IV. Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 – Short Title
Section 1 establishes the title of the legislation as the ―21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012.‖
Section 2 – Table of Contents
Section 2 sets forth the table of contents for the four titles in the Act.
Title I: Postal Workforce Matters
Section 101–Treatment of Surplus Contributions to Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)
This section requires a calculation of the Postal Service‘s FERS balance each year, and directs any overpayment to be transferred to the Postal Service, upon request of the Postmaster General. For fiscal years 2011 through 2013, a portion of this overpayment is to be used for retirement incentives, including buyouts (up to the existing cap for federal workers of $25,000 for any one individual) or additional service credits under section 102. If there are additional funds remaining, these may be used by the Postal Service for certain other items such as repaying debt, workers‘ compensation payments, paying down the retiree health liability and pension obligations.
Section 102 – Additional Service Credit
This section allows the Postal Service (through OPM) to offer up to one year of credited service for individuals in the CSRS pension system and up to two years for individuals in FERS as an incentive to encourage retirement. Thus, an individual who needed 30 years of service to retire and had 29 years of service could be offered an additional year so as to be eligible for full retirement. This section further provides that an individual who receives additional service credit as a retirement incentive may not also receive a cash buyout.
Section 103 – Restructuring of Payments for Retiree Health Benefits
This section would restructure the Postal Service‘s pre-funding requirements for retiree health benefits. The bill would immediately begin a 40-year amortized payment schedule for the Postal Service to fund retirees‘ health benefits (previously scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2017). It would also reduce the pre-funding goal for retiree health benefits to 80 percent of the projected liability.
Section 104 – Postal Service Health Benefits Program
This section would authorize the Postal Service to enter into negotiations with all of its recognized unions for the purpose of developing a potential new Postal Service health care plan