[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 77543-77544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27393]



[[Page 77543]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

39 CFR part 3050

[Docket No. RM2023-2; Order No. 6369]


Periodic Reporting

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Commission is acknowledging a recent filing requesting the 
Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding to consider changes to 
analytical principles relating to periodic reports (Proposal Seven). 
This document informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, 
and takes other administrative steps.

DATES: Comments are due: December 27, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing 
Online system at http://www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit comments 
electronically should contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing 
alternatives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 
202-789-6820.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Proposal Seven
III. Notice and Comment
IV. Ordering Paragraphs

I. Introduction

    On December 12, 2022, the Postal Service filed a petition pursuant 
to 39 CFR 3050.11 requesting that the Commission initiate a rulemaking 
proceeding to consider changes to analytical principles relating to 
periodic reports.\1\ The Petition identifies the proposed analytical 
changes filed in this docket as Proposal Seven. Proposal Seven proposes 
the accounting treatment for the forgiveness of the Postal Service's 
retirement health benefit (RHB) prefunding liabilities effected by the 
Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA).\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Petition of the United States Postal Service for the 
Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider Proposed Changes in 
Analytical Principles (Proposal Seven), December 12, 2022 
(Petition).
    \2\ Petition, Proposal Seven at 1. See Docket No. RM2023-1, 
Order Granting Petition, in Part, for Reconsideration, December 9, 
2022, at 1-2 (Order No. 6363).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

II. Proposal Seven

    Procedural history. Prior to the Commission's issuance of Order No. 
6363, the subject matter of Proposal Seven was raised in multiple 
filings with the Commission.
    First, the Postal Service filed a letter to the Commission 
reflecting how it intended, for accounting purposes, to treat the 
PSRA's removal of certain accrued but unpaid retiree health 
benefits.\3\ As detailed in Order No. 6363, the Postal Service provided 
its rationale as to why the accounting treatment was appropriate.\4\ 
Second, the Commission responded to the Postal Service's Letter 
endorsing most of the substance of the accounting treatment, and noting 
that the accounting treatment did not require a rulemaking to change an 
accepted analytical principle pursuant to 39 CFR part 3050.\5\ Third, a 
group of mailers filed a letter with the Commission asking for 
reconsideration of the Commission's endorsement of the Postal Service's 
proposed accounting treatment, and requesting the Commission evaluate 
the Postal Service's proposed accounting treatment pursuant to 39 CFR 
part 3050.\6\ Fourth, the Greeting Card Association (GCA), one of the 
13 mailer organizations that was a signatory to the Mailers' Letter, 
also filed a petition with the Commission to initiate a rulemaking.\7\ 
Fifth, the Postal Service responded in opposition to the Petition.\8\ 
Sixth, a significant portion of the signatories to the Mailers' Letter 
filed a reply reiterating its position.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ Letter to Erica A. Barker, Secretary and Chief 
Administrative Officer, August 12, 2022 (Postal Service Letter), 
available at https://www.prc.gov/docs/122/122469/Lttr%20re%20PSRA%20Effects%20ACR%20CRA.pdf.
    \4\ Order No. 6363 at 3. The Postal Service also noted that 
current year normal cost and amortization payments, as a result of 
the PSRA, would be treated consistently between the General Ledger 
and the Cost and Revenue Analysis (CRA). Id.
    \5\ Letter from Erica A. Barker, Secretary and Chief 
Administrative Officer to Richard T. Cooper, Managing Counsel, 
Corporate and Postal Business Law, October 7, 2022, available at 
https://www.prc.gov/docs/123/123096/Response%20Letter.pdf. The 
Commission noted that the statutory change represented a unique and 
non-recurring event, and the accounting treatment appeared 
reasonable, opining that incorporating the $56.9 billion adjustment 
in the CRA would create nonsensical results and potentially 
interfere with the regulatory purposes of the CRA. Order No. 6363 at 
4.
    \6\ Letter to Erica A Barker, Secretary and Chief Administrative 
Officer, October 13, 2022, styled Motion for Reconsideration of 
Response to the Postal Service's Proposed Changes to Accepted 
Analytical Principles (Mailers' Letter), available at https://www.prc.gov/docs/123/123145/Motion%20for%20Reconsideration_PropChange_.pdf.
    \7\ Docket No. RM2023-1, Petition for Reconsideration and 
Initiation of Proceeding, November 4, 2022 (Reconsideration 
Petition). The Petition incorporated arguments from the Mailers' 
Letter. Petition, Proposal Seven at 2-3.
    \8\ Docket No. RM2023-1, Response of the United States Postal 
Service in Opposition to GCA Petition for Reconsideration and 
Initiation of Proceeding, November 10, 2022. The Postal Service 
responded to the Mailers' Letter noting that procedurally a 39 CFR 
part 3050 proceeding is not required where the Commission was 
interpreting its own regulations, and substantively that its 
proposed accounting treatment was reasonable and supported. Id. at 
6-9.
    \9\ Docket No. RM2023-1, Reply of Mailer Associations to 
Response of the United States Postal Service in Opposition to GCA 
Petition for Reconsideration and Initiation of Proceeding, November 
21, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Commission ultimately issued Order No. 6363, granting, in part, 
the relief sought in the Mailers' Letter and Reconsideration Petition. 
Order No. 6363. The Commission withdrew its prior letter endorsing the 
proposed accounting treatment, because its acceptance of the Postal 
Service's proposed accounting treatment was based upon the expectation 
that the ``gain'' would not be treated as a revenue or cost. Id. at 7. 
However, in the Postal Service's submission of its FY 2022 Form 10-K 
report, trial balance, and statement of revenue and expenses, the $56.9 
billion adjustment is treated as a non-cash benefit to net income, and 
included within Cost Segment 18. Id. at 7-8. The Commission noted that 
in its most recent Annual Compliance Determination, other accrued costs 
identified in Cost Segment 18 were treated as institutional costs, and 
therefore the accepted methodology was to treat Cost Segment 18 costs 
as institutional costs. Id. at 8-9. The Commission further noted that 
without a change in analytical principle, the Commission could not 
endorse the Postal Service's proposed accounting treatment. Id. at 9. 
The Commission directed the Postal Service, should it wish to proceed 
with its plans to exclude the PSRA-forgiven defaulted accruals, it must 
file a petition seeking to change an accepted analytical principle 
pursuant to 39 CFR 3050.11. Id. at 10-11.
    The Commission also explained in Order No. 6363 that the arguments 
in the Mailers' Letter concerning the Postal Service's proposed 
accounting treatment of the repealed amortization and normal cost 
payments were in line with accepted analytical principles.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ Id. at 10. Any deviation from the accepted analytical 
principle (accounting for amortization and normal cost payments that 
are no longer incurred), would require a petition to change an 
analytical principle, which the Commission invited no later than 
December 21, 2022, should the proponent of such a petition wish it 
to be considered for FY 2022. Id. at 11. Such a petition is outside 
the scope of Proposal Seven and this docket.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Background. Proposal Seven is a proposal to segregate the reversal 
of the PSRA forgiveness of RHB prefunding

[[Page 77544]]

payments (that were not made) between September 2012 and September 2021 
from the Postal Service's other FY 2022 accounting costs that flow into 
its Annual Compliance Review (ACR) regulatory report. Petition, 
Proposal Seven at 1. Proposal Seven, in other words, excludes the PSRA 
forgiveness of the RHB prefunding payments from institutional cost for 
FY 2022. Id.
    The Postal Service notes that in the years following the passage of 
the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, and consistent with 
generally accepted accounting principles, it accrued expenses in each 
year for scheduled RHB prefunding payments that were required by law. 
Id. at 4. The Postal Service contends that such treatment was rational 
(as in those years it was treated as any other expenses for that year). 
Id. The Postal Service, however, differentiates this steady series of 
annual prefunding required payments from the ``sudden and unprecedented 
occurrence of a one-time reversal of a decade's worth of unpaid 
prefunding expenses from prior years.'' Id. (emphasis in original).
    The Postal Service notes the broad agreement among all parties as 
to what would result if it were to treat the PSRA forgiveness of the 
RHB payments as an offset to institutional costs (that it would result 
in institutional costs for FY 2022 being a ``very large negative 
number''). Id. at 5. The Postal Service reiterates how that occurrence 
creates regulatory issues with the appropriate share provision, and the 
calculation of the imputed Federal income tax. Id.
    The Postal Service also notes the inadvertent effect (or as it 
characterizes, the outcome mailers seek to ensure) of nullifying the 
density-based rate authority calculated as part of the FY 2022 ACR 
process. Id. The Postal Service explains how nullifying the density 
authority due to the PSRA forgiveness of RHB prefunding payments would 
interfere and disrupt the regulatory rationale behind the density-based 
authority. Id. at 5-7.
    The Postal Service proposes one of two methods to effect its 
proposal to account for the PSRA forgiven RHB prefunding payments. 
First, the Postal Service proposes (as its preferable approach) to 
``zero out'' Component 203 in the Cost Segment 18 tab of the 
Reallocated Trial Balance by omitting the reallocation of the negative 
$56,975,093,943.28 from Trial Balance account 51265.000 into Component 
203. Id. at 8. The Postal Service contends that this would result in 
``total costs at the bottom of the CRA that differed by the same amount 
from the sum of the Total Operating Expenses, Impact of Postal Service 
Reform Legislation, and Interest Expense rows of the Postal Service's 
Statements of Operations in its form 10-K. Id. Under this methodology 
institutional costs for FY 2022 would not be ``inappropriately 
affect[ed]'' compared to how they would be without Proposal Seven. Id. 
Second, the Postal Service proposes (as an alternative option) the 
reallocation of the $56,975,093,943.28 negative expense from Trial 
Balance account 51265.000 to the Miscellaneous Items row in the CRA, 
but excluding it from the row ``All Other'' that identifies 
institutional cost. Id.
    Overall, the Postal Service identifies the impact of Proposal Seven 
to exclude the ``one-time massive negative RHB expense accrual 
triggered by the PSRA from overwhelming routine FY 2022 institutional 
costs . . . [and avoiding] the inappropriate detrimental regulatory 
consequences of the `nonsensical' result of negative institutional 
costs.'' Id. at 10.

III. Notice and Comment

    The Commission establishes Docket No. RM2023-2 for consideration of 
matters raised by the Petition. More information on the Petition may be 
accessed via the Commission's website at http://www.prc.gov. Interested 
persons may submit comments on the Petition and Proposal Seven no later 
than December 27, 2022. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Jennaca D. Upperman 
is designated as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) 
to represent the interests of the general public in this proceeding.

IV. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The Commission establishes Docket No. RM2023-2 for consideration 
of the matters raised by the Petition of the United States Postal 
Service for the Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider Proposed Changes 
in Analytical Principles (Proposal Seven), filed December 12, 2022.
    2. Comments by interested persons in this proceeding are due no 
later than December 27, 2022.
    3. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, the Commission appoints Jennaca D. 
Upperman to serve as an officer of the Commission (Public 
Representative) to represent the interests of the general public in 
this docket.
    4. The Secretary shall arrange for publication of this order in the 
Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Erica A. Barker,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-27393 Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P