II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1886 

To amend subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 5, United States Code, to 

authorize agencies to make noncompetitive temporary and term appointments in the competitive service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 

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

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 5, United 

States Code, to authorize agencies to make noncompetitive temporary and term appointments in the competitive 

service. 

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 ‘‘Temporary and Term 

5 Appointments Act of 2017’’. 


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•S 1886 IS

1 SEC. 2. NONCOMPETITIVE TEMPORARY AND TERM AP2 POINTMENTS IN THE COMPETITIVE SERVICE. 

3 (a) TEMPORARY AND TERM APPOINTMENTS.—Sub4 chapter I of chapter 31 of title 5, United States Code, 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 3115. Temporary and term appointments 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

9 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

10 ‘‘(2) TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT.—The term 

11 ‘temporary appointment’ means an appointment in 

12 the competitive service for a period of not more than 

13 1 year. 

14 ‘‘(3) TERM APPOINTMENT.—The term ‘term 

15 appointment’ means an appointment in the competi16 tive service for a period of more than 1 year and not 

17 more than 5 years. 

18 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 

20 make a temporary appointment or term appointment 

21 to a position in the competitive service when the 

22 need for the services of the employee is not perma23 nent. 

24 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION.—Under conditions prescribed 

25 by the Director, the head of an agency may— 


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•S 1886 IS

1 ‘‘(A) extend a temporary appointment 

2 made under paragraph (1) to be for a period of 

3 not more than 2 years; and 

4 ‘‘(B) extend a term appointment made 

5 under paragraph (1) to be for a period of not 

6 more than 5 years. 

7 ‘‘(c) APPOINTMENTS FOR CRITICAL HIRING

8 NEEDS.—Under conditions prescribed by the Director, the 

9 head of an agency may make a noncompetitive temporary 

10 appointment, or a noncompetitive term appointment for 

11 a period of not more than 18 months, to a position in 

12 the competitive service for which a critical hiring need ex13 ists, without regard to the requirements of sections 3327 

14 and 3330. An appointment made under this subsection 

15 may not be extended. 

16 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Director may prescribe 

17 regulations to carry out this section, but is not required 

18 to promulgate regulations prior to implementation of this 

19 section. 

20 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL PROVISION REGARDING THE DEPART21 MENT OF DEFENSE.—Nothing in this section shall pre22 clude the Secretary of Defense from making temporary 

23 and term appointments in the competitive service pursu24 ant to section 1105 of the National Defense Authorization 

25 Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (10 U.S.C. note prec. 1580; PubVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Oct 03, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1886.IS S1886

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1 lic Law 114–328; 130 Stat. 2447), and any regulations 

2 prescribed by the Director for the administration of this 

3 section shall not apply to the Secretary of Defense in the 

4 exercise of the authorities granted under such section 

5 1105.’’. 

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

7 for chapter 31 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

8 by inserting after the item relating to section 3114 the 

9 following: 

‘‘3115. Temporary and term appointments.’’. 

Æ 


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