II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1881

To amend chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, to make certain

temporary Federal service creditable for retirement purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 8, 1999

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

the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To amend chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, to

make certain temporary Federal service creditable for

retirement 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 ‘‘FERS Buyback Act

5 of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. CREDITABILITY OF SERVICE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8411(b) of title 5, United

8 States Code, is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

10 (3);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(5) subject to subsection (i), service as a tem5 porary or intermittent employee not otherwise cred6 itable for purposes of this chapter, performed after

7 December 31, 1988, and before January 1, 1999, of

8 at least 1 year’s duration (whether performed over

9 a continuous period or otherwise), but only if the in10 dividual performing such service later becomes sub11 ject to this chapter, and such service is not credited

12 for purposes of any benefit under any other retire13 ment system established by a law of the United

14 States (disregarding the Social Security Act and

15 chapter 83 of this title).’’.

16 (b) DEPOSIT REQUIREMENT.—Section 8411 of title

17 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

18 the following:

19 ‘‘(i)(1) An employee or Member shall, with respect

20 to any service described in subsection (b)(5) performed by

21 such employee or Member, be required to deposit to the

22 credit of the Fund an amount equal to 1.3 percent of basic

23 pay for such service.

24 ‘‘(2) Any deposit under paragraph (1) made more

25 than 5 years after the later of—
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1 ‘‘(A) October 1, 1999, or

2 ‘‘(B) the date on which the employee or Mem3 ber making the deposit first becomes an employee or

4 Member following the period of temporary or inter5 mittent service for which such deposit is due,

6 shall include interest on such amount, computed in the

7 manner described in subsection (f)(3) and compounded

8 annually beginning on the date of the expiration of the

9 5-year period.

10 ‘‘(3) If the deposit under paragraph (1) is not made

11 or if less than the entire amount of such deposit is made—

12 ‘‘(A) service of the employee or Member de13 scribed in subsection (b)(5) shall be fully creditable;

14 but

15 ‘‘(B) any annuity under this chapter based on

16 the service of such employee or Member shall be re17 duced in a manner similar to that described in sec18 tion 8418(b).’’.

19 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO PERSONS WHO HAVE

20 SEPARATED.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Personnel Manage22 ment shall prescribe regulations under which credit for

23 service, as described in section 8411(b)(5) of title 5,

24 United States Code, as amended by this Act, which was
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1 performed by an individual who has separated from Gov2 ernment service may be obtained.

3 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Under the regulations, credit

4 shall not be given under this section unless appropriate

5 written application is submitted, not later than December

6 31, 2001, in such form and manner as the regulations re7 quire.

8 (c) RECOMPUTATION OF ANNUITY.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any annuity or survivor an10 nuity payable as of when an application under this

11 subsection is submitted shall be recomputed to take

12 into account any service described in section

13 8411(b)(5) of title 5, United States Code (performed

14 by the individual on whose service the annuity is

15 based), effective with respect to amounts accruing

16 for months beginning more than 30 days after the

17 date on which such application is submitted.

18 (2) CONDITION.—If the full amount of the de19 posit required under section 8411(i) of such title 5

20 is not timely made (before such deadline as the Of21 fice shall by regulation prescribe) with respect to

22 any service as to which the application under para23 graph (1) relates, an appropriate reduction shall be

24 made in the recomputed annuity in accordance with

25 paragraph (3) of such section 8411(i). Interest shall
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1 not be included as part of any deposit under this

2 subsection.

3 SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION AND OTHER DUTIES OF THE OFFICE

4 OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.

5 (a) NOTICE.—The Office of Personnel Management

6 shall take such action as may be necessary and appro7 priate to inform individuals of any rights they might have

8 as a result of the enactment of this Act.

9 (b) ASSISTANCE.—The Office shall, on request, assist

10 any individual in obtaining from any department, agency,

11 or other instrumentality of the United States any informa12 tion in the possession of such instrumentality which may

13 be necessary to verify the entitlement of such individual

14 to have any service credited under section 8411(b)(5) of

15 title 5, United States Code, as amended by this Act, or

16 to have an annuity recomputed under section 3(c).

17 (c) INFORMATION.—Any department, agency, or

18 other instrumentality of the United States which possesses

19 any information with respect to an individual’s perform20 ance of any service described in such section 8411(b)(5)

21 shall, at the request of the Office, furnish such informa22 tion to the Office.

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