II 

Calendar No. 167 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 696 

[Report No. 115–127] 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to appropriately limit the authority 

to award bonuses to Federal employees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2017 

Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. HELLER) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

JULY 11, 2017 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to appropriately limit 

the authority to award bonuses to Federal employees. 

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 ‘‘Stop Improper Federal 

5 Bonuses Act’’. 


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•S 696 RS

1 SEC. 2. BONUSES. 

2 (a) ADVERSE FINDINGS AND EMPLOYEES UNDER IN3 VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘Subchapter IV—Limitations on Bonus 

6 Authority 

7 ‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) ADVERSE FINDING.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘adverse 

11 finding’ means a determination by the head of 

12 the agency employing an employee that the con13 duct of the employee— 

14 ‘‘(i) violated a policy of the agency for 

15 which the employee may be removed or 

16 suspended for a period of not less than 14 

17 days; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) violated a law for which the em19 ployee may be imprisoned for more than 1 

20 year. 

21 ‘‘(B) BASIS.—A determination described in 

22 subparagraph (A) may be based on an inves23 tigation by, a determination of, or information 

24 provided by the Inspector General or another 

25 senior ethics official of an agency or the Comp26 troller General of the United States, as part of 


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•S 696 RS

1 carrying out an activity, authority, or function 

2 of the Inspector General, senior ethics official, 

3 or Comptroller General, respectively, under a 

4 provision of law other than this section. 

5 ‘‘(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’ has the 

6 meaning given the term in section 551. 

7 ‘‘(3) BONUS.—The term ‘bonus’ means any 

8 performance award or cash award under— 

9 ‘‘(A) section 4505a; 

10 ‘‘(B) section 5384; or 

11 ‘‘(C) section 5754. 

12 ‘‘(4) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘employee’ means 

13 an employee of an agency. 

14 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—The head of an agency may not 

15 award a bonus to an employee of the agency until the date 

16 that is 5 years after the end of the fiscal year during which 

17 the head of an agency makes an adverse finding relating 

18 to the employee. 

19 ‘‘(c) AFTER BONUS AWARDED.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For a bonus awarded to an 

21 employee after the date of enactment of this section, 

22 if the head of the agency employing the employee 

23 makes an adverse finding relating to the employee 

24 during the fiscal year in which the bonus is awarded, 

25 the head of the agency, after notice and an opporVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Jul 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S696.RS S696

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1 tunity for a hearing, shall issue an order directing 

2 the employee to repay the amount of the bonus. 

3 ‘‘(2) REPAYMENT PLAN.—An agency shall allow 

4 an employee who is required to repay a bonus under 

5 paragraph (1) to repay that bonus using a repayment 

6 plan. 

7 ‘‘ (2)(3) HEARINGS.—A hearing under this sub8 section shall be conducted in accordance with regula9 tions relating to hearings promulgated by the head 

10 of the agency under chapter 75. 

11 ‘‘(d) CONDITION OF RECEIPT.—As a condition of re12 ceiving a bonus awarded after the date of enactment of 

13 this section, an employee shall sign a certification stating 

14 that the employee shall repay the bonus in accordance with 

15 a final order issued under subsection (c). 

16 ‘‘(e) APPEAL.—An employee determined to be ineli17 gible for a bonus under subsection (b) or against whom 

18 an order is issued under subsection (c) may submit an 

19 appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under sec20 tion 7701.’’. 

21 (b) RULEMAKING.—The head of each agency, as de22 fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, may 

23 promulgate rules to carry out section 4531 of title 5, 

24 United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 


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1 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

2 The table of sections for chapter 45 of title 5, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY

‘‘4531. Certain forms of misconduct.’’. 


srobinson on DSKBC5CHB2PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 167 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 696 

[Report No. 115–127] 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to approFederal employees. priately limit the authority to award bonuses to 

JULY 11, 2017 

Reported with amendments 


srobinson on DSKBC5CHB2PROD with BILLS