Two St. Joseph post offices are among dozens in Missouri that would be protected from emergency closure under new legislation according to Senator Claire McCaskill.

The bill would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from using its emergency suspension process—meant to be temporary—to indefinitely close post offices without notice to the community, opportunity to appeal, or a timeframe for either reopening or permanently closing the facility.

McCaskill’s office said in a news release that that could include the post offices in St. Joseph on Olive Street and 10th Street as well as the Amity and Stewartsville offices.

According to the release, since 2011, 650 postal facilities across the country were “temporarily” closed under emergency suspension. Of those closures, 511 remain closed today, and the Postal Service has not told those communities if—or when—those post offices might reopen. McCaskill introduced the legislation with Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas.

“Missourians in rural communities rely on the Postal Service, and shouldn’t be left in limbo without knowing if the temporary closure of their post office will be a permanent one,” McCaskill said. “These post offices are part of the lifeblood of our communities—a source of employment and a lifeline for commerce—and we can’t allow the Postal Service to balance its books on the backs of small communities by shuttering post offices where they’re often most needed, with little transparency or explanation.”