Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act
Latest action. Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 164.
Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act - Title I: Definitions; Postal Services - (Sec. 101) Amends federal postal law to add definitions, including the terms postal service, competitive product, market-dominant product, and rates.
(Sec. 102) Prohibits requiring the Postal Service to provide any special nonpostal or similar services.
Title II: Modern Rate Regulation - (Sec. 201) Directs the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) (established by this Act) to establish a modern system for regulating rates and classes for market-dominant products (all first-class mail, parcels, and cards, periodicals, standard mail, single-piece parcel post, media mail, bound printed matter, library mail, special services, and single-piece international mail). Requires the system to, among other things: (1) include an annual limitation on the percentage changes in rates; and (2) require the Postal Service to provide public notice, and the PRC to provide an opportunity for review of, rate adjustments at least 45 days before implementation. Requires the PRC, as part of the regulations, to establish rules for workshare discounts (discounts provided to mailers for presorting, barcoding, etc.) to ensure that such discounts do not exceed the cost that the Postal Service avoids as a result of workshare activity (with exceptions). Requires the Postal Service to notify the PRC whenever it establishes or revises a workshare discount rate.
(Sec. 202) Directs the Postal Service Board of Governors to establish rates and classes for products in the competitive category of mail (priority and expedited mail, bulk parcel post and international mail, and mailgrams).
Directs the PRC to promulgate (and from time to time revise) regulations to: (1) prohibit the subsidization of competitive products by market-dominant products; (2) ensure that each competitive product covers its attributable costs; and (3) ensure that all competitive products collectively cover their share of Postal Service institutional costs.
(Sec. 203) Authorizes the Postal Service, under specified terms and conditions, to conduct market tests of experimental products, requiring PRC notification of the nature and scope of each test. Prohibits a market test from exceeding 24 months, but allows the PRC to extend such period for up to 12 additional months.
The summary continues for 34 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on July 14, 2005. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 9, 2006: Returned to the Calendar. Calendar No. 164.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced it on March 17, 2005, and 26 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 16 Democrats, 10 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 17, 2005, 7847 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7518 days ago, on February 9, 2006.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers