II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1761

To provide that the performance of duties by Federal officers of certain

vacant offices of the Federal Government shall comply with the requirements of sections 3345 through 3349 of title 5, United States Code

(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Vacancies Act’’), and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 16, 1998

Mr. BYRD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To provide that the performance of duties by Federal officers

of certain vacant offices of the Federal Government shall

comply with the requirements of sections 3345 through

3349 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred

to as the ‘‘Vacancies Act’’), 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 ‘‘Federal Vacancies

5 Compliance Act of 1998’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT OF TIME LIMITATION ON TEM2 PORARY FILLING OF VACANCIES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 5, United

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3348

5 the following new section:

6 ‘‘§ 3348a. Enforcement of time limitation on tem7 porary filling of vacancies

8 ‘‘(a)(1) An individual who performs the duties of an

9 office in any Executive agency (other than the General Ac10 counting Office) that has been filled temporarily in excess

11 of any 120-day period time limitation under section 3348

12 may not receive pay for each day such duties are per13 formed.

14 ‘‘(2) Pay not received under paragraph (1) shall be

15 forfeited and may not be paid as backpay.

16 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding section 1342 of title 31, para17 graph (1) shall apply regardless of an individual perform18 ing the duties of another office or position in addition to

19 performing the duties of the vacant office.

20 ‘‘(b) On the first day of each month the Director of

21 the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to the

22 Comptroller General of the United States a report contain23 ing—

24 ‘‘(1) the name of each officer of an Executive

25 agency (other than the General Accounting Office)
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1 filling an office temporarily as described under sec2 tion 3348(a);

3 ‘‘(2) the date on which each officer named

4 under paragraph (1) began filling the applicable of5 fice temporarily;

6 ‘‘(3) the date upon which each office being tem7 porarily filled became vacant; and

8 ‘‘(4) the date upon which any nomination to fill

9 any such vacancy was submitted to the Senate.

10 ‘‘(c) If the Comptroller General of the United States

11 makes a determination that a violation of any 120-day pe12 riod time limitation under section 3348 has occurred, the

13 Comptroller General shall submit a report of such deter14 mination to each House of Congress, the President, the

15 Secretary of the Treasury, and the Office of Personnel

16 Management.’’.

17 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

18 The table of sections for chapter 33 of title 5, United

19 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat20 ing to section 3348 the following:

‘‘3348a. Enforcement of time limitation on temporary filling of vacancies.’’.

21 SEC. 3. SUPERSEDING PROVISIONS.

22 Sections 3345, 3346, 3347, 3348, 3348a (as added

23 by section 2 of this Act), and 3349 of title 5, United

24 States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Vacancies
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1 Act’’), shall supersede any other provision of law, except

2 any provision that—

3 (1) specifically cites any such section of title 5,

4 United States Code; and

5 (2) states that such provision specifically super6 sedes such section of title 5, United States Code.

7 SEC. 4. APPLICATION TO PENDING NOMINATIONS.

8 Section 3348a(a) of title 5, United States Code (as

9 added by section 2 of this Act), shall not apply to any

10 individual whose nomination to an office is pending before

11 the Senate on the date occurring 120 days after the date

12 of enactment of this Act with respect to the office such

13 individual is temporarily filling.

14 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

15 This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment

16 of this Act, except that subsection (a) of section 3348a

17 of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 2 of

18 this Act) shall take effect 120 days after the date of enact19 ment of this Act.

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