II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3585 

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 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 

Mr. TESTER 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. Definition 

10 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter, the term ‘land man11 agement agency’ means— 

12 ‘‘(1) the Forest Service of the Department of 

13 Agriculture; 

14 ‘‘(2) the Bureau of Land Management of the 

15 Department of the Interior; 

16 ‘‘(3) the National Park Service of the Depart17 ment of the Interior; 

18 ‘‘(4) the Fish and Wildlife Service of the De19 partment of the Interior; 

20 ‘‘(5) the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the De21 partment of the Interior; and 

22 ‘‘(6) the Bureau of Reclamation of the Depart23 ment of the Interior. 


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1 ‘‘§ 9602. Competitive service; time-limited appoint2 ments 

3 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding chapter 33 or any other provi4 sion of law relating to the examination, certification, and 

5 appointment of individuals in the competitive service, an 

6 employee of a land management agency serving under a 

7 time-limited appointment in the competitive service is eli8 gible to compete for a permanent appointment in the com9 petitive service under that agency’s merit promotion proce10 dures if— 

11 ‘‘(1) such individual was appointed initially 

12 under open, competitive examination under sub13 chapter I of chapter 33 to the time-limited appoint14 ment; 

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

16 time-limited appointments by such agency for a pe17 riod or periods totaling not less than 24 months 

18 without an intervening break of 2 or more years; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(3) the employee’s performance under such 

21 time-limited appointment or appointments has been 

22 at an acceptable level of performance during those 

23 24 months of service. 

24 ‘‘(b)(1) For purposes of this subsection, the term 

25 ‘successor permanent position’ means, with respect to a 

26 time-limited position, a permanent position in the competiVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:31 Sep 26, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3585.IS S3585

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1 tive service with the same or substantially similar major 

2 duties and qualification requirements in the same major 

3 subdivision of the same agency as the time-limited posi4 tion. 

5 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding chapter 33 or any other provi6 sion of law relating to the examination, certification, and 

7 appointment of individuals in the competitive service, an 

8 employee of a land management agency serving under a 

9 time-limited appointment in the competitive service shall 

10 be offered any successor permanent position that the agen11 cy decides to fill and, upon his or her concurrence, be ap12 pointed to such position if— 

13 ‘‘(A) such individual was appointed initially 

14 under open, competitive examination under sub15 chapter I of chapter 33 to the time-limited appoint16 ment; 

17 ‘‘(B)(i) the job announcement for the time-lim18 ited position stated that there was potential for the 

19 position to become permanent; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) the employee’s first time-limited appoint21 ment by such agency occurred before the date of en22 actment of this chapter; 

23 ‘‘(C) the employee has served under a time-lim24 ited appointment or appointments in a position or 

25 positions in such agency with the same or substanVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:31 Sep 26, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3585.IS S3585

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1 tially similar major duties and qualification require2 ments as the successor permanent position for a pe3 riod or periods totaling not less than 24 months 

4 without an intervening break of 2 or more years; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(D) the employee’s performance under such 

7 time-limited appointment or appointments has been 

8 at an acceptable level of performance during those 

9 24 months of service. 

10 ‘‘(3) If 2 or more employees are eligible for conver11 sion under this subsection, then any preference eligible 

12 veterans shall be given priority. 

13 ‘‘(4) If 2 or more employees have equal priority for 

14 conversion under this subsection, then placement shall be 

15 determined by competitive procedures consistent with 

16 merit system principles. 

17 ‘‘(c) An employee selected or converted under this 

18 section becomes a career-conditional employee, unless the 

19 employee has otherwise completed the service require20 ments for career tenure. 

21 ‘‘(d) An employee appointed under this section ac22 quires competitive status upon appointment. 

23 ‘‘(e) The provisions of this section shall apply with 

24 respect to time-limited employees who have been separated 

25 for reasons other than misconduct or unacceptable perVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:31 Sep 26, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3585.IS S3585

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1 formance. For such a separated employee, the provisions 

2 of this chapter shall apply as if such separated employee 

3 occupied the time-limited position from which such em4 ployee was most recently separated. An agency shall be 

5 deemed to have met its obligation under this section if no6 tice is sent to the last known address of such individual 

7 21 or more days before a successor permanent position 

8 for which he or she is eligible is filled. 

9 ‘‘(f) For purposes of this section, time-limited ap10 pointments include temporary appointments and term ap11 pointments, as defined by the Office of Personnel Manage12 ment. 

13 ‘‘(g) The Office of Personnel Management shall pre14 scribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out 

15 this section.’’. 

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

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

18 after the item for chapter 95 the following: 

‘‘96. Personnel flexibilities relating to land management 

agencies ..................................................................... 9601’’. 

Æ 


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