I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3174 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to the 

methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 12, 2011 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, 

relating to the methodology for calculating the amount 

of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under 

the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Postal 

5 Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration 

6 Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFIED METHODOLOGY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h) of title 5, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(4)(A) To the extent that a determination under 

6 paragraph (1), relating to benefits attributable to civilian 

7 employment with the United States Postal Service, is 

8 based on any provision of law described in subparagraph 

9 (C), such determination shall be made in accordance with 

10 such provision and any otherwise applicable provisions of 

11 law, subject to the following: 

12 ‘‘(i) The ‘average pay’ used in the case of any 

13 individual shall be a single amount, determined in 

14 accordance with section 8331(4), taking into account 

15 the rates of basic pay in effect for such individual 

16 during the periods of creditable service performed by 

17 such individual. Nothing in this subsection shall be 

18 considered to permit or require— 

19 ‘‘(I) one determination of average pay with 

20 respect to service performed with the United 

21 States Postal Service; and 

22 ‘‘(II) a separate determination of average 

23 pay with respect to service performed with its 

24 predecessor entity in function. 

25 ‘‘(ii) In determining the portion of an annuity 

26 attributable to civilian employment with the United 


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1 States Postal Service, with respect to any period of 

2 employment with the United States Postal Service 

3 that follows any other period of employment cred4 itable under section 8332 (without regard to whether 

5 such employment was with an entity referred to in 

6 clause (i)(II)), the total service of an employee for 

7 purposes of any provision of law described in sub8 paragraph (C) shall be the sum of— 

9 ‘‘(I) any period of employment with the 

10 United States Postal Service; and 

11 ‘‘(II) any period of employment creditable 

12 under section 8332 that precedes the period de13 scribed in subclause (I). 

14 ‘‘(B)(i) Not later than 6 months after the date of en15 actment of this paragraph, the Office shall determine (or, 

16 if applicable, redetermine) the amount of the Postal sur17 plus or supplemental liability as of the close of the fiscal 

18 year most recently ending before such date of enactment, 

19 in conformance with the methodology required under sub20 paragraph (A). 

21 ‘‘(ii)(I) If the result of the determination or redeter22 mination under clause (i) is a surplus, the Office shall 

23 transfer the amount of such surplus to the Postal Service 

24 Retiree Health Benefits Fund not later than 15 days after 

25 the date of such determination or redetermination. 


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1 ‘‘(II) If a determination or redetermination under 

2 clause (i) for a fiscal year is made before the Office makes 

3 a redetermination under paragraph (2)(B) with respect to 

4 the fiscal year, the Office may not make a determination 

5 under paragraph (2)(B) with respect to the fiscal year. 

6 ‘‘(C) The provisions of law described in this subpara7 graph are— 

8 ‘‘(i) the first sentence of section 8339(a); and 

9 ‘‘(ii) section 8339(d)(1). 

10 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Postal Service Retiree Health 

12 Benefits Fund’ means the fund established under 

13 section 8909a; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Postal Service Fund’ means the 

15 fund established under section 2003 of title 39.’’. 

16 (b) COORDINATION PROVISIONS.— 

17 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 8909a of title 5, 

18 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

19 end the following: 

20 ‘‘(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

21 amount payable by the Postal Service under subsection (d) 

22 in any fiscal year ending on or before September 30, 2021, 

23 shall be determined without regard to the requirements 

24 under section 8348(h)(4).’’. 


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1 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

2 Act, or an amendment made by this Act, shall be 

3 construed to affect the amount of any benefits other4 wise payable from the Civil Service Retirement and 

5 Disability Fund to any individual. 

6 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The heading for sec7 tion 8909a of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

8 striking ‘‘Benefit’’ and inserting ‘‘Benefits’’. 

9 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h)(2) of title 5, 

11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub14 section, for purposes of determining the Postal surplus or 

15 supplemental liability for each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 

16 2018, 2019, and 2020— 

17 ‘‘(i) paragraph (4)(A) shall not apply to a de18 termination under paragraph (1); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) the determination under paragraph (1) 

20 shall be made by applying the methodology that was 

21 used to carry out this paragraph with respect to the 

22 fiscal year preceding the fiscal year referred to in 

23 paragraph (4)(B)(i).’’. 


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1 (b) RELATING TO A POSTAL SURPLUS.—Section 

2 8348(h)(2)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) by inserting ‘‘2021,’’ after ‘‘2015,’’; and 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘if the result is’’ and all that 

6 follows through ‘‘terminated.’’ and inserting the fol7 lowing: ‘‘if the result is a surplus— 

8 ‘‘(i) that amount shall be transferred— 

9 ‘‘(I) to the Postal Service Retiree Health 

10 Benefits Fund, if the surplus is for fiscal year 

11 2020 or a preceding fiscal year; and 

12 ‘‘(II) to the Postal Service Fund, if the 

13 surplus is for fiscal year 2021 or a subsequent 

14 fiscal year; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) any prior amortization schedule for pay16 ments shall be terminated.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SURPLUS RETIREMENT 

18 CONTRIBUTIONS. 

19 Section 8423(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 

20 amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para22 graph (6); and 

23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(5) If, for fiscal year 2010, the amount computed 

2 under paragraph (1)(B) is less than zero (in this section 

3 referred to as ‘surplus postal contributions’), the amount 

4 of such surplus postal contributions shall be transferred— 

5 ‘‘(A) to the Postal Service Retiree Health Bene6 fits Fund to pay any liability to the Postal Service 

7 Retiree Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011; 

8 ‘‘(B) if all liability to the Postal Service Retiree 

9 Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011 has been 

10 paid, to the Employees’ Compensation Fund estab11 lished under section 8147; and 

12 ‘‘(C) if all liability of the United States Postal 

13 Service to the Employees’ Compensation Fund has 

14 been paid, to the United States Postal Service for 

15 the repayment of any obligation issued under section 

16 2005 of title 39.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. RURAL POST OFFICES. 

18 Section 404(d) of title 39, United States Code, is 

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub21 section, in making any determination under subsection 

22 (a)(3) as to the necessity for the closing or consolidation 

23 of any post office, the Postal Service may not close any 

24 post office which is located more than 10 miles from any 

25 other post office.’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act and the amendments 

3 made by this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment 

4 of this Act. 

5 (b) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con6 gress that this Act apply with respect to the allocation 

7 of past, present, and future benefit liabilities between the 

8 United States Postal Service and the Treasury of the 

9 United States. 

Æ 


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