S. 422 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE FIRST SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Sunday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty one 

An Act 

To allow Senators, Senators-elect, committees of the Senate, leadership offices, 

and other offices of the Senate to share employees, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senate Shared Employee Act’’. 

SEC. 2. ALLOWING SENATORS, COMMITTEES, LEADERSHIP OFFICES, 

AND OTHER OFFICES OF THE SENATE TO SHARE 

EMPLOYEES. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 114 of the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1978 (2 U.S.C. 4576) is amended— 

(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘Notwithstanding’’; 

(2) by striking ‘‘position, each of’’ and all that follows 

through the period at the end and inserting the following: 

‘‘qualifying position if the aggregate gross pay from those positions does not exceed— 

‘‘(1) the maximum rate specified in section 105(d)(2) of 

the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1968 (2 U.S.C. 

4575(d)(2)), as amended and modified; or 

‘‘(2) in a case where 1 or more of the individual’s qualifying 

positions are positions described in subsection (d)(2)(B), the 

maximum rate specified in section 105(e)(3) of the Legislative 

Branch Appropriation Act, 1968 (2 U.S.C. 4575(e)(3)), as 

amended and modified.’’; and 

(3) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(b)(1) For an individual serving in more than 1 qualifying 

position under subsection (a), the cost of any travel for official 

business shall be paid by the office authorizing the travel. 

‘‘(2) Messages for each electronic mail account used in connection with carrying out the official duties of an individual serving 

in more than 1 qualifying position under subsection (a) may be 

delivered to and sent from a single handheld communications device 

provided to the individual for purposes of official business. 

‘‘(3)(A) For purposes of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

(5 U.S.C. App.), the rate of basic pay for an individual serving 

in more than 1 qualifying position under subsection (a) shall be 

the total basic pay received by the individual from all such positions. 

‘‘(B) For an individual serving in more than one qualifying 

position under subsection (a), for purposes of the rights and obligations described in, or described in the provisions applied under, 

title II of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

1311 et seq.) related to practices used at a time when the individual 
S. 422—2 

is serving in such a qualifying position with an employing office, 

the rate of pay for the individual shall be the individual rate 

of pay received from the employing office. 

‘‘(c)(1) If the duties of a qualifying position under subsection 

(a) include information technology services and support, an individual may only serve in the qualifying position and 1 or more 

additional qualifying positions under such subsection if the individual is in compliance with each information technology standard 

and policy established for Senate offices by the Office of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate. 

‘‘(2) Notwithstanding subsection (a), an employee serving in 

a qualifying position in the Office of the Secretary of the Senate 

or the Office of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate 

may serve in an additional qualifying position only if— 

‘‘(A) the other qualifying position is with the other Office; 

or 

‘‘(B) the Committee on Rules and Administration of the 

Senate has approved the arrangement. 

‘‘(d) In this section, the term ‘qualifying position’ means a 

position that— 

‘‘(1) is designated as a shared position for purposes of 

this section by the Senator or other head of the office in which 

the position is located; and 

‘‘(2) is one of the following: 

‘‘(A) A position— 

‘‘(i) that is in the office of a Senator; and 

‘‘(ii) the pay of which is disbursed by the Secretary 

of the Senate. 

‘‘(B) A position— 

‘‘(i) that is in any committee of the Senate 

(including a select or special committee) or a joint 

committee of Congress; and 

‘‘(ii) the pay of which is disbursed by the Secretary 

of the Senate out of an appropriation under the heading 

‘INQUIRIES AND INVESTIGATIONS’ or ‘JOINT ECONOMIC

COMMITTEE’, or a heading relating to a Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. 

‘‘(C) A position— 

‘‘(i) that is in another office (excluding the Office 

of the Vice President and the Office of the Chaplain 

of the Senate); and 

‘‘(ii) the pay of which is disbursed by the Secretary 

of the Senate out of an appropriation under the heading 

‘SALARIES, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES’. 

‘‘(D) A position— 

‘‘(i) that is filled pursuant to section 105 of the 

Second Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1978 (2 

U.S.C. 6311); and 

‘‘(ii) the pay of which is disbursed by the Secretary 

of the Senate out of an appropriation under the heading 

‘MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS’.’’. 
S. 422—3 

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsection 

(a) shall take effect beginning on the day that is 6 months after 

the date of enactment of this Act. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.