II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1990 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide additional authority to 

the Office of Special Counsel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2019 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide additional 

authority to the Office of Special Counsel, 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 ‘‘Presidential Appointee 

5 Accountability Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 

7 Section 1215 of title 5, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 

2 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘A final’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subparagraph 

4 (C), a final’’; and 

5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(C) In a case brought under paragraph (1) in7 volving disciplinary action against an employee in a 

8 confidential, policy-making, policy-determining, or 

9 policy-advocating position appointed by the Presi10 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen11 ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service 

12 of the United States or an employee serving in a po13 sition at level I of the Executive Schedule under sec14 tion 5312), a final order of the Board— 

15 ‘‘(i) may impose an assessment of a civil 

16 penalty in an amount that is not more than 

17 $10,000 for each violation committed by the 

18 employee; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) may not impose any other disciplinary 

20 action.’’; and 

21 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(b)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered indi24 vidual’— 


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1 ‘‘(A) means an employee in a confidential, pol2 icy-making, policy-determining, or policy-advocating 

3 position appointed by the President, by and with the 

4 advice and consent of the Senate (other than an in5 dividual in the Foreign Service of the United 

6 States); and 

7 ‘‘(B) includes an employee serving in a position 

8 at level I of the Executive Schedule under section 

9 5312. 

10 ‘‘(2) If the Special Counsel determines under sub11 section (a) that disciplinary action should be taken against 

12 a covered individual— 

13 ‘‘(A) the Special Counsel shall prepare a writ14 ten complaint against the employee containing the 

15 determination of the Special Counsel, which— 

16 ‘‘(i) shall include— 

17 ‘‘(I) a written statement of supporting 

18 facts; and 

19 ‘‘(II) the recommendation of the Spe20 cial Counsel regarding the specific discipli21 nary action that should be taken against 

22 the covered individual; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) the Special Counsel shall present to 

24 the President and make publicly available; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date on 

2 which the President receives the complaint sub3 mitted under subparagraph (A), the President 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) submit to the Special Counsel a writ6 ten response that contains— 

7 ‘‘(I) an explanation of whether the 

8 President is taking the disciplinary action 

9 against the covered individual rec10 ommended by the Special Counsel under 

11 subparagraph (A)(i)(II); and 

12 ‘‘(II) if the President is not taking the 

13 action described in subclause (I), the rea14 son that the President is not taking that 

15 action; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) make the response required under 

17 clause (i) publicly available. 

18 ‘‘(3) With respect to a covered individual who is an 

19 employee in a confidential, policy-making, policy-deter20 mining, or policy-advocating position appointed by the 

21 President, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen22 ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service of 

23 the United States or an employee serving in a position 

24 at level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312), 

25 the action required under this subsection with respect to 


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1 the individual shall be in addition to any action required 

2 under subsection (a) with respect to the individual.’’. 

Æ 


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