[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 245 (Thursday, December 22, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-31345]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: December 22, 1994]


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POSTAL RATE COMMISSION
39 CFR Part 3001

 

Rules of Practice and Procedure; Procedural Streamlining Inquiry, 
Docket No. RM95-2

AGENCY: Postal Rate Commission.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Commission is soliciting suggestions from interested 
persons regarding potential mechanisms for expediting its proceedings 
conducted under 39 U.S.C. 3624(a), which requires ``the opportunity for 
a hearing on the record under sections 556 and 557 of title 5 * * *.'' 
The Commission's rules currently provide for the application of 
streamlined procedures to certain categories of Postal Service 
requests, such as proposals to effect mail classification changes that 
are experimental in character. See 39 CFR 3001.67, 3001.67a through 
.67d.1 In appropriate instances, the Commission has also 
implemented streamlined procedures in the form of Special Rules of 
Practice adopted for individual postal rate and mail classification 
dockets. The proposed rulemaking contemplated by the Commission would 
consider suggested additions to the permanent Rules of Practice and 
Procedure (39 CFR Part 3001) for the purpose of streamlining the 
procedures employed in additional categories of postal rate and mail 
classification proceedings.
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    \1\The Commission has also adopted streamlined procedures for 
consideration of Postal Service proposals to adjust rates for 
Express Mail service in response to a change in the market for 
expedited delivery services. See 39 CFR 3001.57 and 3001.57a through 
.57c. These sections have expired by virtue of the five-year sunset 
provision in 39 CFR 3001.57(b). On August 15, 1994, the United 
States Postal Service petitioned the Commission to institute a 
rulemaking for the purpose of re-enacting these rules. The 
Commission is initiating Docket No. RM95-1 to consider the Postal 
Service's request.

DATES: Comments responding to this advance notice of proposed 
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rulemaking must be submitted on or before February 21, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments and correspondence should be sent to Charles L. 
Clapp, Secretary of the Commission, 1333 H Street, NW., Suite 300, 
Washington, DC 20268-0001 (telephone: 202/789-6840).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, Legal Advisor, 
Postal Rate Commission, 1333 H Street, NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 
20268-0001 (telephone: 202/789-6820).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Postal Reorganization Act requires the 
Commission to afford the opportunity for a formal, on-the-record 
hearing under sections 556 and 557 of title 5 in several categories of 
proceedings: those involving Postal Service requests for changes in 
postal rates and mail classifications (39 U.S.C. 3624(a)); those 
involving Postal Service proposals to make a change in the nature of 
postal services that will generally affect service on a nationwide or 
substantially nationwide basis (39 U.S.C. 3661(c)); and complaint 
proceedings under 39 U.S.C. 3662 that concern postal rate or mail 
classification matters. In proceedings initiated by a Postal Service 
request to change rates pursuant to section 3622, the Commission is 
obliged to transmit its recommended decision ``no later than 10 months 
after receiving any such request[,]'' with a narrow exception for 
instances of Postal Service recalcitrance. 39 U.S.C. 3624 (c)(1) and 
(c)(2). In order to conduct proceedings with the utmost expedition 
consistent with procedural fairness to the parties, section 3624(b) 
authorizes the Commission to adopt rules for expediting its dockets to 
which the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 556 and 557 apply.
    In addition to the special-purpose procedural streamlining rules 
cited in the Summary, the Commission has pursued expedition in its 
formal, on-the-record proceedings through the adoption of Special Rules 
of Practice and expedited procedural schedules. For example, in the 
recently concluded omnibus rate proceeding, Docket No. R94-1, the 
Commission expedited the discovery process by shortening the permanent 
rule's 20-day deadline for responses to 14 days. The Commission also 
expedited the procedural schedule by reducing the interval between oral 
argument in the case and the Commission's rendition of an Opinion and 
Recommended Decision. By these and other means, the Commission 
completed the R94-1 proceeding less than nine months after receiving 
the Postal Service's request.
    It must be noted that Docket No. R94-1 was not a typical omnibus 
rate case, in that it involved considerably less than the usual 
spectrum of ratemaking and mail classification issues. Nonetheless, the 
expedition with which the Commission succeeded in hearing and deciding 
the R94-1 case suggests that appropriate forms of procedural 
streamlining, regularized in the Commission's rules of practice, may 
enable similar results in future proceedings.
    Some forms of procedural streamlining may involve alterations in 
the terms of existing rules of practice. For example, replacement of 
the current 20-day deadline for discovery responses (see 39 CFR 
3001.25(b), .26(b), .27(b)) with the 14-day interval adopted in the 
Special Rules of Practice in Docket No. R94-1 could serve to shorten 
the discovery phase of most proceedings. Similarly, conversion of oral 
argument before the Commission (see 39 CFR 3001.37) into an 
extraordinary procedure not usually employed could expedite the 
decisional phase of Commission proceedings under section 3624.
    Other avenues of expedition may require more fundamental changes in 
the rules of practice, including the adoption of new requirements and 
procedures. One model of procedural streamlining for consideration of 
Postal Service rate requests is contained in draft legislation 
introduced in the 102nd Congress. S. 946, one of four postal reform 
bills jointly sponsored by Senators Stevens and Pryor, would have 
decreased the statutory period for the Commission's consideration of 
Postal Service rate requests to 265 days, while introducing several 
mandatory procedures to facilitate an expedited proceeding. These 
procedures included: (1) Requiring the Postal Service to announce its 
intent to file a rate case between 20 and 40 days in advance, and to 
enhance the information the Service files annually with the Commission, 
to better prepare the Commission and interested parties for the actual 
filing; (2) requiring the Service to provide information on its current 
financial condition, base year costs, revenues and volumes, and other 
detailed information bearing on its forthcoming rate request at least 
30 days before a request is filed; and (3) directing the Commission to 
establish the most expeditious schedule possible for discovery in such 
proceedings. S. 946, 102d Cong., 1st Sess. (1991); see 137 Cong. Rec. 
S. 5154-57 (daily ed. April 25, 1991).
    Interested parties are invited to address these and other potential 
means of streamlining the Commission's proceedings under section 3624, 
consistent with procedural fairness and the requirements of the 
Administrative Procedure Act. The Commission encourages interested 
parties to address the questions listed below, although other germane 
comments are also welcome.
    1. What category or categories of Commission proceedings subject to 
the requirements of 39 U.S.C. 3624(a) should be candidates for 
procedural streamlining?
    2. What additional undertakings or obligations on the part of the 
United States Postal Service would be reasonable and appropriate to the 
more expeditious completion of such proceedings?
    3. Which procedures currently available to parties other than the 
Postal Service under the Commission's rules of practice and procedure 
(39 CFR part 3001) for such proceedings could be curtailed or 
foreshortened in the interest of expedition, consistent with due 
process and the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act?

    Issued by the Commission on December 14, 1994.
Charles L. Clapp,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-31345 Filed 12-21-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P