I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 88

To provide for the privatization of the United States Postal Service.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. CRANE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Post Office and Civil Service

A BILL

To provide for the privatization of the United States Postal

Service.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. TRANSFER TO A PRIVATE CORPORATION.

4 In accordance with the plan prescribed under section

5 3, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and

6 to all property of the Postal Service shall be transferred

7 to a corporation if, within 1 year after the date of the

8 enactment of this Act, such corporation satisfies the re9 quirements set forth in section 2.
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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CORPORATION.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—A corporation shall be considered

3 to satisfy the requirements of this section if such corpora4 tion—

5 (1) is incorporated under the laws of a State;

6 (2) is not a department, agency, or establish7 ment of the United States;

8 (3) is incorporated by not more than 9 individ9 uals who are especially qualified to establish and op10 erate an effective mail system by virtue of their edu11 cation, training, or experience, and who are chosen

12 by the employees of the Postal Service in an election

13 which shall be held at such time and in such manner

14 as the President shall by regulation prescribe;

15 (4) includes among its purposes the delivery of

16 postal services in a manner consistent with section

17 101(b) of title 39, United States Code, at rates es18 tablished in a manner consistent with section 101(d)

19 of such title;

20 (5) issues securities in a manner consistent

21 with subsection (b); and

22 (6) satisfies such other requirements as the

23 President may by regulation prescribe in order to

24 carry out the purposes of this Act.

25 (b) SECURITIES.—Any securities issued by the corpo26 ration—
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1 (1) shall, during the 1-year period beginning on

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, be issued—

3 (A) only to employees of the Postal Serv4 ice;

5 (B) under a system (as developed under

6 section 4) which provides that securities shall

7 be issued to individuals based on their years of

8 service and levels of compensation; and

9 (C) subject to such terms and conditions,

10 including terms and conditions relating to the

11 sale, transfer, or other disposition of such secu12 rities following their issuance by the corpora13 tion, as may be necessary to promote the reten14 tion of well-qualified personnel; and

15 (2) may, after the end of that period, be offered

16 for sale to members of the general public under such

17 terms and conditions as the corporation considers

18 appropriate.

19 (c) RETIREMENT BENEFITS.—Retirement benefits

20 provided to employees of the corporation must be com21 parable to those which would have been afforded to those

22 individuals as employees of the Postal Service had this

23 Act not been enacted.
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1 SEC. 3. TRANSFER PLAN; PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION;

2 RATE-SETTING AUTHORITY.

3 (a) TRANSFER PLAN.—Not later than the sixtieth

4 day after the date on which a corporation first satisfies

5 the requirements of section 2, as determined under sub6 section (b), the President shall, after consultation with the

7 commission under section 4, transmit to Congress—

8 (1) a comprehensive plan providing for the or9 derly transfer of all property subject to this Act, in10 cluding a timetable under which such transfer is

11 completed not later than 180 days after the date on

12 which such corporation first satisfies such require13 ments; and

14 (2) such recommendations for legislation as the

15 President considers necessary in order to carry out

16 the plan described in paragraph (1), including

17 recommendations—

18 (A) for the abolishment of the Postal Serv19 ice;

20 (B) for the continuation of the private ex21 press statutes with respect to the corporation

22 during the first 5 years of its existence; and

23 (C) for the repeal or modification of appro24 priate Federal statutes.

25 (b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION.—The Presi26 dent shall, for purposes of this section, determine the date
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1 on which a corporation first satisfies the requirements of

2 section 2.

3 (c) RATE-SETTING AUTHORITY.—After consulting

4 with the Postal Rate Commission, the President shall de5 velop and include as part of the recommendations submit6 ted under subsection (a) proposals relating to the means

7 by which rates of postage would be established during the

8 5-year period referred to in subsection (a)(2)(B). Such

9 recommendations may include continuing any operations

10 of the Postal Rate Commission (whether on a modified

11 basis or otherwise) which may be appropriate.

12 SEC. 4. POSTAL PRIVATIZATION COMMISSION.

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—In order to carry out the

14 functions set forth in sections 2(b)(1)(B) and 3(a), there

15 is established a commission to be known as the ‘‘Postal

16 Privatization Commission’’.

17 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall consist of

18 12 members, to be selected by the President, of whom—

19 (1) 3 shall be selected from among individuals

20 recommended jointly by the Speaker of the House of

21 Representatives and the President pro tempore of

22 the Senate;

23 (2) 3 shall be selected to represent the interests

24 of employees of the Postal Service;
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1 (3) 3 shall be selected to represent the interests

2 of postal management; and

3 (4) 3 shall be selected from such other postal

4 experts as the President considers appropriate.

5 (c) COMPENSATION.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), members of the Commission shall be paid

8 at the daily equivalent of a rate, not to exceed the

9 rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the Execu10 tive Schedule, for each day (including travel time)

11 during which they are engaged in the performance

12 of duties of the Commission.

13 (2) EXCEPTION.—Members of the Commission

14 who are full-time officers or employees of the United

15 States shall receive no additional pay by reason of

16 their service on the Commission.

17 (d) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall cease to

18 exist as of the date on which the work of the Commission

19 has been completed.

20 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

21 For purposes of this Act—

22 (1) the term ‘‘Postal Service’’ means the United

23 States Postal Service and the Postal Rate Commis24 sion;
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1 (2) the term ‘‘property’’, when used with re2 spect to the Postal Service, means all assets and

3 rights, and all liabilities and obligations, of the Post4 al Service; and

5 (3) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several

6 States, the District of Columbia, and the Common7 wealth of Puerto Rico.

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