II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1138

To allow credit under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System for certain

Government service which was performed abroad after December 31,

1988, and before May 24, 1998.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 29, 2001

Mr. ALLEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To allow credit under the Federal Employees’ Retirement

System for certain Government service which was performed abroad after December 31, 1988, and before

May 24, 1998.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. RETIREMENT CREDIT FOR CERTAIN GOVERN4 MENT SERVICE PERFORMED ABROAD.

5 Subject to section 2(a), credit under chapter 84 of

6 title 5, United States Code, shall be allowed for any service

7 performed by an individual if or to the extent that—

8 (1) it was performed by such individual—
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1 (A) after December 31, 1988, and before

2 May 24, 1998;

3 (B) at a United States diplomatic mission,

4 consular mission (other than a consular agen5 cy), or other Foreign Service post abroad; and

6 (C) under a temporary appointment pursu7 ant to sections 309 and 311 of the Foreign

8 Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3949 and

9 3951);

10 (2) at the time of performing such service, such

11 individual would have satisfied all eligibility require12 ments under regulations of the Department of State

13 (as in effect on the date of the enactment of this

14 Act) for a family member limited noncareer appoint15 ment (within the meaning of such regulations, as in

16 effect on such date of enactment), except that, in

17 applying this paragraph, an individual not employed

18 by the Department of State while performing such

19 service shall be treated as if then so employed;

20 (3) such service would have been creditable

21 under section 8411(b)(3) of such title 5 if—

22 (A) it had been performed before January

23 1, 1989; and
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1 (B) the deposit requirements of section

2 8411(f) of such title 5 had been met with re3 spect to such service;

4 (4) such service would not otherwise be cred5 itable under the Federal Employees’ Retirement Sys6 tem or any other retirement system for employees of

7 the United States Government (disregarding title II

8 of the Social Security Act); and

9 (5) the total amount of service performed by

10 such individual (satisfying paragraphs (1) through

11 (4)) is not less than 90 days.

12 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS.

13 (a) REQUIREMENTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL.—In order

14 to receive credit under chapter 84 of title 5, United States

15 Code, for any service described in section 1, the individual

16 who performed such service (or, if deceased, any person

17 who is or would be eligible for a survivor annuity under

18 the Federal Employees’ Retirement System based on the

19 service of such individual)—

20 (1) shall file a written application with the Of21 fice of Personnel Management no later than 36

22 months after the effective date of the regulations

23 prescribed to carry out this Act (as specified in

24 those regulations); and
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1 (2) shall remit to the Office (for deposit in the

2 Treasury of the United States to the credit of the

3 Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund) the

4 total amount that, under section 8422 of such title

5 5, should have been deducted from the basic pay of

6 such individual for such service if such service had

7 then been creditable under such chapter 84.

8 (b) GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS.—

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

10 payment that it is required to make under chapter

11 84 of title 5, United States Code, a department,

12 agency, or other instrumentality of the United

13 States shall remit to the Office of Personnel Man14 agement (for deposit in the Treasury of the United

15 States to the credit of the Fund) the amount de16 scribed in paragraph (2).

17 (2) AMOUNT DESCRIBED.—The amount de18 scribed in this paragraph is, with respect to a remit19 tance under subsection (a), the total amount of Gov20 ernment contributions that would, under section

21 8423 of title 5, United States Code, have been re22 quired of the instrumentality involved (to the extent

23 that it was the employing entity during the period

24 of service to which such remittance relates) in con25 nection with such service.
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1 (3) SPECIAL RULE.—If an amount cannot be

2 remitted under this subsection because an instru3 mentality has ceased to exist, such amount shall in4 stead be treated as part of the supplemental liability

5 referred to in section 8423(b)(1) (A) or (B) of title

6 5, United States Code (whichever would be appro7 priate).

8 (c) RELATED REQUIREMENTS.—Any remittance

9 under subsection (a) or (b)—

10 (1) shall be made in such time, form, and man11 ner as the Office of Personnel Management may by

12 regulation require; and

13 (2) shall be computed with interest (in accord14 ance with section 8334(e) of title 5, United States

15 Code, and such requirements as the Office may by

16 regulation prescribe).

17 (d) NOTIFICATION AND ASSISTANCE REQUIRE18 MENTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Personnel

20 Management shall take such action as may be nec21 essary and appropriate to inform individuals entitled

22 to have any service credited under this Act, or to

23 have any annuity computed or recomputed under

24 this Act, of their entitlement to such credit, com25 putation, or recomputation.
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1 (2) ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS.—The Office

2 shall, on request, assist any individual referred to in

3 paragraph (1) in obtaining from any department,

4 agency, or other instrumentality of the United

5 States such information in the possession of such in6 strumentality as may be necessary to verify the enti7 tlement of such individual to have any service cred8 ited, or to have any annuity computed or recom9 puted, pursuant to this Act.

10 (3) ASSISTANCE FROM INSTRUMENTALITIES.—

11 Any department, agency, or other instrumentality of

12 the United States which possesses any information

13 with respect to any service described in section 1

14 shall, at the request of the Office, furnish such in15 formation to the Office.

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

17 For purposes of this Act—

18 (1) the term ‘‘Civil Service Retirement and Dis19 ability Fund’’ or ‘‘Fund’’ means the Civil Service

20 Retirement and Disability Fund under section 8348

21 of title 5, United States Code;

22 (2) the term ‘‘abroad’’ has the meaning given

23 such term under section 102 of the Foreign Service

24 Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3902);
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1 (3) the term ‘‘temporary appointment’’ means

2 an appointment that is limited by its terms to a pe3 riod of one year or less; and

4 (4) the term ‘‘basic pay’’ has the meaning given

5 such term under section 8401 of title 5, United

6 States Code.

7 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

8 Nothing in this Act shall be considered to permit or

9 require the making of any contributions to the Thrift Sav10 ings Fund that would not otherwise have been permitted

11 or required had this Act not been enacted.

12 SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.

13 (a) ANNUITIES COMMENCING ON OR AFTER EFFEC14 TIVE DATE OF IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.—An annu15 ity or survivor annuity—

16 (1) which is based on the service of an indi17 vidual who performed service described in section 1,

18 and

19 (2) which commences on or after the effective

20 date of the regulations prescribed to carry out this

21 Act (as determined under section 2(a)(1)),

22 shall (subject to section 2(a)) be computed taking into ac23 count all service described in section 1 that was performed

24 by such individual.
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1 (b) ANNUITIES WITH COMMENCEMENT DATE PRE2 CEDING EFFECTIVE DATE OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA3 TIONS.—

4 (1) RECOMPUTATION CASES.—An annuity or

5 survivor annuity—

6 (A) which is based on the service of an in7 dividual who performed service described in sec8 tion 1, and

9 (B) which commences before the effective

10 date referred to in subsection (a)(2),

11 shall (subject to section 2(a)) be recomputed taking

12 into account all service described in section 1 that

13 was performed by such individual.

14 (2) OTHER CASES.—An annuity or survivor

15 annuity—

16 (A) which is based on the service of an in17 dividual who performed service described in sec18 tion 1,

19 (B) the requirements for entitlement to

20 which could not be met without taking into ac21 count service described in section 1, and

22 (C) which (if service described in section 1

23 had been taken into account, and an appro24 priate application been submitted) would have
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1 commenced before the effective date referred to

2 in subsection (a)(2),

3 shall (subject to section 2(a)) be computed taking

4 into account all service described in section 1 that

5 was performed by such individual.

6 (3) RETROACTIVE EFFECT.—Any computation

7 or recomputation of an annuity or survivor annuity

8 pursuant to this subsection shall—

9 (A) if pursuant to paragraph (1), be effec10 tive as of the commencement date of the annu11 ity or survivor annuity involved; and

12 (B) if pursuant to paragraph (2), be effec13 tive as of the commencement date that would

14 have applied if application for the annuity or

15 survivor annuity involved had been submitted

16 on the earliest date possible in order for it to

17 have been approved.

18 (4) LUMP-SUM PAYMENT.—Any amounts which

19 by virtue of paragraph (3) are payable for any

20 months preceding the first month (on or after the

21 effective date referred to in subsection (a)(2)) as of

22 which annuity or survivor annuity payments become

23 payable fully reflecting the computation or recompu24 tation under paragraph (1) or (2) (as the case may
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1 be) shall be payable in the form of a lump-sum pay2 ment.

3 (5) ORDER OF PRECEDENCE.—Section 8424(d)

4 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply in the

5 case of any payment under paragraph (4) payable to

6 an individual who has died.

7 SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION.

8 The Office of Personnel Management, in consultation

9 with the Secretary of State, shall prescribe such regula10 tions and take such action as may be necessary and appro11 priate to implement this Act.

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