I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1841

To amend the definition of a law enforcement officer under subchapter III

of chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, respectively,

to ensure the inclusion of certain positions.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 15, 2001

Mr. FILNER (for himself, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. KIND, Mr.

GUTIERREZ, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. PRICE of

North Carolina, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. GORDON, Mr. MCGOVERN,

Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr.

BONIOR, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. RUSH, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. FROST, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas,

Mr. FRANK, Mr. GILMAN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. REYES, Mr. HOLDEN, Ms.

BROWN of Florida, Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government

Reform

A BILL

To amend the definition of a law enforcement officer under

subchapter III of chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title

5, United States Code, respectively, to ensure the inclusion of certain positions.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Law Enforcement Offi3 cers Equity Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

5 (a) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (17) of section

7 8401 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by

8 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (C), and

9 by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(E) an employee (not otherwise covered

11 by this paragraph)—

12 ‘‘(i) the duties of whose position in13 clude the investigation or apprehension of

14 individuals suspected or convicted of of15 fenses against the criminal laws of the

16 United States; and

17 ‘‘(ii) who is authorized to carry a fire18 arm; and

19 ‘‘(F) an employee of the Internal Revenue

20 Service, the duties of whose position are pri21 marily the collection of delinquent taxes and the

22 securing of delinquent returns;’’.

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

24 8401(17)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is

25 amended by striking ‘‘(A) and (B)’’ and inserting

26 ‘‘(A), (B), (E), and (F)’’.
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1 (b) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Para2 graph (20) of section 8331 of title 5, United States Code,

3 is amended by inserting after ‘‘position.’’ the following:

4 ‘‘For the purpose of this paragraph, the employees de5 scribed in the preceding provision of this paragraph (in

6 the matter before ‘including’) shall be considered to in7 clude an employee (not otherwise covered by this para8 graph) who satisfies clauses (i)–(ii) of section

9 8401(17)(E) and an employee of the Internal Revenue

10 Service the duties of whose position are as described in

11 section 8401(17)(F).’’.

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in section

13 3, the amendments made by this section shall take effect

14 on the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply

15 only in the case of any individual first appointed (or seek16 ing to be first appointed) as a law enforcement officer

17 (within the meaning of those amendments) on or after

18 such date.

19 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF SERVICE PERFORMED BY INCUM20 BENTS.

21 (a) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER AND SERVICE DE22 SCRIBED.—

23 (1) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—Any ref24 erence to a law enforcement officer described in this

25 subsection refers to an individual who satisfies the
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1 requirements of section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of

2 title 5, United States Code (relating to the definition

3 of a law enforcement officer) by virtue of the amend4 ments made by section 2.

5 (2) SERVICE.—Any reference to service de6 scribed in this subsection refers to service performed

7 as a law enforcement officer (as described in this

8 subsection).

9 (b) INCUMBENT DEFINED.—For purposes of this sec10 tion, the term ‘‘incumbent’’ means an individual who—

11 (1) is first appointed as a law enforcement offi12 cer (as described in subsection (a)) before the date

13 of the enactment of this Act; and

14 (2) is serving as such a law enforcement officer

15 on such date.

16 (c) TREATMENT OF SERVICE PERFORMED BY INCUM17 BENTS.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Service described in sub19 section (a) which is performed by an incumbent on

20 or after the date of the enactment of this Act shall,

21 for all purposes (other than those to which para22 graph (2) pertains), be treated as service performed

23 as a law enforcement officer (within the meaning of

24 section 8331(20) or 8401(17) of title 5, United
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1 States Code, as appropriate), irrespective of how

2 such service is treated under paragraph (2).

3 (2) RETIREMENT.—Service described in sub4 section (a) which is performed by an incumbent be5 fore, on, or after the date of the enactment of this

6 Act shall, for purposes of subchapter III of chapter

7 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, be

8 treated as service performed as a law enforcement

9 officer (within the meaning of such section 8331(20)

10 or 8401(17), as appropriate), but only if an appro11 priate written election is submitted to the Office of

12 Personnel Management within 5 years after the date

13 of the enactment of this Act or before separation

14 from Government service, whichever is earlier.

15 (d) INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRIOR SERV16 ICE.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who makes an

18 election under subsection (c)(2) may, with respect to

19 prior service performed by such individual, con20 tribute to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability

21 Fund the difference between the individual contribu22 tions that were actually made for such service and

23 the individual contributions that should have been

24 made for such service if the amendments made by

25 section 2 had then been in effect.
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1 (2) EFFECT OF NOT CONTRIBUTING.—If no

2 part of or less than the full amount required under

3 paragraph (1) is paid, all prior service of the incum4 bent shall remain fully creditable as law enforcement

5 officer service, but the resulting annuity shall be re6 duced in a manner similar to that described in sec7 tion 8334(d)(2) of title 5, United States Code, to

8 the extent necessary to make up the amount unpaid.

9 (3) PRIOR SERVICE DEFINED.—For purposes of

10 this section, the term ‘‘prior service’’ means, with re11 spect to any individual who makes an election under

12 subsection (c)(2), service (described in subsection

13 (a)) performed by such individual before the date as

14 of which appropriate retirement deductions begin to

15 be made in accordance with such election.

16 (e) GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRIOR SERV17 ICE.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—If an incumbent makes an

19 election under subsection (c)(2), the agency in or

20 under which that individual was serving at the time

21 of any prior service (referred to in subsection (d))

22 shall remit to the Office of Personnel Management,

23 for deposit in the Treasury of the United States to

24 the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and Dis-
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1 ability Fund, the amount required under paragraph

2 (2) with respect to such service.

3 (2) AMOUNT REQUIRED.—The amount an agen4 cy is required to remit is, with respect to any prior

5 service, the total amount of additional Government

6 contributions to the Civil Service Retirement and

7 Disability Fund (over and above those actually paid)

8 that would have been required if the amendments

9 made by section 2 had then been in effect.

10 (3) CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE MADE RATABLY.—

11 Government contributions under this subsection on

12 behalf of an incumbent shall be made by the agency

13 ratably (on at least an annual basis) over the 10-

14 year period beginning on the date referred to in sub15 section (d)(3).

16 (f) EXEMPTION FROM MANDATORY SEPARATION.—

17 Nothing in section 8335(b) or 8425(b) of title 5, United

18 States Code, shall cause the involuntary separation of a

19 law enforcement officer (as described in subsection (a))

20 before the end of the 3-year period beginning on the date

21 of the enactment of this Act.

22 (g) REGULATIONS.—The Office shall prescribe regu23 lations to carry out this Act, including—

24 (1) provisions in accordance with which interest

25 on any amount under subsection (d) or (e) shall be
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1 computed, based on section 8334(e) of title 5,

2 United States Code; and

3 (2) provisions for the application of this section

4 in the case of—

5 (A) any individual who—

6 (i) satisfies paragraph (1) (but not

7 paragraph (2)) of subsection (b); and

8 (ii) serves as a law enforcement offi9 cer (as described in subsection (a)) after

10 the date of the enactment of this Act; and

11 (B) any individual entitled to a survivor

12 annuity (based on the service of an incumbent,

13 or of an individual under subparagraph (A),

14 who dies before making an election under sub15 section (c)(2)), to the extent of any rights that

16 would then be available to the decedent (if still

17 living).

18 (h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec19 tion shall be considered to apply in the case of a reem20 ployed annuitant.

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