I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2442

To amend the definition of a law enforcement officer under subchapter III 

of chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, respectively, 

to ensure the inclusion of certain positions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2003

Mr. FILNER (for himself and Mr. MCHUGH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

A BILL

To amend the definition of a law enforcement officer under 

subchapter III of chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title 

5, United States Code, respectively, to ensure the inclusion of certain positions.

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 ‘‘Law Enforcement Offi5 cers Equity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (17) of section 

2 8401 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

3 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (C), and 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(E) an employee (not otherwise covered 

6 by this paragraph)—

7 ‘‘(i) the duties of whose position in8 clude the investigation or apprehension of 

9 individuals suspected or convicted of of10 fenses against the criminal laws of the 

11 United States; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) who is authorized to carry a fire13 arm; and 

14 ‘‘(F) an employee of the Internal Revenue 

15 Service, the duties of whose position are pri16 marily the collection of delinquent taxes and the 

17 securing of delinquent returns;’’. 

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

19 8401(17)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘(A) and (B)’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘(A), (B), (E), and (F)’’. 

22 (b) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Para23 graph (20) of section 8331 of title 5, United States Code, 

24 is amended by inserting after ‘‘position.’’ the following: 

25 ‘‘For the purpose of this paragraph, the employees de-
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1 scribed in the preceding provision of this paragraph (in 

2 the matter before ‘including’) shall be considered to in3 clude an employee (not otherwise covered by this para4 graph) who satisfies clauses (i)–(ii) of section 

5 8401(17)(E) and an employee of the Internal Revenue 

6 Service the duties of whose position are as described in 

7 section 8401(17)(F).’’. 

8 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in section 

9 3, the amendments made by this section shall take effect 

10 on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply 

11 only in the case of any individual first appointed (or seek12 ing to be first appointed) as a law enforcement officer 

13 (within the meaning of those amendments) on or after 

14 such date. 

15 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF SERVICE PERFORMED BY INCUM16 BENTS. 

17 (a) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AND SERVICE DE18 SCRIBED.—

19 (1) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—Any ref20 erence to a law enforcement officer described in this 

21 subsection refers to an individual who satisfies the 

22 requirements of section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of 

23 title 5, United States Code (relating to the definition 

24 of a law enforcement officer) by virtue of the amend25 ments made by section 2. 
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1 (2) SERVICE.—Any reference to service de2 scribed in this subsection refers to service performed 

3 as a law enforcement officer (as described in this 

4 subsection). 

5 (b) INCUMBENT DEFINED.—For purposes of this sec6 tion, the term ‘‘incumbent’’ means an individual who—

7 (1) is first appointed as a law enforcement offi8 cer (as described in subsection (a)) before the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act; and 

10 (2) is serving as such a law enforcement officer 

11 on such date. 

12 (c) TREATMENT OF SERVICE PERFORMED BY INCUM13 BENTS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Service described in sub15 section (a) which is performed by an incumbent on 

16 or after the date of the enactment of this Act shall, 

17 for all purposes (other than those to which para18 graph (2) pertains), be treated as service performed 

19 as a law enforcement officer (within the meaning of 

20 section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of title 5, United 

21 States Code, as appropriate), irrespective of how 

22 such service is treated under paragraph (2).

23 (2) RETIREMENT.—Service described in sub24 section (a) which is performed by an incumbent be25 fore, on, or after the date of the enactment of this 
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1 Act shall, for purposes of subchapter III of chapter 

2 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, be 

3 treated as service performed as a law enforcement 

4 officer (within the meaning of such section 8331(20) 

5 or 8401(17), as appropriate), but only if an appro6 priate written election is submitted to the Office of 

7 Personnel Management within 5 years after the date 

8 of the enactment of this Act or before separation 

9 from Government service, whichever is earlier. 

10 (d) INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRIOR SERV11 ICE.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who makes an 

13 election under subsection (c)(2) may, with respect to 

14 prior service performed by such individual, con15 tribute to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability 

16 Fund the difference between the individual contribu17 tions that were actually made for such service and 

18 the individual contributions that should have been 

19 made for such service if the amendments made by 

20 section 2 had then been in effect. 

21 (2) EFFECT OF NOT CONTRIBUTING.—If no 

22 part of or less than the full amount required under 

23 paragraph (1) is paid, all prior service of the incum24 bent shall remain fully creditable as law enforcement 

25 officer service, but the resulting annuity shall be re-
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1 duced in a manner similar to that described in sec2 tion 8334(d)(2) of title 5, United States Code, to 

3 the extent necessary to make up the amount unpaid. 

4 (3) PRIOR SERVICE DEFINED.—For purposes of 

5 this section, the term ‘‘prior service’’ means, with re6 spect to any individual who makes an election under 

7 subsection (c)(2), service (described in subsection 

8 (a)) performed by such individual before the date as 

9 of which appropriate retirement deductions begin to 

10 be made in accordance with such election. 

11 (e) GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRIOR SERV12 ICE.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—If an incumbent makes an 

14 election under subsection (c)(2), the agency in or 

15 under which that individual was serving at the time 

16 of any prior service (referred to in subsection (d)) 

17 shall remit to the Office of Personnel Management, 

18 for deposit in the Treasury of the United States to 

19 the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and Dis20 ability Fund, the amount required under paragraph 

21 (2) with respect to such service. 

22 (2) AMOUNT REQUIRED.—The amount an agen23 cy is required to remit is, with respect to any prior 

24 service, the total amount of additional Government 

25 contributions to the Civil Service Retirement and 
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1 Disability Fund (over and above those actually paid) 

2 that would have been required if the amendments 

3 made by section 2 had then been in effect. 

4 (3) CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE MADE RATABLY.—

5 Government contributions under this subsection on 

6 behalf of an incumbent shall be made by the agency 

7 ratably (on at least an annual basis) over the 10-

8 year period beginning on the date referred to in sub9 section (d)(3). 

10 (f) EXEMPTION FROM MANDATORY SEPARATION.—

11 Nothing in section 8335(b) or 8425(b) of title 5, United 

12 States Code, shall cause the involuntary separation of a 

13 law enforcement officer (as described in subsection (a)) 

14 before the end of the 3-year period beginning on the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act. 

16 (g) REGULATIONS.—The Office shall prescribe regu17 lations to carry out this Act, including—

18 (1) provisions in accordance with which interest 

19 on any amount under subsection (d) or (e) shall be 

20 computed, based on section 8334(e) of title 5, 

21 United States Code; and 

22 (2) provisions for the application of this section 

23 in the case of—

24 (A) any individual who—
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1 (i) satisfies paragraph (1) (but not 

2 paragraph (2)) of subsection (b); and 

3 (ii) serves as a law enforcement offi4 cer (as described in subsection (a)) after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

6 (B) any individual entitled to a survivor 

7 annuity (based on the service of an incumbent, 

8 or of an individual under subparagraph (A), 

9 who dies before making an election under sub10 section (c)(2)), to the extent of any rights that 

11 would then be available to the decedent (if still 

12 living). 

13 (h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion shall be considered to apply in the case of a reem15 ployed annuitant.

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