II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1896 

To amend section 8331 of title 5, United States Code, and the Fair Labor 

Standards Act of 1938 to clarify the treatment of availability pay for 

Federal air marshals and criminal investigators of the Transportation 

Security Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend section 8331 of title 5, United States Code, and 

the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify the 

treatment of availability pay for Federal air marshals 

and criminal investigators of the Transportation Security 

Administration, 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 ‘‘TSA LEAP Pay Re5 form Act of 2017’’. 


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•S 1896 IS

1 SEC. 2. RETIREMENT-CREDITABLE BASIC PAY. 

2 (a) DEFINITION OF BASIC PAY.—Clause (ii) of sec3 tion 8331(3)(E) of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

4 to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(ii) received after September 11, 

6 2001, by a Federal air marshal or criminal 

7 investigator (as defined in section 

8 5545a(a)(2)) of the Transportation Secu9 rity Administration, subject to all restric10 tions and earning limitations imposed on 

11 criminal investigators receiving such pay 

12 under section 5545a, including the pre13 mium pay limitations under section 

14 5547;’’. 

15 (b) FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT EXEMPTION.— 

16 Section 13 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

17 U.S.C. 213) is amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (a)(16)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘is paid’’ and inserting ‘‘is 

20 entitled to’’; and 

21 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or a Federal air mar22 shal or criminal investigator employed by the 

23 Administrator of the Transportation Security 

24 Administration who is entitled to such avail25 ability pay, as described in section 

26 8331(3)(E)(ii) of such title (where entitlement 


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•S 1896 IS

1 is determined before the application of any pre2 mium pay limitation)’’ before the semicolon; 

3 and 

4 (2) in subsection (b)(30)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘is paid’’ and inserting ‘‘is 

6 entitled to’’; and 

7 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or a Federal air mar8 shal or criminal investigator employed by the 

9 Administrator of the Transportation Security 

10 Administration who is entitled to such avail11 ability pay, as described in section 

12 8331(3)(E)(ii) of such title (where entitlement 

13 is determined before the application of any pre14 mium pay limitation)’’ before the period. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

17 this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 

18 shall take effect on the first day of the first pay pe19 riod commencing on or after the date of enactment 

20 of this Act. 

21 (2) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any availability pay re23 ceived for any pay period commencing before 

24 the date of enactment of this Act by a Federal 

25 air marshal or criminal investigator employed 


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•S 1896 IS

1 by the Transportation Security Administration 

2 shall be deemed basic pay under section 

3 8331(3) of title 5, United States Code, if the 

4 Transportation Security Administration treated 

5 such pay as retirement-creditable basic pay, but 

6 the Office of Personnel Management, based on 

7 an interpretation of section 8331(3) of title 5, 

8 United States Code, did not accept such pay as 

9 retirement-creditable basic pay. 

10 (B) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 3 

11 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

12 the Director of the Office of Personnel Manage13 ment shall commence taking such actions as are 

14 necessary to implement the amendments made 

15 by this section with respect to availability pay 

16 deemed to be basic pay under subparagraph 

17 (A). 

Æ 


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