I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4803 

To require the Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing 

Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 5, 2014 

Mr. SANFORD (for himself and Mr. HUDSON) (all by request): introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

A BILL 

To require the Transportation Security Administration to 

conform to existing Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, 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 ‘‘TSA Office of Inspec5 tion Accountability Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Consistent with Federal law and regula2 tions, for law enforcement officers to qualify for pre3 mium pay as criminal investigators, the officers 

4 must, in general, spend on average at least 50 per5 cent of their time investigating, apprehending, or de6 taining individuals suspected or convicted of offenses 

7 against the criminal laws of the United States. 

8 (2) According to the Inspector General of the 

9 Department of Homeland Security (DHS IG), the 

10 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does 

11 not ensure that its cadre of criminal investigators in 

12 the Office of Inspection are meeting this require13 ment, even though they are considered law enforce14 ment officers under TSA policy and receive premium 

15 pay. 

16 (3) Instead, TSA criminal investigators in the 

17 Office of Inspection primarily monitor the results of 

18 criminal investigations conducted by other agencies, 

19 investigate administrative cases of TSA employee 

20 misconduct, and carry out inspections, covert tests, 

21 and internal reviews, which the DHS IG asserts 

22 could be performed by employees other than criminal 

23 investigators at a lower cost. 

24 (4) The premium pay and other benefits af25 forded to TSA criminal investigators in the Office of 


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1 Inspection who are incorrectly classified as such will 

2 cost the taxpayer as much as $17,000,000 over 5 

3 years if TSA fails to make any changes to the num4 ber of criminal investigators in the Office of Inspec5 tion, according to the DHS IG. 

6 (5) This may be a conservative estimate, as it 

7 accounts for the cost of Law Enforcement Avail8 ability Pay, but not the costs of law enforcement 

9 training, statutory early retirement benefits, police 

10 vehicles, and weapons. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra14 tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis15 tration. 

16 (2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist17 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

18 Homeland Security (Transportation Security) of the 

19 Department of Homeland Security. 

20 (3) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec21 tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De22 partment of Homeland Security 

23 SEC. 4. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 

24 (a) REVIEW.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall 


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1 analyze the data and methods that the Assistant Secretary 

2 uses to identify employees of the Administration who meet 

3 the requirements of sections 8331(20), 8401(17) and 

4 5545a of title 5, United States Code, and provide the rel5 evant findings to the Assistant Secretary, including a find6 ing on whether the data and methods are adequate and 

7 valid. 

8 (b) PROHIBITION ON HIRING.—If the Inspector Gen9 eral finds that such data and methods are inadequate or 

10 invalid, the Administration may not hire any new em11 ployee to work in the Office of Inspection of the Adminis12 tration until— 

13 (1) the Assistant Secretary makes a certifi14 cation described in section 5 to the Committee on 

15 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 

16 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

17 Transportation of the Senate; and 

18 (2) the Inspector General submits to such Com19 mittees a finding, not later than 30 days after the 

20 Assistant Secretary makes such certification, that 

21 the Assistant Secretary utilized adequate and valid 

22 data and methods to make such certification. 


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1 SEC. 5. TSA OFFICE OF INSPECTION WORKFORCE CERTIFI2 CATION. 

3 (a) CERTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—The Assistant 

4 Secretary shall, by not later than 90 days after the date 

5 the Inspector General provides its findings to the Assist6 ant Secretary under section 4(a), document and certify in 

7 writing to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

8 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com9 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate that 

10 only those employees of the Administration who meet the 

11 requirements of sections 8331(20), 8401(17), and 5545a 

12 of title 5, United States Code, are classified as criminal 

13 investigators and are receiving premium pay and other 

14 benefits associated with such classification. 

15 (b) EMPLOYEE RECLASSIFICATION.—The Assistant 

16 Secretary shall reclassify criminal investigator positions in 

17 the Office of Inspection as noncriminal investigator posi18 tions or non-law enforcement positions if the individuals 

19 in those positions do not, or are not expected to, spend 

20 an average of at least 50 percent of their time performing 

21 criminal investigative duties. 

22 (c) PROJECTED COST SAVINGS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 

24 shall estimate the total long-term cost savings to the 

25 Federal Government resulting from the implementa26 tion of subsection (b), and provide such estimate to 


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1 the Committee on Homeland Security of the House 

2 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

3 Science, and Transportation of the Senate by not 

4 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

5 this Act. 

6 (2) CONTENTS.—Such estimate shall identify 

7 savings associated with the positions reclassified 

8 under subsection (b) and include, among other fac9 tors the Assistant Secretary considers appropriate, 

10 savings from— 

11 (A) law enforcement training; 

12 (B) early retirement benefits; 

13 (C) law enforcement availability pay; and 

14 (D) weapons, vehicles, and communications 

15 devices. 

Æ 


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