II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 553

To amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to reinstate

an exemption for certain bona fide hiring and retirement plans applicable

to State and local firefighters and law enforcement officers, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 14 (legislative day, MARCH 6), 1995

Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of

1967 to reinstate an exemption for certain bona fide

hiring and retirement plans applicable to State and local

firefighters and law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Age Discrimination

5 in Employment Amendments of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AGE DISCRIMINATION AMENDMENT.

2 (a) REPEAL OF REPEALER.—Section 3(b) of the Age

3 Discrimination in Employment Amendments of 1986 (29

4 U.S.C. 623 note) is repealed.

5 (b) EXEMPTION.—Section 4(j) of the Age Discrimi6 nation in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 623(j)),

7 as in effect immediately before December 31, 1993—

8 (1) is reenacted as such section; and

9 (2) as so reenacted, is amended in paragraph

10 (1) by striking ‘‘attained the age’’ and all that fol11 lows through ‘‘1983, and’’ and inserting the follow12 ing: ‘‘attained—

13 ‘‘(A) the age of hiring or retirement, re14 spectively, in effect under applicable State or

15 local law on March 3, 1983; or

16 ‘‘(B) if an age of retirement was not in ef17 fect under applicable State or local law on

18 March 3, 1983, 55 years of age; and’’.

19 SEC. 3. STUDY AND GUIDELINES FOR PERFORMANCE

20 TESTS.

21 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 3 years after the date

22 of enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Equal Em23 ployment Opportunity Commission (referred to in this sec24 tion as ‘‘the Chairman’’) shall conduct, directly or by con25 tract, a study, and shall submit to the appropriate com-
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1 mittees of Congress a report based on the results of the

2 study that shall include—

3 (1) a list and description of all tests available

4 for the assessment of abilities important for the

5 completion of public safety tasks performed by law

6 enforcement officers and firefighters;

7 (2) a list of the public safety tasks for which

8 adequate tests described in paragraph (1) do not

9 exist;

10 (3) a description of the technical characteristics

11 that the tests shall meet to be in compliance with

12 applicable Federal civil rights law and policies;

13 (4) a description of the alternative methods

14 that are available for determining minimally accept15 able performance standards on the tests;

16 (5) a description of the administrative stand17 ards that should be met in the administration, scor18 ing, and score interpretation of the tests; and

19 (6) an examination of the extent to which the

20 tests are cost effective, safe, and comply with the

21 Federal civil rights law and regulations.

22 (b) ADVISORY GUIDELINES.—Not later than 4 years

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chairman shall

24 develop and issue, based on the results of the study re25 quired by subsection (a), advisory guidelines for the ad-
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1 ministration and use of physical and mental fitness tests

2 to measure the ability and competency of law enforcement

3 officers and firefighters to perform the requirements of the

4 jobs of the officers and firefighters.

5 (c) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT; OPPORTUNITY

6 FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.—

7 (1) CONSULTATION.—The Chairman shall, dur8 ing the conduct of the study required by subsection

9 (a), consult with—

10 (A) the Deputy Administrator of the

11 United States Fire Administration;

12 (B) the Director of the Federal Emergency

13 Management Agency;

14 (C) organizations that represent law en15 forcement officers, firefighters, and employers

16 of the officers and firefighters; and

17 (D) organizations that represent older indi18 viduals.

19 (2) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Prior to issuing the

20 advisory guidelines required in subsection (b), the

21 Chairman shall provide an opportunity for public

22 comment on the proposed advisory guidelines.

23 (d) DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS FOR WELLNESS

24 PROGRAMS.—Not later than 2 years after the date of en25 actment of this Act, the Chairman shall propose advisory
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1 standards for wellness programs for law enforcement offi2 cers and firefighters.

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

4 authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 to carry out this

5 section.

6 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES.

7 (a) GENERAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as pro8 vided in subsection (b), this Act and the amendments

9 made by this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment

10 of this Act.

11 (b) SPECIAL EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeal made by

12 section 2(a) and the reenactment made by section 2(b)(1)

13 shall take effect on December 31, 1993.

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