Seven months after a mail carrier’s heat-related death in Woodland Hills, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas introduced a bill Friday that if enacted would require all U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles to be equipped with air conditioning within three years.

U.S. Postal Service carrier Peggy Frank, 63, was found dead in her non-air-conditioned mail truck on July 6, a day that temperatures soared to 117 degrees. The North Hills resident died of hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body to deal with heat coming from the environment.

“Peggy Frank would have benefitted from us putting this in place perhaps 10, five, or three years ago and her grandchildren would have a grandmother today,” Cárdenas, D-Panorama City, said in an interview with the Southern California News Group.

The bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) and dubbed the Peggy Frank Memorial Act, would require any delivery vehicle “owned or leased” by the Postal Service to include an air conditioning unit no later than three years after the bill becomes law.

“We look forward to reviewing the bill as introduced by Rep. Cárdenas,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman David Walton said via email.

He said the agency had no further comment at this time.

Frank’s son, Kirk Kessler, said the agency should have had air-conditioned vehicles “a long time ago.”

“I have no idea why they haven’t done it,” Kessler said. “They’re not caring about the people (who work for them), that’s for sure.”

PDF: Final Bill Text – AC units in USPS trucks

The Postmaster General would also be required to submit a progress report to Congress no later than one year after the bill becomes law, according to the text of the bill provided by the congressman’s office. If and when the bill is enacted, the Postmaster General may not purchase or lease any delivery vehicle for the Postal Service unless it has an air conditioning unit.

A spokesman for the National Association of Letter Carriers said Friday that the union “fully supports” the intention of the legislation. However, he said the Postal Service’s financial situation would make it difficult to accomplish what the bill requires within the specified time frame.

Since 2007, Congress has required the Postal Service to pre-fund future retiree health benefits decades out — something no other entity is required to do, the spokesman said. Addressing this issue could facilitate getting the air conditioning units the legislation calls for, he said.

Overall, 63,000-plus Postal Service delivery vehicles have air conditioning nationwide, according to the U.S. Postal Service. The fleet had more than 230,000 vehicles as of the fall of 2017. All postal vehicles apparently have heating.

Since 2003, all motor vehicles purchased by the Postal Service have been equipped with air conditioning, a Postal Service spokeswoman has said.

Cárdenas said his office has gotten “a little pushback” from the Postal Service over the bill.

He said their officials reminded them that they lost $3.9 billion dollars in fiscal year 2018.

The congressman said his response was: “Well, you lost a life. How do you put a value on that?”

The bill is meant to protect the nearly 500,000 employees of the Postal Service, he added. It’s also an opportunity for the agency to have a clean fleet of delivery vehicles.

The Postal Service had yet to determine whether its next-generation vehicles will have air conditioning, according to a Nov. 30 reply from Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan to Cárdenas. The congressman had spearheaded a letter in October urging the Postal Service to “strongly consider” having climate-control units in all of its mail trucks in light of Frank’s death. More than 30 Congress members signed that letter.

A decision on what the next-generation vehicles will be equipped with is expected this year.

Federal workplace safety investigators cited the Postal Service on Jan. 2 for violations resulting in nearly $150,000 in penalties following Frank’s death. They included a repeated violation involving the agency’s programs and procedures for employees working in high-heat situations. The agency was also cited for poor record-keeping of employee illnesses and injuries.

Developing and implementing a heat acclimatization program for employees starting a new job or returning to work after an extended absence is among the ways the Postal Service can reduce heat hazards, according to the January citation from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Frank had just returned from a nearly three-month absence for a broken ankle on the day that she died, according to family members. The grandmother of five had worked for the Postal Service for 28 years.

The Postal Service is contesting the citation and penalties proposed by OSHA.