II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3481 

To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to employees and 

to require approval of high cost Government conferences and reporting 

regarding Government conferences. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2012 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself and Ms. AYOTTE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to 

employees and to require approval of high cost Government conferences and reporting regarding Government 

conferences. 

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 ‘‘Stop Wasteful Federal 

5 Bonuses and Conferences Act of 2012’’. 


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•S 3481 IS

1 SEC. 2. BONUSES. 

2 (a) ADVERSE FINDINGS AND EMPLOYEES UNDER IN3 VESTIGATION.—Chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS 

6 AUTHORITY 

7 ‘‘§ 4531. Certain forms of misconduct 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘adverse finding’ relating to a 

10 employee means a determination that the conduct of 

11 the employee resulted in fraud, waste, abuse, or a 

12 violation of contracting requirements; 

13 ‘‘(2) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given 

14 that term under section 551; and 

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘bonus’ means any bonus or cash 

16 award, including— 

17 ‘‘(A) an award under this chapter; 

18 ‘‘(B) an award under section 5384; and 

19 ‘‘(C) a retention bonus under section 5754. 

20 ‘‘(b) ADVERSE FINDINGS.— 

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

22 shall not award a bonus to an employee of the agen23 cy until 2 years after the end of the fiscal year in 

24 which the Inspector General of the agency or the 

25 Comptroller General of the United States makes an 

26 adverse finding relating to the employee. 


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•S 3481 IS

1 ‘‘(2) PREVIOUSLY AWARDED BONUSES.—If the 

2 Inspector General of an agency or the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States makes an adverse find4 ing relating to an employee, the head of the agency 

5 employing the employee, after notice and an oppor6 tunity for a hearing, may issue an order directing 

7 the employee to repay the amount of any bonus 

8 awarded to the employee during the year during 

9 which the adverse finding is made.’’. 

10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

11 The table of sections for chapter 45 of title 5, United 

12 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—LIMITATIONS ON BONUS AUTHORITY

‘‘4531. Certain forms of misconduct.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. GOVERNMENT CONFERENCES. 

15 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

16 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

17 that term under section 551 of title 5, United States 

18 Code; 

19 (2) the term ‘‘conference’’ means a meeting 

20 that— 

21 (A) is held for consultation, education, or 

22 discussion; 

23 (B) is not held entirely at an agency facil24 ity; 


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•S 3481 IS

1 (C) involves costs associated with travel 

2 and lodging for some participants; and 

3 (D) is sponsored by 1 or more agencies, 1 

4 or more organizations that are not agencies, or 

5 a combination of such agencies or organiza6 tions; and 

7 (3) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an employee of 

8 an agency. 

9 (b) HIGH-COST CONFERENCES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—An agency may not sponsor 

11 a conference the total cost to the Government of 

12 which is expected to be more than $200,000 without 

13 the approval of the head of the agency. 

14 (2) LIMITATION ON DELEGATION.—The head of 

15 an agency may only delegate the authority under 

16 this subsection to the Chief Management Officer of 

17 the agency or, for an agency that does not have a 

18 Chief Management Officer, an employee of the agen19 cy in an equivalent position. 

20 (c) CONFERENCE REPORTING.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency shall 

22 submit to each committee of Congress with jurisdic23 tion of the activities of the agency a report regard24 ing each conference sponsored by the agency. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted by the 

2 head of an agency under paragraph (1) shall provide 

3 detailed information about the conference, includ4 ing— 

5 (A) the location of the conference; 

6 (B) number of employees attending the 

7 conference; 

8 (C) a list of the titles of the employees at9 tending the conference; 

10 (D) the total cost to the Government of the 

11 conference; and 

12 (E) a breakdown of the cost to the Govern13 ment relating to the conference for— 

14 (i) scouting for and selecting the loca15 tion of the conference; 

16 (ii) travel; 

17 (iii) lodging; 

18 (iv) food; 

19 (v) speakers or entertainment; and 

20 (vi) gifts provided to conference 

21 attendees. 

Æ 


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