105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 633

AN ACT

To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to proment officers, and for other purposes. generally with respect to Federal law enforce- State be computed in the same way as applies and security personnel of the Department of vide that the annuities of certain special agents
105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 633

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.
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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 ‘‘Department of State

5 Special Agents Retirement Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO THE FOREIGN SERV7 ICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM.

8 (a) DEFINITION OF A SPECIAL AGENT.—

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

10 Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4044) is amended—

11 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para12 graph (13);

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

14 paragraph (14) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

15 (C) by adding at the end the following:

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

17 Department of State with a primary skill code of

18 2501—

19 ‘‘(A) the duties of whose position—

20 ‘‘(i) are primarily—

21 ‘‘(I) the investigation, apprehen22 sion, or detention of individuals sus23 pected or convicted of offenses against

24 the criminal laws of the United

25 States, or
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1 ‘‘(II) the protection of persons

2 pursuant to section 2709(a)(3) of title

3 22, United States Code, against

4 threats to personal safety; and

5 ‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that em6 ployment opportunities should be limited to

7 young and physically vigorous individuals,

8 as determined by the Secretary of State

9 pursuant to section 4823 of title 22,

10 United States Code;

11 ‘‘(B) performing duties described in sub12 paragraph (A) before, on, or after the date of

13 the enactment of this paragraph; or

14 ‘‘(C) transferred directly to a position

15 which is supervisory or administrative in nature

16 after performing duties described in subpara17 graph (A) for at least 3 years.’’.

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 852

19 of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4071a) is amended—

20 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para21 graph (7);

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

23 paragraph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

24 (C) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(9) the term ‘special agent’ has the same

2 meaning given in section 804(15).’’.

3 (b) CONTRIBUTIONS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 805(a) of such Act

5 (22 U.S.C. 4045(a)) is amended by adding at the

6 end the following:

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

8 shall be applied by substituting for ‘7 percent’ the percent9 age that applies to law enforcement officers under section

10 8334(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code.’’.

11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

12 805(a)(1) (22 U.S.C. 4045(a)(1)) of such Act is

13 amended by striking ‘‘Except as provided in sub14 section (h),’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise

15 provided in this section,’’.

16 (c) SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION FOR PRIOR NON17 DEPOSIT SERVICE.—Section 805(d) of such Act (22

18 U.S.C. 4045(d)) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing:

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

21 purposes of applying this subsection with respect to prior

22 service as a special agent, the percentages of basic pay

23 set forth in section 8334(c) of title 5, United States Code,

24 with respect to a law enforcement officer, shall apply in25 stead of the percentages set forth in paragraph (1).’’.
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1 (d) COMPUTATION OF ANNUITIES.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 806(a) of such Act

3 (22 U.S.C. 4046(a)) is amended—

4 (A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as

5 paragraph (7); and

6 (B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the

7 following:

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

9 subchapter shall be computed under paragraph (1) except

10 that, in the case of a special agent described in subpara11 graph (B), paragraph (1) shall be applied by substituting

12 for ‘2 percent’—

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

14 section 8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for

15 so much of the participant’s total service as is speci16 fied thereunder; and

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

18 section 8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for

19 so much of the participant’s total service as is speci20 fied thereunder.

21 ‘‘(B) A special agent described in this subparagraph

22 is any such agent or former agent who—

23 ‘‘(i)(I) retires voluntarily or involuntarily under

24 section 607, 608, 611, 811, 812, or 813, under con25 ditions authorizing an immediate annuity, other
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1 than for cause on charges of misconduct or delin2 quency, or retires for disability under section 808;

3 and

4 ‘‘(II) at the time of retirement—

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

6 age and has completed at least 20 years of serv7 ice as a special agent; or

8 ‘‘(bb) if involuntary or disability, has com9 pleted at least 20 years of service as a special

10 agent; or

11 ‘‘(ii) dies in Service after completing at least 20

12 years of service as a special agent, when an annuity

13 is payable under section 809.

14 ‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B), included

15 with the years of service performed by an individual as

16 a special agent shall be any service performed by such in17 dividual as a law enforcement officer (within the meaning

18 of section 8331(20) or section 8401(17) of title 5, United

19 States Code), or a member of the Capitol Police.’’.

20 (2) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPECIAL AGENTS WITH

21 PRIOR SERVICE UNDER THE FOREIGN SERVICE RE22 TIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM OR THE CIVIL

23 SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 806(a) of

24 such Act (22 U.S.C. 4046(a)), as amended by para25 graph (1), is further amended—
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1 (A) by redesignating paragraph (7) (as so

2 redesignated by paragraph (1)) as paragraph

3 (8); and

4 (B) by inserting after paragraph (6) (as

5 added by paragraph (1)) the following:

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

7 or became subject to subchapter II—

8 ‘‘(A) for purposes of paragraph (6)(B),

9 any service performed by the individual as a

10 special agent (whether under this subchapter or

11 under subchapter II), as a law enforcement offi12 cer (within the meaning of section 8331(20) or

13 section 8401(17) of title 5, United States

14 Code), or as a member of the Capitol Police

15 shall be creditable; and

16 ‘‘(B) if the individual satisfies paragraph

17 6(B), the portion of such individual’s annuity

18 which is attributable to service under the For19 eign Service Retirement and Disability System

20 or the Civil Service Retirement System shall be

21 computed in conformance with paragraph (6).’’.

22 (3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND23 MENTS.—

24 (A) Paragraph (8) of section 806(a) of

25 such Act (22 U.S.C. 4046(a)), as so redesig-
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1 nated by paragraph (2)(A), is amended by

2 striking ‘‘and (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4), and (6)’’.

3 (B) Paragraphs (1) and (3) of section

4 855(b) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4071d(b)) are

5 each amended by inserting ‘‘611,’’ after ‘‘608,’’.

6 SEC. 3. MANDATORY SEPARATION OF SPECIAL AGENTS.

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

8 Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4052(a)(2)) is amended

9 to read as follows: ‘‘Notwithstanding paragraph (1)—

10 ‘‘(A) an individual described in section 4(a)(2)

11 of the Department of State Special Agents Retire12 ment Act of 1998 who is otherwise eligible for imme13 diate retirement under this chapter, or

14 ‘‘(B) a Foreign Service criminal investigator/in15 spector of the Office of Inspector General of the

16 Agency for International Development who would

17 have been eligible for retirement pursuant to either

18 section 8336(c) or 8412(d) of title 5, United States

19 Code, as applicable, had the employee remained in

20 civil service,

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

22 month in which such individual under subparagraph (A)

23 or such Foreign Service criminal investigator/inspector

24 under subparagraph (B) attains 57 years of age or com25 pletes 20 years of service if then over that age.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

3 (b), this Act and the amendments made by this Act—

4 (1) shall take effect on the date of the enact5 ment of this Act; and

6 (2) shall apply with respect to—

7 (A) any individual first appointed on or

8 after that date as a special agent who will have

9 any portion of such individual’s annuity com10 puted in conformance with section 806(a)(6) of

11 the Foreign Service Act; and

12 (B) any individual making an election

13 under subsection (b), subject to the provisions

14 of such subsection.

15 (b) ELECTION FOR CURRENT PARTICIPANTS.—

16 (1) ELIGIBILITY.—An election under this sub17 section may be made by any currently employed par18 ticipant under chapter 8 of the Foreign Service Act

19 of 1980 who is serving or has served as a special

20 agent, or by a survivor of a special agent who was

21 eligible to make an election under this section.

22 (2) EFFECT OF AN ELECTION.—

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

24 an election under this subsection, the amend25 ments made by this Act shall become applicable
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1 with respect to such individual, subject to sub2 paragraph (B).

3 (B) TREATMENT OF PRIOR SERVICE.—

4 (i) SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION.—An in5 dividual may, after making the election

6 under this subsection, make a special con7 tribution up to the full amount of the dif8 ference between the contributions actually

9 deducted from pay for prior service and

10 the deductions that would have been re11 quired if the amendments made by this Act

12 had then been in effect. Any special con13 tributions under this clause shall be com14 puted under regulations based on section

15 805(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980

16 (as amended by section 2), including provi17 sions relating to the computation of inter18 est.

19 (ii) ACTUARIAL REDUCTION.—

20 (I) RULE IF THE SPECIAL CON21 TRIBUTION IS PAID.—If the full

22 amount of the special contribution

23 under clause (i) is paid, no reduction

24 under this clause shall apply.
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1 (II) RULE IF LESS THAN THE

2 ENTIRE AMOUNT IS PAID.—If no spe3 cial contribution under clause (i) is

4 paid, or if less than the entire amount

5 of such special contribution is paid,

6 the recomputed annuity shall be re7 duced by an amount sufficient to

8 make up the actuarial present value of

9 the shortfall.

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

11 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

12 Secretary of State—

13 (1) shall promulgate such regulations as may be

14 necessary to carry out this Act; and

15 (2) shall take measures reasonably designed to

16 provide notice to participants as to any rights they

17 might have under this Act.

18 (d) ELECTION DEADLINE.—An election under sub19 section (b) must be made not later than 90 days after

20 the date on which the relevant notice under subsection

21 (c)(2) is provided.

22 (e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

23 term ‘‘special agent’’ has the meaning given such term
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1 under section 804(15) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980

2 (22 U.S.C. 4044(15)), as amended by section 2(a).

Passed the House of Representatives October 5,

1998.

Attest:

Clerk.