Rep. Connolly Introduces Bill Requiring New Scrutiny of Postal Rate-Making Process (acma.org)

Dear Industry Member:

Following aggressive lobbying efforts from the ACMA, its partner organizations the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service and Keep Us Posted, and others with mailing interests, today Rep. Gerold Connolly (D-VA, at right) introduced the Ensuring Accurate Postal Rates Act. If passed into law, the bill will require the Postal Regulatory Commission to conduct a follow-up review of the postal rate-making process. Below is a brief timeline:
• In 2020, the PRC completed its mandated 10-year review of the postal rate-making process. The review modified the rate-making process, opening the door for the USPS to increase rates beyond the CPI cap and doubling the number of rate hikes in each of the past two years.
• Although completed that November, the review quickly became outdated: A section of the April 2022 USPS Fairness Act (section 102 of Public Law 117-108) canceled unpaid USPS obligations, thereby removing an essential basis for the PRC ruling.
• The PRC ruling also did not adquately account for the windfall of business the USPS achieved from the Covid boom in package shipping and other improvements to its financial condition from the pandemic.
• Less than a month after the PRC ruling, the CARES Act authorized up to $10 billion in funding for the U.S. Postal Service from the U.S. Treasury.

We appreciate Rep. Connolly’s sensitivity to the impact of extra-large rate increases on our members. The ACMA will will continue to advocate to build support for this much needed legislation, including how you can work with your own legislators to ensure this bill is passed.
more information at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2022/09/usps-could-lose-its-relatively-new-authority-raise-rates-above-inflation-under-new-bill/376898/