II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1120 

To provide authorities for the appropriate conversion of temporary seasonal 

wildland firefighters and other temporary seasonal employees in Federal 

land management agencies who perform regularly recurring seasonal 

work to permanent seasonal positions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 7, 2013 

Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. UDALL of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide authorities for the appropriate conversion of temporary seasonal wildland firefighters and other temporary 

seasonal employees in Federal land management agencies 

who perform regularly recurring seasonal work to permanent seasonal positions. 

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 ‘‘Land Management 

5 Workforce Flexibility Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PERSONNEL FLEXIBILITIES RELATING TO LAND 

2 MANAGEMENT AGENCIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart I of part III of title 5, 

4 United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 

5 95 the following: 

6 ‘‘CHAPTER 96—PERSONNEL FLEXIBILI7 TIES RELATING TO LAND MANAGE8 MENT AGENCIES 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘9601. Definition. 

‘‘9602. Competitive service; time-limited appointments. 

9 ‘‘§ 9601. Definitions 

10 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘land management agency’ 

12 means— 

13 ‘‘(A) the Forest Service of the Department 

14 of Agriculture; 

15 ‘‘(B) the Bureau of Land Management of 

16 the Department of the Interior; 

17 ‘‘(C) the National Park Service of the De18 partment of the Interior; 

19 ‘‘(D) the Fish and Wildlife Service of the 

20 Department of the Interior; 

21 ‘‘(E) the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the 

22 Department of the Interior; and 

23 ‘‘(F) the Bureau of Reclamation of the De24 partment of the Interior; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘successor permanent position’ 

2 means, with respect to a time-limited position, a per3 manent position in the competitive service with the 

4 same or substantially similar major duties and quali5 fication requirements in the same major subdivision 

6 of the same land management agency as the time7 limited position; and 

8 ‘‘(3) the term ‘time-limited appointment’ in9 cludes a temporary appointment and a term appoint10 ment, as defined by the Office of Personnel Manage11 ment. 

12 ‘‘§ 9602. Competitive service; time-limited appoint13 ments 

14 ‘‘(a) ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE FOR PERMANENT

15 APPOINTMENTS.—Notwithstanding chapter 33 or any 

16 other provision of law relating to the examination, certifi17 cation, and appointment of individuals in the competitive 

18 service, an employee of a land management agency serving 

19 under a time-limited appointment in the competitive serv20 ice is eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in 

21 the competitive service under the merit promotion proce22 dures of the land management agency if— 

23 ‘‘(1) the employee was appointed initially under 

24 open, competitive examination under subchapter I of 

25 chapter 33 to the time-limited appointment; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the employee has served under 1 or more 

2 time-limited appointments by the land management 

3 agency for a period or periods totaling not less than 

4 24 months without an intervening break of 2 or 

5 more years; and 

6 ‘‘(3) the performance of the employee under the 

7 time-limited appointments has been at an acceptable 

8 level of performance during the period of service de9 scribed in paragraph (2). 

10 ‘‘(b) CONVERSION TO SUCCESSOR PERMANENT POSI11 TIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding chapter 

13 33 or any other provision of law relating to the ex14 amination, certification, and appointment of individ15 uals in the competitive service, an employee of a 

16 land management agency serving under a time-lim17 ited appointment in the competitive service shall be 

18 offered any successor permanent position that the 

19 land management agency decides to fill and, with 

20 the agreement of the employee, be appointed to the 

21 successor permanent position if— 

22 ‘‘(A) the employee was appointed initially 

23 under open, competitive examination under sub24 chapter I of chapter 33 to the time-limited ap25 pointment; 


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1 ‘‘(B)(i) the job announcement for the time2 limited position stated that there was potential 

3 for the position to become permanent; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) the first time-limited appointment of 

5 the employee by the land management agency 

6 occurred before the date of enactment of this 

7 chapter; 

8 ‘‘(C) the employee has served under 1 or 

9 more time-limited appointments in a position or 

10 positions in the land management agency with 

11 the same or substantially similar major duties 

12 and qualification requirements as the successor 

13 permanent position for a period or periods to14 taling not less than 24 months without an in15 tervening break of 2 or more years; and 

16 ‘‘(D) the performance of the employee 

17 under the time-limited appointments has been 

18 at an acceptable level of performance during the 

19 period of service described in subparagraph (C). 

20 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE ELIGIBLES.—If 2 or more 

21 employees are eligible to be offered a successor per22 manent position under paragraph (1), the land man23 agement agency shall give priority to such an em24 ployee who is a preference eligible. 


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1 ‘‘(3) EQUAL PREFERENCE.—If 2 or more em2 ployees are eligible to be offered a successor perma3 nent position under paragraph (1) and have equal 

4 priority for the successor permanent position, the 

5 land management agency shall use competitive pro6 cedures consistent with merit system principles to 

7 determine to which employee the successor perma8 nent position will be offered. 

9 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF APPOINTED EMPLOYEES.—An 

10 appointment to a position under subsection (a) or (b) shall 

11 be a career-conditional appointment, unless the employee 

12 has otherwise completed the service requirements for a ca13 reer appointment. 

14 ‘‘(d) COMPETITIVE STATUS.—An employee appointed 

15 to a position under subsection (a) or (b) shall acquire com16 petitive status upon appointment. 

17 ‘‘(e) TIME-LIMITED EMPLOYEES SEPARATED FROM

18 SERVICE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall apply 

20 with respect to an employee of a land management 

21 agency serving under a time-limited appointment 

22 who has been separated from service for reasons 

23 other than misconduct or unacceptable performance. 

24 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—For an employee described 

25 in paragraph (1)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) this section shall apply as if the em2 ployee occupied the time-limited position from 

3 which the employee was most recently sepa4 rated; and 

5 ‘‘(B) a land management agency shall be 

6 deemed to have met the requirements under 

7 this section relating to the employee if notice is 

8 sent to the last known address of the employee 

9 not later than 21 days before a successor per10 manent position for which the employee is eligi11 ble is filled. 

12 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Office of Personnel Man13 agement shall prescribe such regulations as may be nec14 essary to carry out this section.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for part 

16 III of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

17 after the item for chapter 95 the following: 

‘‘96. Personnel flexibilities relating to land management agencies .......... 9601’’. 

Æ 


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