,i  #aaith ,,congress  #ast ,session    
,h4 ,r4 #fdda  ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of  
,,representatives  ,december #d1        
#bjbe,mr4 ,hernndez introduced the      
following bill2 which was referred to   
the ,committee on ,oversight and        
,government ,reform  ,a ,,bill  ,to     
require the ,postmaster ,general update 
the systems of the ,postal ,service to  
accurately recognize and preserve       
address data1 including the proper use  
of linguistic characters and place      
names1 in ,puerto ,rico1 and for other  
purposes4  #a4 ,short title ,this ,act  
may be cited as the ,puerto ,rico       
,postal ,equity ,act of #bjbe4  #b4     
,findings ,the ,congress finds the      
following3 7#a7 ,the accurate           
identification1 formatting1 and         
integration of physical addresses are   
essential to the efficient operation of 
the ,united ,states ,postal ,service1   
the reliability of mail delivery1 the   
facilitation of e-commerce1 and the     
equitable distribution of ,federal      

programs and services4  7#b7 ,historical
 and structural complexities in ,puerto 
,rico's local addressing conventions    
create inconsistencies between locally  
assigned addresses and those recognized 
by the ,united ,states ,postal ,service1
 ,federal agencies1 and major private   
platforms1 resulting in recurring       
delivery and validation failures4  7#c7 
,such inconsistencies include the       
omission or alteration of diacritical   
marks recognized in ,spanish-language   
place names1 street names1 and surnames1
 which can lead to misidentification1   
delivery errors1 and data mismatches in 
official records4  7#d7 ,the            
preservation of accurate orthography and
 culturally specific characters in      
,federal data systems is essential to   
ensuring the integrity of official      
records1 compliance with civil rights   
and language access standards1 and the  
protection of identity and property     
rights4  7#e7 ,strengthened coordination
 between the ,united ,states ,postal    

,service and the ,department of         
,commerce1 including the ,census        
,bureau1 would enhance national data    
accuracy1 support economic development1 
and advance equity across ,puerto ,rico 
by improving how the ,united ,states    
,postal ,service identifies and resolves
 recurrent address recognition and      
delivery issues in ,puerto ,rico4  #c4  
,improvements to accuracy of ,puerto    
,rico address data  7a7 ,in general ,not
 later than #ahj days after the date of 
enactment of this ,act1 the ,postmaster 
,general shall develop and implement    
improvements to the systems of the      
,united ,states ,postal ,service to     
improve the accuracy and recognition of 
addresses in ,puerto ,rico1 including-- 
7#a7 using existing operational         
indicators of the ,united ,states       
,postal ,service1 including             
,undeliverable-,as-,addressed codes1    
mail delivery exception records1 address
 quality data from the address          
management system of the ,united ,states

 ,postal ,service1 delivery point       
validation results1 consumer complaint  
information1 and address validation     
outcomes data from the websites of the  
,united ,states ,postal ,service1 to    
identify locations in ,puerto ,rico with
 persistent address recognition or mail 
delivery issues2  7#b7 updating the     
address records1 routing information1   
and validation tables of the ,united    
,states ,postal ,service for the        
locations identified under subsection   
7#a72  7#c7 revising the relevant       
systems of the ,united ,states ,postal  
,service1 including address matching1   
address validation1 and mail and        
delivery routing systems1 to support the
 use of diacritical marks and other     
address elements used in ,puerto ,rico  
for addresses in ,puerto ,rico2 and     
7#d7 taking such other actions as       
determined appropriate by the           
,postmaster ,general based on the       
relevant data to improve the recognition
 by the systems of the ,united ,states  

,postal ,service of and the proper      
delivery of mail to properly assigned   
addresses in ,puerto ,rico4  7b7        
,consultation ,in carrying out          
subsection 7a71 the ,postmaster ,general
 shall consult with the ,bureau of the  
,census1 including the ,census ,open    
,innovation ,lab1 the ,puerto ,rico     
,planning ,board established by ,puerto 
,rico ,act #ge-aige 7#bc ,l4,p4,r4,a4   
#fb et seq471 and appropriate local     
governments in ,puerto ,rico1 to obtain 
information required to carry out such  
subsection4  7c7 ,reporting ,not later  
than one year after enactment of this   
,act1 and annually thereafter for three 
years1 the ,postmaster ,general shall   
submit to ,congress a report detailing--
 7#a7 the actions taken under this      
section2  7#b7 the progress of the      
,united ,states ,postal ,service in     
improving the recognition of and        
accuracy of delivery to addresses in    
,puerto ,rico2 and  7#c7 any barriers to
 carrying out subsection 7a7 and        

recommendations for legislative or      
administrative action to address such   
barriers4  7d7 ,diacritical mark defined
 ,in this ,act1 the term diacritical    
mark means any accent1 tilde1 or other  
orthographic sign used by the ,spanish  
language to indicate pronunciation or   
meaning in proper nouns and place names 
within ,puerto ,rico4  #d4 ,cutgo       
compliance ,no additional amounts are   
authorized to be appropriated to carry  
out this ,act4 ,the ,postmaster ,general
 shall carry out this ,act using amounts
 otherwise appropriated or made         
available to ,united ,states ,postal    
,service4