I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2165 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of the 

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to make certain improvements in managing TSA employee conduct, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2017 

Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration 

(TSA) to make certain improvements in managing TSA 

employee conduct, 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 Misconduct Ac5 countability Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TSA REQUIREMENTS FOR ADDRESSING EMPLOYEE 

2 MISCONDUCT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 449 of 

4 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 44947. Requirements for addressing employee mis7 conduct 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this section, the Administrator 

10 of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) 

11 shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) revise TSA’s employee code of conduct pol13 icy to include— 

14 ‘‘(A) a process for disciplining an employee 

15 who, as determined by the Administrator, has 

16 received within a certain timeframe a certain 

17 number of disciplinary or adverse actions in re18 sponse to violations of such policy; and 

19 ‘‘(B) guidance on how employees should 

20 report misconduct; 

21 ‘‘(2) identify methods for addressing employee 

22 misconduct, including revising agency-wide, baseline 

23 ‘table of offenses and penalties’ used for both non24 disciplinary and disciplinary actions regarding mis25 conduct, including all acceptable non-disciplinary, 


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1 disciplinary, and adverse actions that may be admin2 istered for misconduct; 

3 ‘‘(3) submit to the Chief Human Capital Officer 

4 of the Department of Homeland Security such code 

5 of conduct policy and such table of offenses and pen6 alties for review by such Officer in consideration of 

7 Department policies and regulations, in accordance 

8 with subsection (e); and 

9 ‘‘(4) identify a senior TSA official responsible 

10 for overseeing TSA’s employee code of conduct pol11 icy and table of offenses and penalties. 

12 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 120 days 

13 after carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the 

14 TSA shall instruct TSA managers how to appropriately 

15 administer discipline related to employee misconduct. 

16 ‘‘(c) IDENTIFICATION.—Not later than 120 days 

17 after carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the 

18 TSA shall identify and address causes of employee mis19 conduct by— 

20 ‘‘(1) monitoring misconduct trends through a 

21 quarterly review and analysis of misconduct data; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(2) establishing specific outcome measures to 

24 assess performance. 


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1 ‘‘(d) INITIATIVES.—Not later than 120 days after 

2 carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator of the TSA 

3 shall, in consultation with the Chief Human Capital Offi4 cer of the Department of Homeland Security, implement 

5 human capital initiatives to address TSA employee mis6 conduct by— 

7 ‘‘(1) modifying the annual or periodic perform8 ance plans of Federal Security Directors to include 

9 the extent to which such Directors ensure that dis10 ciplinary actions administered at the airport for 

11 which they are responsible are consistent with TSA 

12 policy; 

13 ‘‘(2) notifying applicants of disqualifying of14 fenses in employment announcements for job de15 scriptions or during the application process to en16 sure that appropriately qualified candidates apply 

17 and are hired for such positions; and 

18 ‘‘(3) developing and delivering training and on19 the-job resources for supervisors to address mis20 conduct issues in accordance with TSA policy. 

21 ‘‘(e) CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 

23 after receipt of the TSA employee code of conduct 

24 policy and the table of offenses and penalties under 

25 subsection (a), the Chief Human Capital Officer of 


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1 the Department of Homeland Security shall review 

2 such policy and such table to ensure that such policy 

3 and such table align, as appropriate, with the poli4 cies and tables developed by the Chief Human Cap5 ital Officer for the Department. 

6 ‘‘(2) MONITORING.—The Chief Human Capital 

7 Officer of the Department of Homeland Security 

8 shall, as part of existing working groups established 

9 by such Officer, monitor through fiscal year 2020 

10 the implementation under subsection (b) of the TSA 

11 employee code of conduct. 

12 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) ACTIONS.—The term ‘actions’ means con14 sequences for employee misconduct, up to and in15 cluding removal from Federal service, established by 

16 TSA policy. 

17 ‘‘(2) MISCONDUCT.—The term ‘misconduct’ 

18 means the failure of a TSA employee to comply with 

19 a performance plan, rule, regulation, or law within 

20 the scope of such employee’s duties, responsibilities, 

21 or functions.’’. 

22 (b) PROHIBITION ON NEW FUNDING.—No funds are 

23 authorized to carry out this section and the amendment 

24 made by this section. This section and such amendment 


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1 shall be carried out using amounts otherwise made avail2 able. 

3 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap4 ter 449 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 

5 inserting after the item relating to section 44946 the fol6 lowing new item: 

‘‘44947. Requirements for addressing employee misconduct.’’. 

Æ 


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