Page 733 TITLE 5—GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES § 7322

of employees in Executive agencies or competitive

service, prior to the general revision of this subchapter

by Pub. L. 103–94.

EFFECTIVE DATE; SAVINGS PROVISION

Pub. L. 103–94, §12, Oct. 6, 1993, 107 Stat. 1011, provided

that:

‘‘(a) The amendments made by this Act [enacting sections 5520a and 7321 to 7326 of this title and section 610

of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, amending

sections 1216, 2302, 3302 and 3303 of this title, sections

602 and 603 of Title 18, section 410 of Title 39, Postal

Service, and sections 1973d and 9904 of Title 42, The

Public Health and Welfare, and omitting former sections 7321 to 7328 of this title] shall take effect 120 days

after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 6,

1993], except that the authority to prescribe regulations

granted under section 7325 of title 5, United States Code

(as added by section 2 of this Act), shall take effect on

the date of the enactment of this Act.

‘‘(b) Any repeal or amendment made by this Act of

any provision of law shall not release or extinguish any

penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under that provision, and that provision shall be treated as remaining

in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper proceeding or action for the enforcement of that penalty,

forfeiture, or liability.

‘‘(c) No provision of this Act shall affect any proceedings with respect to which the charges were filed on or

before the effective date of the amendments made by

this Act. Orders shall be issued in such proceedings and

appeals shall be taken therefrom as if this Act had not

been enacted.’’

DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

Memorandum of President of the United States, Oct.

27, 1994, 59 F.R. 54515, provided:

Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense

Pursuant to authority vested in me as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States, and consistent

with the provisions of the Hatch Act Reform Amendment regulations, 5 CFR 734.104, and section 301 of title

3, United States Code, I delegate to you the authority

to limit the political activities of political appointees

of the Department of Defense, including Presidential

appointees, Presidential appointees with Senate confirmation, noncareer SES appointees, and Schedule C

appointees.

You are authorized and directed to publish this

memorandum in the Federal Register.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

Memorandum of President of the United States, Oct.

24, 1994, 59 F.R. 54121, provided:

Memorandum for the Secretary of State

Pursuant to authority vested in me as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States, and consistent

with the provisions of the Hatch Act Reform Amendment regulations, 5 CFR 734.104, and section 301 of title

3, United States Code, I delegate to you the authority

to limit the political activities of political appointees

of the Department of State, including Presidential appointees, Presidential appointees with Senate confirmation, noncareer SES appointees, and Schedule C

appointees.

You are authorized and directed to publish this

memorandum in the Federal Register.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

Memorandum of President of the United States, Sept.

30, 1994, 59 F.R. 50809, provided:

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Pursuant to authority vested in me as the Chief Executive Officer of the United States, and consistent

with the provisions of the Hatch Act Reform Amendment regulations, 5 CFR 734.104, and section 301 of title

3, United States Code, I delegate to you the authority

to limit the political activities of political appointees

of the Department of Justice, including Presidential

appointees, Presidential appointees with Senate confirmation, noncareer SES appointees, and Schedule C

appointees.

You are authorized and directed to publish this

memorandum in the Federal Register.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

§ 7322. Definitions

For the purpose of this subchapter—

(1) ‘‘employee’’ means any individual, other

than the President and the Vice President,

employed or holding office in—

(A) an Executive agency other than the

Government Accountability Office; or

(B) a position within the competitive service which is not in an Executive agency;

but does not include a member of the uniformed services or an individual employed or

holding office in the government of the District of Columbia;

(2) ‘‘partisan political office’’ means any office for which any candidate is nominated or

elected as representing a party any of whose

candidates for Presidential elector received

votes in the last preceding election at which

Presidential electors were selected, but shall

exclude any office or position within a political party or affiliated organization; and

(3) ‘‘political contribution’’—

(A) means any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of

value, made for any political purpose;

(B) includes any contract, promise, or

agreement, express or implied, whether or

not legally enforceable, to make a contribution for any political purpose;

(C) includes any payment by any person,

other than a candidate or a political party

or affiliated organization, of compensation

for the personal services of another person

which are rendered to any candidate or political party or affiliated organization without charge for any political purpose; and

(D) includes the provision of personal services for any political purpose.

(Added Pub. L. 103–94, §2(a), Oct. 6, 1993, 107 Stat.

1001; amended Pub. L. 108–271, §8(b), July 7, 2004,

118 Stat. 814; Pub. L. 112–230, §3(e), Dec. 28, 2012,

126 Stat. 1617.)

PRIOR PROVISIONS

A prior section 7322, Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80

Stat. 525, prohibited employees in Executive agencies

or competitive service from using official authority or

influence to coerce political actions of persons or bodies, prior to the general revision of this subchapter by

Pub. L. 103–94.

AMENDMENTS

2012—Par. (1). Pub. L. 112–230, §3(e)(4), substituted

‘‘services or an individual employed or holding office in

the government of the District of Columbia;’’ for ‘‘services;’’ in concluding provisions.

Pub. L. 112–230, §3(e)(1)–(3), inserted ‘‘or’’ at end of

subpar. (A), struck out ‘‘or’’ at end of subpar. (B), and

struck out subpar. (C) which read as follows: ‘‘the government of the District of Columbia, other than the

Mayor or a member of the City Council or the Recorder

of Deeds;’’.

2004—Par. (1)(A). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted ‘‘Government Accountability Office’’ for ‘‘General Accounting

Office’’.
§ 7323 TITLE 5—GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES Page 734

1See References in Text note below.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2012 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 112–230 effective 30 days after

Dec. 28, 2012, see section 5(a) of Pub. L. 112–230, set out

as a note under section 1501 of this title.

§ 7323. Political activity authorized; prohibitions

(a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b),

an employee may take an active part in political management or in political campaigns, except an employee may not—

(1) use his official authority or influence for

the purpose of interfering with or affecting the

result of an election;

(2) knowingly solicit, accept, or receive a political contribution from any person, unless

such person is—

(A) a member of the same Federal labor organization as defined under section 7103(4) of

this title or a Federal employee organization

which as of the date of enactment of the

Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993 had a

multicandidate political committee (as defined under section 315(a)(4) of the Federal

Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

441a(a)(4))); 1

(B) not a subordinate employee; and

(C) the solicitation is for a contribution to

the multicandidate political committee (as

defined under section 315(a)(4) of the Federal

Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

441a(a)(4))) 1 of such Federal labor organization as defined under section 7103(4) of this

title or a Federal employee organization

which as of the date of the enactment of the

Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993 had a

multicandidate political committee (as defined under section 315(a)(4) of the Federal

Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

441a(a)(4))); 1 or

(3) run for the nomination or as a candidate

for election to a partisan political office; or

(4) knowingly solicit or discourage the participation in any political activity of any person who—

(A) has an application for any compensation, grant, contract, ruling, license, permit,

or certificate pending before the employing

office of such employee; or

(B) is the subject of or a participant in an

ongoing audit, investigation, or enforcement

action being carried out by the employing

office of such employee.

(b)(1) An employee of the Federal Election

Commission (except one appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the

Senate), may not request or receive from, or

give to, an employee, a Member of Congress, or

an officer of a uniformed service a political contribution.

(2)(A) No employee described under subparagraph (B) (except one appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the

Senate), may take an active part in political

management or political campaigns.

(B) The provisions of subparagraph (A) shall

apply to—

(i) an employee of—

(I) the Federal Election Commission or the

Election Assistance Commission;

(II) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

(III) the Secret Service;

(IV) the Central Intelligence Agency;

(V) the National Security Council;

(VI) the National Security Agency;

(VII) the Defense Intelligence Agency;

(VIII) the Merit Systems Protection

Board;

(IX) the Office of Special Counsel;

(X) the Office of Criminal Investigation of

the Internal Revenue Service;

(XI) the Office of Investigative Programs

of the United States Customs Service;

(XII) the Office of Law Enforcement of the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms;

(XIII) the National Geospatial-Intelligence

Agency; or

(XIV) the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; or

(ii) a person employed in a position described under section 3132(a)(4), 5372, 5372a, or

5372b of title 5, United States Code.

(3) No employee of the Criminal Division or

National Security Division of the Department of

Justice (except one appointed by the President,

by and with the advice and consent of the Senate), may take an active part in political management or political campaigns.

(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term

‘‘active part in political management or in a political campaign’’ means those acts of political

management or political campaigning which

were prohibited for employees of the competitive service before July 19, 1940, by determinations of the Civil Service Commission under the

rules prescribed by the President.

(c) An employee retains the right to vote as he

chooses and to express his opinion on political

subjects and candidates.

(Added Pub. L. 103–94, §2(a), Oct. 6, 1993, 107 Stat.

1002; amended Pub. L. 103–359, title V, §501(k),

Oct. 14, 1994, 108 Stat. 3430; Pub. L. 104–201, div.

A, title XI, §1122(a)(1), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat.

2687; Pub. L. 106–554, §1(a)(3) [title VI, §645(a)(2)],

Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–170; Pub. L.

107–252, title VIII, §811(a), Oct. 29, 2002, 116 Stat.

1727; Pub. L. 108–458, title I, §1079(a), Dec. 17,

2004, 118 Stat. 3695; Pub. L. 109–177, title V,

§506(b)(2), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 249; Pub. L.

110–417, [div. A], title IX, §931(a)(1), Oct. 14, 2008,

122 Stat. 4575.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The date of enactment of the Hatch Act Reform

Amendments of 1993, referred to in subsec. (a)(2)(A), (C),

is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 103–94, which was

approved Oct. 6, 1993.

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, referred

to in subsec. (a)(2)(A), (C), is Pub. L. 92–225, Feb. 7, 1972,

86 Stat. 3, which was formerly classified principally to

chapter 14 (§431 et seq.) of Title 2, The Congress, prior

to editorial reclassification and renumbering in Title

52, Voting and Elections, and is now classified principally to chapter 301 (§30101 et seq.) of Title 52. Section

315 of this Act is now classified to section 30116 of Title

52. For complete classification of this Act to the Code,

see Tables.

PRIOR PROVISIONS

A prior section 7323, Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80

Stat. 525, prohibited employee in Executive agency