Recently introduced legislation would require that all Postal Service delivery vehicles have air conditioning.
The bill was introduced by Congressman Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) and is known as the Peggy Frank Memorial Act (H.R. 1299). It is being introduced in honor of former Postal worker Peggy Frank who died in her mail delivery truck last year due to heat exhaustion.
According to the language of the bill, within 3 years of the date it becomes law, the Postal Service would have to outfit all vehicles with air conditioning that didn’t already have them. It would also require an annual report from the Postmaster General to Congress on the progress of installing A/C in the vehicles until all modifications are completed.
Cárdenas said in a statement:
After I learned that Peggy lost her life working, I said I would do whatever I could to make sure this tragedy never happens again. And that is why I am introducing the Peggy Frank Memorial Act. This bill will require that every postal service truck has air-conditioning and proper equipment so that postal workers can be safe during extreme weather.
Somehow, in America today more than 100,000 Postal Service trucks do not have AC. Here we are in 2019 and we don’t provide basic technology to protect the safety of American service workers who are out delivering our mail through all types of extreme weather. We must implement modern systems NOW.
