I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 583

To provide that the provisions of subchapter III of chapter 83 and chapter

84 of title 5, United States Code, that apply with respect to law enforcement officers be made applicable with respect to Assistant United States

Attorneys.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 4, 1999

Mr. DAVIS of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To provide that the provisions of subchapter III of chapter

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

apply with respect to law enforcement officers be made

applicable with respect to Assistant United States Attorneys.

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 ‘‘Assistant United

5 States Attorneys Retirement Benefit Equity Act of 1998’’.
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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTOR2 NEYS.

3 (a) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—

4 (1) INCLUSION IN DEFINITION OF A LAW EN5 FORCEMENT OFFICER.—Paragraph (20) of section

6 8331 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by

7 striking ‘‘position.’’ and inserting ‘‘position and an

8 Assistant United States Attorney.’’.

9 (2) DEFINITION OF AN ASSISTANT UNITED

10 STATES ATTORNEY.—Section 8331 of title 5, United

11 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

12 end of paragraph (26), by striking the period at the

13 end of paragraph (27) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and by

14 adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(28) ‘Assistant United States Attorney’ means

16 an assistant United States attorney appointed under

17 section 542 of title 28.’’.

18 (b) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—

19 (1) INCLUSION IN DEFINITION OF A LAW EN20 FORCEMENT OFFICER.—Paragraph (17) of section

21 8401 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by

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

23 adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the end of sub24 paragraph (D), and by adding at the end the follow25 ing:
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1 ‘‘(E) an Assistant United States Attor2 ney;’’.

3 (2) DEFINITION OF AN ASSISTANT UNITED

4 STATES ATTORNEY.—Section 8401 of title 5, United

5 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

6 end of paragraph (32), by striking the period at the

7 end of paragraph (33) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and by

8 adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(34) ‘Assistant United States Attorney’ means

10 an assistant United States attorney appointed under

11 section 542 of title 28.’’.

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise provided

13 in section 3, this Act and the amendments made by this

14 Act shall take effect on the first day of the first applicable

15 pay period beginning after the expiration of the 90-day

16 period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

17 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO INCUMBENTS.

18 (a) INCUMBENT DEFINED.—For purposes of this sec19 tion, the term ‘‘incumbent’’ means an individual first ap20 pointed as an Assistant United States Attorney before the

21 effective date of this Act who is serving in that capacity

22 on such effective date.

23 (b) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 6

24 months after the effective date of this Act, the Depart25 ment of Justice shall take measures reasonably designed
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1 to provide notice to incumbents as to their election rights

2 under this Act, and the consequences of making or not

3 making a timely election under this Act.

4 (c) ELECTION AVAILABLE TO INCUMBENTS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—An incumbent may elect, for

6 all purposes, either—

7 (A) to be treated in accordance with the

8 amendments made by this Act; or

9 (B) to be treated in the same way as if

10 this Act had never been enacted.

11 Failure to make a timely election under this sub12 section shall be treated in the same way as an elec13 tion under subparagraph (A) made on the last day

14 allowable under paragraph (2).

15 (2) DEADLINE.—An election under this sub16 section shall not be effective unless it is made before

17 the 90th day after the date on which the notice

18 under subsection (b) is provided or the date on

19 which the incumbent involved separates from service,

20 whichever is earlier.

21 (3) INTERIM STATUS.—Notwithstanding any

22 other provision of this Act, no change in the retire23 ment coverage of any incumbent shall occur, by rea24 son of the enactment of this Act, before the date on
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1 which an election under paragraph (1)(A) is made

2 (or deemed to have been made).

3 (d) RETROACTIVE EFFECT.—In the case of any in4 cumbent who elects (or is deemed to have elected) the op5 tion under subsection (c)(1)(A), all service performed by

6 such individual as an Assistant United States Attorney

7 shall—

8 (1) to the extent performed on or after the ef9 fective date of that election, be treated in accordance

10 with applicable provisions of chapter 83 or 84 of

11 title 5, United States Code, as amended by this Act;

12 and

13 (2) to the extent performed before the effective

14 date of that election, be treated in accordance with

15 applicable provisions of chapter 83 or 84 of such

16 title, as if the amendments made by this Act had

17 then been in effect.

18 (e) MAKEUP CONTRIBUTIONS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other

20 payment that it is required to make under sub21 chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title 5,

22 United States Code—

23 (A) the Department of Justice shall remit

24 to the Office of Personnel Management, in such

25 time, form, and manner as the Office may re-
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1 quire, the amount described in paragraph (2);

2 and

3 (B) any amount so remitted shall be de4 posited in the Treasury of the United States to

5 the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and

6 Disability Fund.

7 (2) AMOUNT TO BE REMITTED.—The amount

8 described in this paragraph is the total amount of

9 additional individual and Government contributions

10 to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund

11 that would have been required (for all incumbents

12 described in subsection (d), for all service performed

13 by them as an Assistant United States Attorney be14 fore the effective date of their election under sub15 section (c)), if the amendments made by this Act

16 had then been in effect, plus interest.

17 (3) NO INDIVIDUAL LIABILITY.—Nothing in

18 this Act or in chapter 83 or 84 of title 5, United

19 States Code (as amended by this Act) shall be con20 sidered to create any individual liability for any

21 shortfall in any contributions required to be made

22 up in the manner provided for under this subsection.

23 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Manage24 ment shall prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out

25 this Act, including provisions under which any interest due
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1 on the amount described in subsection (e) shall be deter2 mined.

3 (g) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

4 term ‘‘Assistant United States Attorney’’ means an assist5 ant United States attorney appointed under section 542

6 of title 28, United States Code.

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