for good cause shown. The requesting party shall state the basis for such a waiver. "(D) If after 6 years and 3 months following the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002, a 135 passenger carrier is providing service on a city pair route in the State of Alaska and a 121 passenger aircraft becomes eligible to receive tender of nonpriority bypass mail on the route, that 135 passenger carrier shall convert to operations under part 121 within 12 months of the 121 passenger carrier being tendered nonpriority bypass mail. The Postal Service shall not continue the tender of nonpriority bypass mail to a 135 passenger carrier that fails to convert to part 121 operations within 12 months after the 121 passenger carrier being tendered such mail under this paragraph. "(E) Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection, if only 1 passenger carrier or aircraft is qualified to be tendered nonpriority bypass mail as a passenger carrier or aircraft on a city pair route in the State of Alaska, the Postal Service shall tender 20 percent of the nonpriority bypass mail described under paragraph (1) to the passenger carrier or aircraft providing the next highest level of passenger service on such route. "(4) Qualification for the tender of mail under this subsection shall not be counted toward the minimum qualifications necessary to be tendered nonpriority bypass mail on any other route. "(5)(A)(i) In this section, the percent of passenger service shall be a percentage calculated using data collected under subsection (k). "(ii) To ensure accurate reporting of market share the Postal Service shall compare the resulting percentage under clause (i) to the lesser of "(I) the amount of the passenger excise tax paid by or on behalf of a carrier, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares for passengers actually flown by a carrier from the origination point to the destination point, divided by the value of the total passenger excise taxes, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares paid by or on behalf of all passenger carriers providing service from the hub point to the bush destination point; or (II) the amount of half of the passenger excise tax paid by or on behalf of a carrier, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares for passengers actually flown by a carrier on the city pair route, divided by the value of the total passenger excise taxes, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares paid by or on behalf of all passenger carriers providing service between the origination point and the destination point. (B) For the purposes of calculating passenger service as described under subparagraph (A), a bush passenger carrier providing intervillage bush passenger service may include the carriage of passengers carried along any point of the route between the route's origination point and the final destination point. Such calculation shall be based only on the carriage of passengers on regularly scheduled flights and only on flights being flown in a direction away from the hub point. Passenger service provided on chartered flights shall not be included in the carrier's calculation of passenger service. "(6)(A) The Secretary shall establish new bush rates for passenger carriers operating in the State of Alaska receiving tender of nonpriority bypass mail under this subsection. "(B) The Secretary shall establish a bush rate based on data collected under subsection (k) from 121 bush passenger carriers. Such rates shall be paid to all bush passenger carriers operating on city pair routes in the State of Alaska where a 121 bush passenger carrier is tendered nonpriority bypass mail. "(C) The Secretary shall establish a bush rate based on data collected under subsection (k) from 135 bush passenger carriers. Such rates shall be paid to all bush passenger carriers operating on bush city pair routes in the State of Alaska where no 121 bush passenger carrier is tendered nonpriority bypass mail. "(D) The Secretary shall establish a bush rate based on data collected under subsection (k) from bush passenger carriers operating aircraft on city pair routes where only water landings are available. Such rates shall be paid to all bush passenger carriers operating on the city pair routes in the State of Alaska where only water landings are available. "(7) The percentage rate in paragraph (1) shall be 75 percent beginning 3 years and 3 months after the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002. "(i)(1) Except as provided under paragraph (7), on a city pair route in the State of Alaska, the Postal Service shall offer equitable tender of 20 percent of the nonpriority bypass mail on such route to those carriers transporting 25 percent or more of the_total nonmail freight (in revenue or weight as determined by the Postal Service), for the 12 months immediately preceding the date on which the freight carrier seeks tender of such mail. "(2) To remain eligible for equitable tender under this subsection, a freight carrier shall continue to provide not less than 25 percent of the nonmail freight service on the city pair route for which the carrier is seeking tender of such mail. “(3) If a new freight carrier enters a market, the freight carrier shall meet the minimum requirements of subsection (g)(1) and shall operate for 12 months on a city pair route in the State of Alaska before being eligible for equitable tender of nonpriority bypass mail on that route. "(4) If no carrier qualifies for tender of nonpriority bypass mail on a city pair route in the State of Alaska under this subsection, such mail to be divided under this subsection, as described in paragraph (1), shall be tendered to the nonmail freight carrier providing the highest percentage of nonmail freight service (in terms of revenue or weight as determined by the Postal Service as calculated under paragraph (6)) on the city pair route. If no nonmail freight carrier is present on a city pair route in the State of Alaska to receive tender of nonpriority bypass mail under this paragraph, the nonpriority bypass mail to be divided under paragraph (1) shall be divided equitably among carriers qualified under subsection (h). "(5) Qualification for the tender of mail under this subsection shall not be counted toward the minimum qualifications necessary to be tendered nonpriority bypass mail on any other route. "(6)(A) In this subsection, the percent of nonmail freight shall be calculated as a percentage, using the data provided pursuant to subsection (k), by dividing the revenue or weight (as determined by the Postal Service) of nonmail freight earned by or carried by a carrier from the transport of nonmail freight from an origination point to a destination point by the total amount of revenue or weight of nonmail freight earned by or carried by all carriers from the transport of nonmail freight from the origination point to the destination point. "(B) To ensure accurate reporting of market share the Postal Service shall compare the resulting percentage under subparagraph (A) to the lesser of "(i) the amount of the freight excise tax paid by or on behalf of a carrier, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares for nonmail freight actually flown by a carrier from the origination point to the destination point, divided by the value of the total nonmail freight excise taxes, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares paid by or on behalf of all nonmail freight carriers providing service from the origination point to the destination point; or "(ii) the amount of half of the nonmail freight excise tax paid by or on behalf of a carrier, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares for nonmail freight actually flown by a carrier on the city pair route, divided by the value of the total nonmail freight excise taxes, as determined by reviewing the collected amount of base fares paid by or on behalf of all nonmail freight carriers providing service on the city pair route. "(7) The percentage rate in paragraph (1) shall be 25 percent beginning 3 years and 3 months after the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002. "(j)(1) Except as provided by paragraph (3), there shall be equitable tender of 10 percent of the nonpriority bypass mail to all carriers on each city pair route in the State of Alaska meeting the requirements of subsection (g)(1) that do not otherwise qualify for tender under subsection (h) or (i). “(2) If no carrier qualifies under this subsection with respect to a city pair route, the 10 percent of nonpriority bypass mail allocated under paragraph (1) shall be divided evenly between the pools described under subsections (h) and (i) to be equitably tendered among qualified carriers under such subsections, such that "(A) the amount of nonpriority bypass mail available for tender among qualified carriers under subsection (h) shall be 75 percent; and "(B) the amount of nonpriority bypass mail available for tender among qualified carriers under subsection (i) shall be 25 percent. "(3)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph (B), the percentage rate under paragraph (1) shall be 0 percent beginning 3 years and 3 months after the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002. "(B) The percentage rate under paragraph (1) shall remain 10 percent for equitable tender for 6 years and 3 months after the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002 for a nonpriority bypass mail carrier on bush routes in the State of Alaska originating from the main hub of the carrier designated under subparagraph (C), if the carrier seeking the tender of such mail "(i) meets the requirements of subsection (g)(1); "(iii) operates routes originating from the main hub of the carrier designated under subparagraph (C); and "(iv) has invested at least $500,000 in a physical hanger facility prior to January 1, 2002 in such a hub city. "(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B), a carrier may designate only one hub city as its main hub and once such designation is transmitted to the Postal Service it may not be changed. Such selection and transmission must be transmitted to the Postal Service within 6 months of the date of enactment of the Rural Service Improvement Act of 2002. A carrier attempting to receive tender of nonpriority bypass mail under this subsection shall not be eligible for such tender after the carrier becomes qualified for tender of nonpriority bypass mail under subsection (h) or (i) on any route. The purchase of another carrier's hanger facility after such date of enactment shall not be considered sufficient to meet the requirement of subparagraph (B)(iv). "(k)(1) At least once every 2 years, in conjunction with annual updates, the Secretary shall review the need for a bush mail rate investigation. The Secretary shall use show cause procedures to speedily and more accurately determine the cost of providing bush mail service. In determining such rates, the Secretary shall not take into account the cost of passenger insurance rates or premiums paid by the passenger carriers or other costs associated with passenger service. "(2) In order to ensure sufficient, reliable, and timely traffic data to meet the requirements of this subsection, the Secretary shall require "(A) the monthly submission of the bush carrier's data on T-100 diskettes, or any other suitable form of data collection, as determined by the Secretary; and "(B) the carriers to retain all books, records, and other source and summary documentation to support their reports and to preserve and maintain such documentation in a manner that readily permits the audit and examination by representatives of the Postal Service or the Secretary. "(3) Documentation under paragraph (2) shall be retained for 7 years or until the Secretary indicates that the records may be destroyed. Copies of flight logs for aircraft sold or disposed of shall be retained. "(4) Carriers qualified to be tendered nonpriority bypass mail shall submit to the Secretary the number and type of aircraft in the carrier's fleet, the level of passenger insurance covering its fleet, and the name of the insurance company providing such coverage. "(5) Not later than 30 days after the last day of each calendar Deadline. month, carriers qualified or attempting to be qualified to be tendered nonpriority bypass mail shall report to the Secretary the excise taxes paid by city pair to the Department of the Treasury and the weight of and revenue earned by the carriage of nonmail freight. Final compiled data shall be made available to carriers providing service in the hub. "(1) No qualified carrier may be tendered nonpriority bypass mail under subsections (h) and (i) simultaneously on a route unless no other carrier is tendered mail under either subsection. "(m)(1) Carriers qualifying for tender of nonpriority bypass mail under subsections (h) and (i) simultaneously shall be tendered such mail under subsection (h). "(2) A carrier shall be tendered nonpriority bypass mail under subsection (i) if that carrier "(A) was qualified under both subsections (h) and (i) simultaneously; and "(B) becomes unqualified under subsection (h) but remains qualified under subsection (i). "(n)(1) A carrier operation resulting from a merger or acquisition between any 2 carriers operating between points in the State of Alaska shall have the passenger and nonmail freight of all such merged or acquired carriers on the applicable route counted toward meeting the resulting carrier's minimum requirements to receive equitable tender of nonpriority bypass mail on such route for the 12-month period following the date of the merger or acquisition. "(2) After the 12-month period described under paragraph (1), the carrier resulting from the merger or acquisition shall demonstrate that the carrier meets the minimum passenger or nonmail freight carriage requirements of this section to continue receiving tender of such mail. "(o) In addition to any penalties applied to a carrier by the Federal Aviation Administration or the Secretary, any carrier that significantly misstates passenger or nonmail freight data required to be reported under this section on any route, in an attempt to qualify for tender of nonpriority bypass mail, shall receive"(1) a 1-month suspension of tender of nonpriority bypass mail on the route where the data was misstated for the first offense; "(2) a 6-month suspension of tender of nonpriority bypass mail on the route where the data was misstated for the second offense; "(3) a 1-year suspension of tender of all nonpriority bypass mail in the entire State of Alaska for the third offense in the State; and "(4) a permanent suspension of tender of all nonpriority bypass mail in the entire State of Alaska for the fourth offense in the State. "(p)(1) The Postal Service or the Secretary, in carrying out subsection (g)(2), (h), or (i), may deny equitable tender to an otherwise qualified carrier that does not operate under this section in good faith or under the intent of this section. “(2) The Postal Service or the Secretary may waive any provision of subsection (h) or (i), if the carrier provides substantial passenger or nonmail freight service on the route in the State of Alaska where the carrier seeks tender of nonpriority mail and nonpriority bypass mail. "(3) To ensure adequate competition among passenger carriers on a mainline route in the State of Alaska the Postal Service or the Secretary may waive the requirements of subsection (g)(1)(D), (g)(2)(E), (g)(4), or (g)(5), or any provision of subsection (h) if a 121 bush passenger carrier seeks tender of nonpriority bypass mail on a mainline route in the State of Alaska not served by a 121 mainline passenger carrier and the 121 bush passenger carrier provides substantial passenger service on the route. Waivers provided for under this paragraph shall be granted only in extreme cases of lack of competition and only to extent that are absolutely necessary to meet the minimum needs of the community. Waivers granted under this subsection shall cease to be valid once a qualified |