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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1180 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1180

    To provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy 
       direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive Service.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 4, 2009

   Mr. Akaka introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
    To provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy 
       direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive Service.

    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 ``Senior Executive Service Diversity 
Assurance Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) according to the most recent findings from the 
        Government Accountability Office--
                    (A) minorities made up 22.5 percent of the 
                individuals serving at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 
                15.8 percent of the Senior Executive Service in 2007;
                    (B) women made up 34.3 percent of the individuals 
                serving at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 29.1 percent 
                of the Senior Executive Service in 2007; and
                    (C) although the number of career Senior Executive 
                Service members increased from 6,110 in 2,000 to 6,555 
                in 2007, the representation of African-American men in 
                the career Senior Executive Service declined during 
                that same period from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent; and
            (2) according to the Office of Personnel Management--
                    (A) Black employees represented 6.1 percent of 
                employees at the Senior Pay levels and 17.9 percent of 
                the permanent Federal workforce compared to 10 percent 
                in the civilian labor force in 2008;
                    (B) Hispanic employees represented 4.0 percent of 
                employees at the Senior Pay levels and 7.9 percent of 
                the permanent Federal workforce compared to 13.2 
                percent of the civilian labor force in 2008; and
                    (C) women represented 29.1 percent of employees at 
                the Senior Pay levels and 44.2 percent of the permanent 
                Federal workforce compared to 45.6 percent of the 
                civilian labor force in 2008.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office 
        of Personnel Management;
            (2) the term ``Senior Executive Service'' has the meaning 
        given under section 2101a of title 5, United States Code;
            (3) the terms ``agency'', ``career appointee'', and 
        ``career reserved position'' have the meanings given under 
        section 3132 of title 5, United States Code; and
            (4) the term ``SES Resource Office'' means the Senior 
        Executive Service Resource Office established under section 4.

SEC. 4. SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE RESOURCE OFFICE.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish within the Office 
of Personnel Management an office to be known as the Senior Executive 
Service Resource Office.
    (b) Mission.--The mission of the SES Resource Office shall be to--
            (1) improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity 
        of the Senior Executive Service through policy formulation and 
        oversight;
            (2) advance the professionalism of the Senior Executive 
        Service; and
            (3) ensure that, in seeking to achieve a Senior Executive 
        Service reflective of the Nation's diversity, recruitment is 
        from qualified individuals from appropriate sources.
    (c) Functions.--
            (1) In general.--The functions of the SES Resource Office 
        are to--
                    (A) make recommendations to the Director with 
                respect to regulations; and
                    (B) provide guidance to agencies, concerning the 
                structure, management, and diverse composition of the 
                Senior Executive Service.
            (2) Specific functions.--In order to carry out the purposes 
        of this section, the SES Resource Office shall--
                    (A) take such actions as the SES Resource Office 
                considers necessary to manage and promote an efficient, 
                elite, and diverse corps of senior executives by--
                            (i) creating policies for the management 
                        and improvement of the Senior Executive 
                        Service;
                            (ii) providing oversight of the 
                        performance, structure, and composition of the 
                        Senior Executive Service; and
                            (iii) providing guidance and oversight to 
                        agencies in the management of senior executives 
                        and candidates for the Senior Executive 
                        Service;
                    (B) be responsible for the policy development, 
                management, and oversight of the Senior Executive 
                Service pay and performance management system;
                    (C) develop standards for certification of each 
                agency's Senior Executive Service performance 
                management system and evaluate all agency applications 
                for certification;
                    (D) be responsible for coordinating, promoting, and 
                monitoring programs for the advancement and training of 
                senior executives, including the Senior Executive 
                Service Federal Candidate Development Program;
                    (E) provide oversight of, and guidance to, agency 
                executive resources boards;
                    (F) be responsible for the administration of the 
                qualifications review board;
                    (G) establish and maintain annual statistics (in a 
                form that renders such statistics useful to appointing 
                authorities and candidates) on--
                            (i) the total number of career reserved 
                        positions at each agency;
                            (ii) the total number of vacant career 
                        reserved positions at each agency;
                            (iii) of the positions under clause (ii), 
                        the number for which candidates are being 
                        sought;
                            (iv) the amount of time a career reserved 
                        position is vacant;
                            (v) the amount of time it takes to hire a 
                        candidate into a career reserved position;
                            (vi) the number of individuals who have 
                        been certified in accordance with section 
                        3393(c) of title 5, United States Code, and the 
                        composition of that group of individuals with 
                        regard to race, ethnicity, sex, age, and 
                        individuals with disabilities;
                            (vii) the composition of the Senior 
                        Executive Service with regard to race, 
                        ethnicity, sex, age, and individuals with 
                        disabilities;
                            (viii) the composition of executive 
                        resources boards with regard to race, 
                        ethnicity, sex, and individuals with 
                        disabilities; and
                            (ix) the composition of qualifications 
                        review boards with regard to race, ethnicity, 
                        sex, and individuals with disabilities;
                    (H) make available to the public through the 
                official public Internet site of the Office of 
                Personnel Management, the data collected under 
                subparagraph (G);
                    (I) establish and promote mentoring programs for 
                potential candidates for the Senior Executive Service, 
                including candidates who have been certified as having 
                the executive qualifications necessary for initial 
                appointment as a career appointee under a program 
                established under to section 3396(a) of title 5, United 
                States Code;
                    (J) conduct a continuing program for the 
                recruitment of women, members of racial and ethnic 
                minority groups, and individuals with disabilities for 
                Senior Executive Service positions, with special 
                efforts directed at recruiting from educational 
                institutions, professional associations, and other 
                sources;
                    (K) advise agencies on the best practices for an 
                agency in utilizing or consulting with an agency's 
                equal employment or diversity office or official (if 
                the agency has such an office or official) with regard 
                to the agency's Senior Executive Service appointments 
                process; and
                    (L) evaluate and implement strategies to ensure 
                that agencies conduct appropriate outreach to other 
                agencies to identify candidates for Senior Executive 
                Service positions.
    (d) Protection of Individually Identifiable Information.--For 
purposes of subsection (c)(2)(H), the SES Resource Office shall combine 
data for any agency that is not named in section 901(b) of chapter 31, 
United States Code, to protect individually identifiable information.
    (e) Cooperation of Agencies.--The head of each agency shall provide 
the Office of Personnel Management with such information as the SES 
Resource Office may require in order to carry out subsection (c)(2)(G).
    (f) Staffing.--The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 
shall make such appointments as necessary to staff the SES Resource 
Office.

SEC. 5. CAREER APPOINTMENTS.

    (a) Promoting Diversity in the Career Appointments Process.--
Section 3393(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the first sentence the following: ``In establishing an executive 
resources board, the head of the agency shall, to the extent 
practicable, ensure diversity of the board and of any subgroup thereof 
or other evaluation panel related to the merit staffing process for 
career appointees, by including members of racial and ethnic minority 
groups, women, and individuals with disabilities.''.
    (b) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate regulations to 
implement subsection (a).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a 
report evaluating agency efforts to improve diversity in executive 
resources boards based on the information collected by the SES Resource 
Office under section 4(c)(2)(G) (viii) and (ix).

SEC. 6. ENCOURAGING A MORE DIVERSE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE.

    (a) Senior Executive Service Diversity Plans.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, each agency, in consultation with 
        the Office of Personnel Management and the Chief Human Capital 
        Officers Council, shall submit to the Office of Personnel 
        Management a plan to enhance and maximize opportunities for the 
        advancement and appointment of minorities, women, and 
        individuals with disabilities in the agency to the Senior 
        Executive Service. Agency plans shall be reflected in the 
        strategic human capital plan.
            (2) Contents.--Agency plans shall address how the agency is 
        identifying and eliminating barriers that impair the ability of 
        minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to obtain 
        appointments to the Senior Executive Service and any actions 
        the agency is taking to provide advancement opportunities, 
        including--
                    (A) conducting outreach to minorities, women, and 
                individuals within the agency and outside the agency;
                    (B) establishing and maintaining training and 
                education programs to foster leadership development;
                    (C) identifying career enhancing opportunities for 
                agency employees;
                    (D) assessing internal availability of candidates 
                for Senior Executive Service positions; and
                    (E) conducting an inventory of employee skills and 
                addressing current and potential gaps in skills and the 
                distribution of skills.
            (3) Update of agency plans.--Agency plans shall be updated 
        at least every 2 years during the 10 years following enactment 
        of this Act. An agency plan shall be reviewed by the Office of 
        Personnel Management and, if determined to provide sufficient 
        assurances, procedures, and commitments to provide adequate 
        opportunities for the advancement and appointment of 
        minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to the 
        Senior Executive Service, shall be approved by such Office. An 
        agency may, in updating its plan, submit to the Office of 
        Personnel Management an assessment of the impacts of the plan.
    (b) Summary and Evaluation.--Not later than 180 days after the 
deadline for the submission of any report or update under subsection 
(a), the Director shall transmit to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a report 
summarizing and evaluating the agency plans or updates (as the case may 
be) so submitted.
    (c) Coordination.--The Office of Personnel Management shall, in 
carrying out subsection (a), evaluate existing requirements under 
section 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-16) and 
section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791) and 
determine how agency reporting can be performed so as to be consistent 
with, but not duplicative of, such sections and any other similar 
requirements.
                                 <all>
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