these rural post offices represents a retreat from that ideal; and

    WHEREAS, the closing of eighty South Dakota post offices is part of the United States Postal Service's plan to close 3,653 offices, which represents more that one-tenth of all postal service retail outlets:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature urges the United States Postal Service to reconsider the closing of eighty South Dakota post offices.

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Adopted by the Senate,

Concurred in by the House of Representatives,

Matt Michels President of the Senate	Fee Jacobsen Secretary of the Senate
Val Rausch Speaker of the House	Karen Gerdes Chief Clerk of the House