II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3530 

To retain Federal employees who are spouses of a member of the Armed 

Forces or the Foreign Service when relocating due to an involuntary 

transfer, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2023 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. MORAN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Ms. ROSEN) 

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

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To retain Federal employees who are spouses of a member 

of the Armed Forces or the Foreign Service when relocating due to an involuntary transfer, 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 ‘‘Resilient Employment 

5 and Authorization Determination to Increase the National 

6 Employment of Serving Spouses Act’’ or the ‘‘READI7 NESS Act’’. 


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•S 3530 IS

1 SEC. 2. FLEXIBILITIES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES WHO 

2 ARE ARMED FORCES OR FOREIGN SERVICE 

3 SPOUSES. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’— 

6 (A) means each agency, office, or other es7 tablishment in the executive, legislative, or judi8 cial branch of the Federal Government; and 

9 (B) includes— 

10 (i) each nonappropriated fund instru11 mentality of the United States, including 

12 each instrumentality described in section 

13 2105(c) of title 5, United States Code; and 

14 (ii) the United States Postal Service. 

15 (2) ARMED FORCES.—The term ‘‘Armed 

16 Forces’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘armed 

17 forces’’ in section 2101 of title 5, United States 

18 Code. 

19 (3) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

20 individual’’ means an individual who— 

21 (A) is the spouse of a member of the 

22 Armed Forces or the Foreign Service; 

23 (B) is an employee; and 

24 (C) relocates because the spouse of the in25 dividual, as described in subparagraph (A), is 

26 subject to a permanent change of station. 


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•S 3530 IS

1 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

3 (5) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 

4 an employee of an agency. 

5 (6) PERMANENT CHANGE OF STATION.—The 

6 term ‘‘permanent change of station’’ means, with re7 spect to a member of the Armed Forces or the For8 eign Service— 

9 (A) a permanent change of duty station; or 

10 (B) a change in homeport of a vessel, ship11 based squadron or staff, or mobile unit. 

12 (7) PERMANENT EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘per13 manent employee’’ does not include an employee who 

14 is serving under a temporary appointment or a term 

15 appointment. 

16 (b) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 30 days after re17 ceiving a request from a covered individual, the head of 

18 the agency employing the covered individual shall— 

19 (1) authorize the covered individual to work re20 motely full-time if that agency head determines that 

21 the duties of the covered individual do not require 

22 the regular physical presence of the covered indi23 vidual in the workplace; 

24 (2) transfer the covered individual, if qualified, 

25 to a position of equal grade in the agency and in the 


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•S 3530 IS

1 commuting area of the new duty station or homeport 

2 of the spouse of the covered individual; 

3 (3) transfer the covered individual, if qualified, 

4 to a remote position of equal grade in the agency; 

5 or 

6 (4) in the case of a covered individual who is 

7 not authorized to work remotely under paragraph 

8 (1), or to be transferred under paragraph (2) or (3), 

9 place the covered individual into a nonpay and 

10 nonduty status for the greater of— 

11 (A) the duration of the service of the 

12 spouse of the covered individual at the new duty 

13 station or homeport of that spouse, as described 

14 in paragraph (2); or 

15 (B) the period of 36 consecutive months 

16 following the permanent change of station of 

17 the spouse of the covered individual. 

18 (c) NON-ENCUMBERED NONPAY AND NONDUTY STA19 TUS.—A position held by a covered individual placed into 

20 nonpay and nonduty status under this section— 

21 (1) shall not be considered to be encumbered; 

22 and 

23 (2) may be backfilled by a permanent employee. 

24 (d) REPORTS.— 


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•S 3530 IS

1 (1) AGENCY REPORTS TO OPM.—For each of 

2 the first 5 full fiscal years beginning after the date 

3 of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

4 shall, not later than 180 days after the last day of 

5 that fiscal year, submit to the Director— 

6 (A) a list of each request received by that 

7 agency head under subsection (b) during the 

8 applicable fiscal year; and 

9 (B) the action taken by the agency head 

10 under subsection (b) with respect to each re11 quest described in subparagraph (A). 

12 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—With respect to 

13 the information received by the Director under para14 graph (1) for a fiscal year, the Director shall, not 

15 later than 195 days after the last day of that fiscal 

16 year, submit to Congress a report containing all of 

17 that information for that fiscal year, which shall be 

18 sorted by agency. 

Æ 


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