H. R. 633

One Hundred Fifth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight

An Act

To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to provide that the annuities of certain

special agents and security personnel of the Department of State be computed

in the same way as applies generally with respect to Federal law enforcement

officers, 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 ‘‘Department of State Special

Agents Retirement Act of 1998’’.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM.

(a) DEFINITION OF A SPECIAL AGENT.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 804 of the Foreign Service Act

of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4044) is amended—

(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (13);

(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph

(14) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(15) ‘special agent’ means an employee of the Department

of State with a primary skill code of 2501—

‘‘(A) the duties of whose position—

‘‘(i) are primarily—

‘‘(I) the investigation, apprehension, or detention of individuals suspected or convicted of

offenses against the criminal laws of the United

States; or

‘‘(II) the protection of persons pursuant to

section 2709(a)(3) of title 22, United States Code,

against threats to personal safety; and

‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that employment

opportunities should be limited to young and physically

vigorous individuals, as determined by the Secretary

of State pursuant to section 4823 of title 22, United

States Code;

‘‘(B) performing duties described in subparagraph (A)

before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this paragraph; or

‘‘(C) transferred directly to a position which is supervisory or administrative in nature after performing duties

described in subparagraph (A) for at least 3 years.’’.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 852 of such Act

(22 U.S.C. 4071a) is amended—
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(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (7);

(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph

(8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(9) the term ‘special agent’ has the same meaning given

in section 804(15).’’.

(b) CONTRIBUTIONS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 805(a) of such Act (22 U.S.C.

4045(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(3) For service as a special agent, paragraph (1) shall be

applied by substituting for ‘7 percent’ the percentage that applies

to law enforcement officers under section 8334(a)(1) of title 5, United

States Code.’’.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 805(a)(1) (22 U.S.C.

4045(a)(1)) of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (h),’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise

provided in this section,’’.

(c) SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION FOR PRIOR NONDEPOSIT SERVICE.—

Section 805(d) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4045(d)) is amended by adding

at the end the following:

‘‘(6) Subject to paragraph (4) and subsection (h), for purposes

of applying this subsection with respect to prior service as a special

agent, the percentages of basic pay set forth in section 8334(c)

of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a law enforcement

officer, shall apply instead of the percentages set forth in paragraph

(1).’’.

(d) COMPUTATION OF ANNUITIES.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 806(a) of such Act (22 U.S.C.

4046(a)) is amended—

(A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7);

and

(B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:

‘‘(6)(A) The annuity of a special agent under this subchapter

shall be computed under paragraph (1) except that, in the case

of a special agent described in subparagraph (B), paragraph (1)

shall be applied by substituting for ‘2 percent’—

‘‘(i) the percentage under subparagraph (A) of section

8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for so much of the

participant’s total service as is specified thereunder; and

‘‘(ii) the percentage under subparagraph (B) of section

8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for so much of the

participant’s total service as is specified thereunder.

‘‘(B) A special agent described in this subparagraph is any

such agent or former agent who—

‘‘(i)(I) retires voluntarily or involuntarily under section 607,

608, 611, 811, 812, or 813, under conditions authorizing an

immediate annuity, other than for cause on charges of misconduct or delinquency, or retires for disability under section

808; and

‘‘(II) at the time of retirement—

‘‘(aa) if voluntary, is at least 50 years of age and

has completed at least 20 years of service as a special

agent; or

‘‘(bb) if involuntary or disability, has completed at least

20 years of service as a special agent; or
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‘‘(ii) dies in service after completing at least 20 years of

service as a special agent, when an annuity is payable under

section 809.

‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B), included with the years

of service performed by an individual as a special agent shall

be any service performed by such individual as a law enforcement

officer (within the meaning of section 8331(20) or section 8401(17)

of title 5, United States Code), or a member of the Capitol Police.’’.

(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPECIAL AGENTS WITH PRIOR SERVICE

UNDER THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM OR THE CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 806(a)

of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4046(a)), as amended by paragraph

(1), is further amended—

(A) by redesignating paragraph (7) (as so redesignated

by paragraph (1)) as paragraph (8); and

(B) by inserting after paragraph (6) (as added by paragraph (1)) the following:

‘‘(7) In the case of a special agent who becomes or became

subject to subchapter II—

‘‘(A) for purposes of paragraph (6)(B), any service performed by the individual as a special agent (whether under

this subchapter or under subchapter II), as a law enforcement officer (within the meaning of section 8331(20) or

section 8401(17) of title 5, United States Code), or as a

member of the Capitol Police shall be creditable; and

‘‘(B) if the individual satisfies paragraph (6)(B), the

portion of such individual’s annuity which is attributable

to service under the Foreign Service Retirement and

Disability System or the Civil Service Retirement System

shall be computed in conformance with paragraph (6).’’.

(3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

(A) Paragraph (8) of section 806(a) of such Act (22

U.S.C. 4046(a)), as so redesignated by paragraph (2)(A),

is amended by striking ‘‘and (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4), and

(6)’’.

(B) Paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 855(b) of such

Act (22 U.S.C. 4071d(b)) are each amended by inserting

‘‘611,’’ after ‘‘608,’’.

SEC. 3. MANDATORY SEPARATION OF SPECIAL AGENTS.

The first sentence of section 812(a)(2) of the Foreign Service

Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4052(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

‘‘Notwithstanding paragraph (1)—

‘‘(A) an individual described in section 4(a)(2) of the Department of State Special Agents Retirement Act of 1998 who

is otherwise eligible for immediate retirement under this chapter; or

‘‘(B) a Foreign Service criminal investigator/inspector of

the Office of Inspector General of the Agency for International

Development who would have been eligible for retirement

pursuant to either section 8336(c) or 8412(d) of title 5, United

States Code, as applicable, had the employee remained in civil

service,

shall be separated from the Service on the last day of the month

in which such individual under subparagraph (A) or such Foreign

Service criminal investigator/inspector under subparagraph (B)
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attains 57 years of age or completes 20 years of service if then

over that age.’’.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), this

Act and the amendments made by this Act—

(1) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this

Act; and

(2) shall apply with respect to—

(A) any individual first appointed on or after that

date as a special agent who will have any portion of such

individual’s annuity computed in conformance with section

806(a)(6) of the Foreign Service Act; and

(B) any individual making an election under subsection

(b), subject to the provisions of such subsection.

(b) ELECTION FOR CURRENT PARTICIPANTS.—

(1) ELIGIBILITY.—An election under this subsection may

be made by any currently employed participant under chapter

8 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 who is serving or has

served as a special agent, or by a survivor of a special agent

who was eligible to make an election under this section.

(2) EFFECT OF AN ELECTION.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—If an individual makes an election

under this subsection, the amendments made by this Act

shall become applicable with respect to such individual,

subject to subparagraph (B).

(B) TREATMENT OF PRIOR SERVICE.—

(i) SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION.—An individual may,

after making the election under this subsection, make

a special contribution up to the full amount of the

difference between the contributions actually deducted

from pay for prior service and the deductions that

would have been required if the amendments made

by this Act had then been in effect. Any special contributions under this clause shall be computed under

regulations based on section 805(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (as amended by section 2), including

provisions relating to the computation of interest.

(ii) ACTUARIAL REDUCTION.— (I) RULE IF THE SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION IS

PAID.—If the full amount of the special contribution under clause (i) is paid, no reduction under

this clause shall apply.

(II) RULE IF LESS THAN THE ENTIRE AMOUNT

IS PAID.—If no special contribution under clause

(i) is paid, or if less than the entire amount of

such special contribution is paid, the recomputed

annuity shall be reduced by an amount sufficient

to make up the actuarial present value of the

shortfall.

(c) REGULATIONS AND NOTICE.—Not later than 6 months after

the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State—

(1) shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary

to carry out this Act; and

(2) shall take measures reasonably designed to provide

notice to participants as to any rights they might have under

this Act.
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(d) ELECTION DEADLINE.—An election under subsection (b) must

be made not later than 90 days after the date on which the relevant

notice under subsection (c)(2) is provided.

(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘special

agent’’ has the meaning given such term under section 804(15)

of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4044(15)), as amended

by section 2(a).

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.