II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1000 

To enhance the Federal Telework Program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2007 

Mr. STEVENS (for himself and Ms. LANDRIEU) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To enhance the Federal Telework Program. 

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 ‘‘Telework Enhance5 ment Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TELEWORK REQUIRE7 MENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

9 (1) ELIGIBILITY.—Within 1 year after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, the head of each Executive 

11 agency shall establish a policy under which each emVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:57 Mar 29, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1000.IS S1000

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1 ployee of the agency, except as provided in sub2 section (d), shall be eligible to participate in 

3 telework. 

4 (2) PARTICIPATION POLICY.—The policy shall 

5 ensure that eligible employees participate in telework 

6 to the maximum extent possible without diminishing 

7 employee performance or agency operations. 

8 (b) APPLICATION TO JUDICIAL BRANCH EMPLOY9 EES.—Within 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

10 Act, the Chief Justice of the United States shall establish 

11 a policy for employees of the judicial branch under which 

12 such employees, except employees designated by the Chief 

13 Justice as employees to whom the policy does not apply, 

14 shall participate in telework to the maximum extent pos15 sible without diminishing employee performance or judicial 

16 operations. 

17 (c) APPLICATION TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOY18 EES.— 

19 (1) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Within 1 

20 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

21 Speaker of the House of Representatives, in con22 sultation with the Minority Leader of the House, 

23 shall establish a policy for employees of the House 

24 of Representatives under which such employees, ex25 cept employees designated by the Speaker as emVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:57 Mar 29, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1000.IS S1000

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1 ployees to whom the policy does not apply, shall par2 ticipate in telework to the maximum extent possible 

3 without diminishing employee performance or House 

4 operations. 

5 (2) SENATE.—Within 1 year after the date of 

6 enactment of this Act, the Majority Leader of the 

7 Senate, in consultation with the Minority Leader of 

8 the Senate, shall establish a policy for employees of 

9 the Senate under which such employees, except em10 ployees designated by the Majority Leader as em11 ployees to whom the policy does not apply, shall par12 ticipate in telework to the maximum extent possible 

13 without diminishing employee performance or Senate 

14 operations. 

15 (3) OTHER LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOY16 EES.—Within 1 year after the date of enactment of 

17 this Act, the Speaker of the House of Representa18 tives and the Majority Leader of the Senate jointly 

19 shall establish a policy for employees of the legisla20 tive branch who are not employees of either House 

21 under which such employees, except employees des22 ignated by the Speaker and the Majority Leader as 

23 employees to whom the policy does not apply, shall 

24 participate in telework to the maximum extent posVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:57 Mar 29, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1000.IS S1000

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1 sible without diminishing employee performance or 

2 legislative branch operations. 

3 (d) INELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES.— 

4 (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.—Subsection (a)(1) 

5 does not apply to executive agency employees— 

6 (A) whose duties involve the daily handling 

7 of secure materials, necessary contact with spe8 cial equipment, or daily physical presence; 

9 (B) who are assigned to national security 

10 or intelligence functions; or 

11 (C) whose functions are otherwise inappro12 priate for teleworking and which are designated 

13 by the head of the agency as functions to which 

14 the policy does not apply. 

15 (2) JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EM16 PLOYEES.—The Chief Justice and the officers of the 

17 Senate and House of Representatives described in 

18 subsection (c) may designate as ineligible to partici19 pate in telework employees whose duties are the 

20 same as, or similar to, the duties described in para21 graph (1). 

22 SEC. 3. TRAINING AND MONITORING. 

23 The head of each executive agency shall ensure 

24 that— 


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1 (1) telework training is incorporated in the 

2 agency’s new employee orientation procedures; 

3 (2) periodic employee reviews are conducted for 

4 all employees, including those described in section 

5 1(a)(3), to ascertain whether telework is appropriate 

6 for the employee’s job description and the extent to 

7 which it is being utilized by the employee. 

8 SEC. 4. TELEWORK MANAGING EMPLOYEE. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each executive agen10 cy, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Rep11 resentatives, and the Majority Leader of the Senate shall 

12 appoint a full time senior level employee of the agency, 

13 the judicial branch, the House of Representatives, and the 

14 Senate, respectively as the Telework Managing Officer. 

15 The Telework Managing Office shall be established within 

16 the office of the chief administrative officer or a com17 parable office with similar functions. 

18 (b) DUTIES.—The Telework Managing Officer 

19 shall— 

20 (1) serve as liaison between employees engaged 

21 in teleworking and their employing entity; 

22 (2) ensure that the organization’s telework pol23 icy is communicated effectively to employees; 

24 (3) encourage all eligible employees to engage 

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1 sistent with meeting performance requirements and 

2 maintaining operations; 

3 (4) assist the head of the agency in the develop4 ment and maintenance of agencywide telework poli5 cies; 

6 (5) educate administrative units on telework 

7 policies, programs, and training courses; 

8 (6) provide written notification to all employees 

9 of specific telework programs and employee eligi10 bility; 

11 (7) focus on expanding and monitoring agency 

12 telework programs; 

13 (8) recommend and oversee telework-specific 

14 pilot programs for employees and managers, includ15 ing tracking performance and monitoring activities; 

16 (9) promote teleconferencing devices; 

17 (10) develop monthly productivity awards for 

18 teleworkers; 

19 (11) develop and administer a telework per20 formance reporting system; and 

21 (12) assist the head of the agency in desig22 nating employees to telework to continue agency op23 erations in the event of a major disaster (as defined 

24 in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 


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1 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 5122)). 

3 (c) REPORT.—The Telework Managing Officer shall 

4 submit a report to the head of the employing agency, the 

5 Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Representa6 tives, or the Majority Leader of the Senate, as the case 

7 may be, and the Comptroller General at least once every 

8 12 months that includes a statement of the applicable 

9 telework policy, a description of measures in place to carry 

10 out the policy, and an analysis of the participation by em11 ployees of the entity in teleworking during the preceding 

12 12-month period. 

13 SEC. 5. ANNUAL TELEWORK AGENCY RATING. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall es15 tablish a system for evaluating— 

16 (1) the telework policy of each executive agency, 

17 the judicial branch, and the legislative branch; and 

18 (2) on an annual basis the participation in tele19 working by their employees. 

20 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall publish 

21 a report each year rating— 

22 (1) the telework policy of each entity to which 

23 this Act applies; 


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1 (2) the degree of participation by employees of 

2 each such entity in teleworking during the 12-month 

3 period covered by the report; and 

4 (3) for each executive agency— 

5 (A) the number of employees in the agen6 cy; 

7 (B) the number of those employees who 

8 are eligible to telework; 

9 (C) the number of employees who engage 

10 on a regular basis in teleworking; and 

11 (D) the number of employees who engage 

12 on an occasional or sporadic basis in tele13 working. 

14 SEC. 7 DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

17 meaning given that term by section 8101(1) of title 

18 5, United States Code, but does not include— 

19 (A) justices of the Supreme Court, judges 

20 of Courts of Appeals, or judges of the District 

21 Courts; 

22 (B) a Member of the United States House 

23 of Representatives; or 

24 (C) a United States Senator. 


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1 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given that term by section 

3 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

4 (3) TELEWORK.—The term ‘‘telework’’ means a 

5 work arrangement in which an employee regularly 

6 performs officially assigned duties at home or other 

7 worksites geographically convenient to the residence 

8 of the employee that— 

9 (A) reduces or eliminates the employee’s 

10 commute between his or her residence and his 

11 or her place of employment; and 

12 (B) occurs at least 2 business days per 

13 week on a recurring basis. 

Æ 


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