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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 21 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 21

To require each Executive department to establish policies and collect 
     information regarding teleworking employees of the Executive 
                  department, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 7, 2025

   Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To require each Executive department to establish policies and collect 
     information regarding teleworking employees of the Executive 
                  department, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Requiring Effective Management and 
Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act'' or the ``REMOTE Act''.

SEC. 2. UTILIZATION DATA AND REPORTING.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency office.--The term ``agency office'' means any 
        office space--
                    (A) that is owned or leased by an Executive 
                department; and
                    (B) in which not less than 1 employee of the 
                Executive department described in subparagraph (A), or 
                a contract employee with respect to that Executive 
                department, regularly performs the duties of that 
                employee or contract employee, as applicable.
            (2) Budget justification materials.--The term ``budget 
        justification materials'' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 3(b)(2)(A) of the Federal Funding Accountability and 
        Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).
            (3) Computer network.--The term ``computer network'' means 
        software or a system--
                    (A) that is operated by or for an Executive 
                department; and
                    (B) to which an employee of the Executive 
                department described in subparagraph (A), or a contract 
                employee with respect to that Executive department, is 
                required to be digitally connected in order to work on 
                behalf of that Executive department, such as to access 
                the email account, user account, or file systems 
                provided by the Executive department to that employee 
                or contract employee, as applicable.
            (4) Contract employee.--The term ``contract employee'' 
        means an individual who--
                    (A) is not an employee of an Executive department;
                    (B) is an employee of an entity that has entered 
                into a contract with an Executive department; and
                    (C) works pursuant to the contract described in 
                subparagraph (B).
            (5) Executive department.--The term ``Executive 
        department'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of 
        title 5, United States Code.
            (6) Login.--The term ``login'' means the act by which an 
        employee of an Executive department, or a contract employee 
        with respect to an Executive department, makes a digital 
        connection to a computer network with respect to that Executive 
        department.
            (7) Network traffic.--The term ``network traffic'' means 
        the volume and flow of data across and within a computer 
        network.
            (8) Teleworking employee.--The term ``teleworking 
        employee'' means an employee of an Executive department, or a 
        contract employee with respect to an Executive department, who 
        is--
                    (A) working on behalf of the Executive department 
                and not detailed to a different Federal entity; and
                    (B) covered by a telework agreement.
            (9) Working remotely.--The term ``working remotely'' means, 
        with respect to a teleworking employee, that the teleworking 
        employee is performing work duties on a computer while located 
        physically outside of an agency office with respect to the 
        applicable Executive department (or, with respect to a contract 
        employee, outside of office space owned or leased by the entity 
        that employs the contract employee).
    (b) Data Collection.--The head of each Executive department shall--
            (1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, establish--
                    (A) policies requiring the recording of the login 
                activity of, and the network traffic that is generated 
                by, each teleworking employee with respect to that 
                Executive department; and
                    (B) directives for managers of teleworking 
                employees with respect to that Executive department to 
                periodically review the network traffic generated by 
                each such teleworking employee while that teleworking 
                employee is working remotely; and
            (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act--
                    (A) begin retaining the data described in paragraph 
                (1)(A), which shall include, with respect to each 
                teleworking employee with respect to that Executive 
                department who is working remotely--
                            (i) the average number of logins made each 
                        day by the teleworking employee;
                            (ii) the average daily duration of the 
                        connection by the teleworking employee to the 
                        applicable computer network; and
                            (iii) the network traffic that such 
                        teleworking employee generates while working 
                        remotely; and
                    (B) establish a policy that the Executive 
                department may dispose of data retained under 
                subparagraph (A) not sooner than 3 years after the date 
                on which the Executive department collects the data.
    (c) Swiped Data Collection.--Beginning on the date that is 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Executive 
department, with respect to each employee of the Executive department 
and each contract employee with respect to the Executive department who 
regularly performs the job duties of the employee or contract employee, 
as applicable, at the headquarters building of the Executive 
department--
            (1) shall require that employee or contract employee to use 
        a Personal Identity Verification Card or Common Access Card, as 
        applicable, to make a login;
            (2) shall collect login data by that employee or contract 
        employee using a Personal Identity Verification Card or Common 
        Access Card, as applicable, which shall include, with respect 
        to the employee or contract employee--
                    (A) the average number of logins made each day by 
                the employee or contract employee;
                    (B) the average daily duration of the connection by 
                the employee or contract employee to the applicable 
                computer network; and
                    (C) the network traffic that such employee or 
                contract employee generates while working from the 
                headquarters building;
            (3) shall retain data collected under paragraph (2); and
            (4) may dispose of data retained under paragraph (3) not 
        sooner than 3 years after the date on which the Executive 
        department collects the data.
    (d) Report.--With respect to the first fiscal year that begins 
after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act, and with respect to each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each 
Executive department shall publish the data collected pursuant to 
subsections (b)(2)(A) and (c)(2) in the budget justification materials 
of the Executive department in a format that, for the applicable fiscal 
year--
            (1) protects personally identifiable information;
            (2) compares the average login rates of teleworking 
        employees working remotely on each weekday to the total number 
        of teleworking employees approved to be working remotely on 
        each weekday; and
            (3) compares the average login rates of teleworking 
        employees working remotely on each weekday to the average login 
        rates of employees working from the headquarters building of 
        the Executive department.

SEC. 3. CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER REPORTS.

    Section 6506(d) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--Each year, the Chief Human Capital 
        Officer of each executive agency, in consultation with the 
        Telework Managing Officer of that agency, shall submit a report 
        to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers 
        Council on agency management efforts to promote the efficient 
        use of telework, which shall include a description of the 
        adverse effects of telework policy on the performance of the 
        executive agency, including any increased incidences of 
        disciplinary actions against employees of the executive 
        agency.'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Collection and retention of relevant information.--
        Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of the 
        Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking 
        Employees Act, the Chief Human Capital Officer of each 
        executive agency shall establish a policy that requires any 
        manager of an employee of the executive agency who teleworks 
        who revokes the privileges of that employee to telework due to 
        a reason specific to that employee to provide written 
        information to the human capital office of that executive 
        agency (which shall retain that information for a reasonable 
        amount of time after the employee is no longer employed by the 
        executive agency) and to the employee regarding the 
        circumstances giving rise to that revocation, which shall 
        include--
                    ``(A) the name, title, office, years of service, 
                official worksite, and annual rate of basic pay of the 
                employee;
                    ``(B) the total number of days that the employee 
                teleworked in the 6 work periods immediately preceding 
                the work period in which the revocation occurred, which 
                shall include an itemized identification of each day on 
                which that employee teleworked during those 6 work 
                periods;
                    ``(C) a brief narrative summary of the 
                circumstances giving rise to the revocation, with 
                detail sufficient to confirm the propriety of the 
                revocation under the policies of the executive agency; 
                and
                    ``(D) any steps the manager took to discipline the 
                employee before carrying out the revocation.''.
                                 <all>
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