II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4889 

To remove educational barriers to Federal employment for workers who are 

skilled through alternative routes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2024 

Mr. BROWN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the 

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

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To remove educational barriers to Federal employment for 

workers who are skilled through alternative routes, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Federal Jobs for 

5 STARs Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an individual 

9 appointed to a position in the civil service (as deVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Aug 29, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889

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•S 4889 IS

1 fined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code) 

2 in an executive agency; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘executive agency’’ means a de4 partment, agency, office, or other establishment in 

5 the executive branch of the Federal Government; 

6 and 

7 (3) the term ‘‘STAR’’ means an individual 

8 who— 

9 (A) is active in the labor force; 

10 (B) has not obtained a bachelor’s degree or 

11 a higher degree; and 

12 (C) has developed job-related skills through 

13 alternative routes, which may include at a com14 munity college, in an apprenticeship, through a 

15 bootcamp, through military service, through 

16 partial college completion, in other training pro17 grams, or through on-the-job experience. 

18 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY AND DIRECTIVES ON EDU19 CATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL 

20 PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS. 

21 To improve transparency and directives related to 

22 educational requirements for positions in executive agen23 cies, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management 

24 shall— 


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1 (1) prohibit the head of an executive agency 

2 from requiring a minimum educational attainment 

3 as qualification for a position as an employee of the 

4 executive agency, unless the Director of the Office of 

5 Personnel Management determines that such edu6 cational attainment is necessary for the position 

7 based on specified skills required for the position 

8 that can only be obtained through a certain degree; 

9 (2) prescribe regulations for hiring of employees 

10 by executive agencies regarding alternative qualifica11 tions to educational attainment that would meet the 

12 knowledge, skills, and abilities requirements for a 

13 position; 

14 (3) review the addition of educational require15 ments for employees during audits of hiring actions 

16 within executive agencies; and 

17 (4) establish a hiring path dedicated to posi18 tions for which STAR workers are eligible to apply 

19 within usajobs.gov, or any successor website, and di20 rect executive agencies to identify job postings that 

21 are within that hiring path, so that STAR workers 

22 may search for positions based on this criterion. 


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1 SEC. 4. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR 

2 STARS. 

3 The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, 

4 the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of 

5 Management and Budget, and the head of any other ap6 propriate executive agency shall jointly— 

7 (1) conduct a feasibility study regarding re8 sources required to establish a program to provide 

9 STAR employees with pathways for acquiring fur10 ther training and higher education, including fellow11 ships, scholarships, apprenticeships, and tuition as12 sistance, if the employee chooses to initiate or con13 tinue pursuit of further training or higher education 

14 while an employee; and 

15 (2) not later than 180 days after the date of 

16 enactment of this Act, submit a report on the find17 ings of the feasibility study to— 

18 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

19 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

20 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac21 countability of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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