II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 696 

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 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BONUSES. 

7 (a) ADVERSE FINDINGS AND EMPLOYEES UNDER IN8 VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 

9 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subchapter IV—Limitations on Bonus 

2 Authority 

3 ‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 

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

5 ‘‘(1) ADVERSE FINDING.— 

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

7 finding’ means a determination by the head of 

8 the agency employing an employee that the con9 duct of the employee— 

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

11 which the employee may be removed or 

12 suspended for a period of not less than 14 

13 days; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) violated a law for which the em15 ployee may be imprisoned for more than 1 

16 year. 

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

18 subparagraph (A) may be based on an inves19 tigation by, a determination of, or information 

20 provided by the Inspector General or another 

21 senior ethics official of an agency or the Comp22 troller General of the United States, as part of 

23 carrying out an activity, authority, or function 

24 of the Inspector General, senior ethics official, 


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1 or Comptroller General, respectively, under a 

2 provision of law other than this section. 

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

4 meaning given the term in section 551. 

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

6 performance award or cash award under— 

7 ‘‘(A) section 4505a; 

8 ‘‘(B) section 5384; or 

9 ‘‘(C) section 5754. 

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

11 an employee of an agency. 

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

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

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

15 the head of an agency makes an adverse finding relating 

16 to the employee. 

17 ‘‘(c) AFTER BONUS AWARDED.— 

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

19 employee after the date of enactment of this section, 

20 if the head of the agency employing the employee 

21 makes an adverse finding relating to the employee 

22 during the year in which the bonus is awarded, the 

23 head of the agency, after notice and an opportunity 

24 for a hearing, shall issue an order directing the em25 ployee to repay the amount of the bonus. 


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1 ‘‘(2) HEARINGS.—A hearing under this sub2 section shall be conducted in accordance with regula3 tions relating to hearings promulgated by the head 

4 of the agency under chapter 75. 

5 ‘‘(d) CONDITION OF RECEIPT.—As a condition of re6 ceiving a bonus awarded after the date of enactment of 

7 this section, an employee shall sign a certification stating 

8 that the employee shall repay the bonus in accordance with 

9 a final order issued under subsection (c). 

10 ‘‘(e) APPEAL.—An employee determined to be ineli11 gible for a bonus under subsection (b) or against whom 

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

13 appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board under sec14 tion 7701.’’. 

15 (b) RULEMAKING.—The head of each agency, as de16 fined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, may 

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

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

19 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY

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

Æ 


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