108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4060

AN ACT

To amend the Peace Corps Act to establish an Omthe Peace Corps, and for other purposes. budsman and an Office of Safety and Security of

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4060

AN ACT

To amend the Peace Corps Act to establish an Ombudsman

and an Office of Safety and Security of the Peace Corps,

and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Health, Safety, and

3 Security of Peace Corps Volunteers Act of 2004’’.

4 SEC. 2. OMBUDSMAN OF THE PEACE CORPS.

5 The Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) is

6 amended by inserting after section 4 the following new

7 section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 4A. OMBUDSMAN OF THE PEACE CORPS.

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

10 Peace Corps the Office of the Ombudsman of the Peace

11 Corps (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘Of12 fice’). The Office shall be headed by the Ombudsman of

13 the Peace Corps (hereinafter in this section referred to

14 as the ‘Ombudsman’), who shall be appointed by and re15 port directly to the Director of the Peace Corps.

16 ‘‘(b) VOLUNTEER COMPLAINTS AND OTHER MAT17 TERS.—The Ombudsman shall receive and, as appro18 priate, inquire into complaints, questions, or concerns sub19 mitted by current or former volunteers regarding services

20 or support provided by the Peace Corps to its volunteers,

21 including matters pertaining to—

22 ‘‘(1) the safety and security of volunteers;

23 ‘‘(2) due process, including processes relating to

24 separation from the Peace Corps;

25 ‘‘(3) benefits and assistance that may be due to

26 current or former volunteers;
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1 ‘‘(4) medical or other health-related assistance;

2 and

3 ‘‘(5) access to files and records of current or

4 former volunteers.

5 ‘‘(c) EMPLOYEE COMPLAINTS AND OTHER MAT6 TERS.—The Ombudsman shall receive and, as appro7 priate, inquire into complaints, questions, or concerns sub8 mitted by current or former employees of the Peace Corps

9 on any matters of grievance.

10 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL DUTIES.—The Ombudsman

11 shall—

12 ‘‘(1) recommend responses to individual matters

13 received under subsections (b) and (c);

14 ‘‘(2) make recommendations for administrative

15 or regulatory adjustments to address recurring prob16 lems or other difficulties of the Peace Corps;

17 ‘‘(3) identify systemic issues that relate to the

18 practices, policies, and administrative procedures of

19 the Peace Corps affecting volunteers and employees;

20 and

21 ‘‘(4) call attention to problems not yet ade22 quately considered by the Peace Corps.

23 ‘‘(e) STANDARDS OF OPERATION.—The Ombudsman

24 shall carry out the duties under this section in a manner

25 that is—
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1 ‘‘(1) independent, impartial in the conduct of

2 inquiries, and confidential; and

3 ‘‘(2) consistent with the revised Standards for

4 the Establishment and Operation of Ombudsman

5 Offices (August 2003) as endorsed by the American

6 Bar Association.

7 ‘‘(f) INVOLVEMENT IN MATTERS SUBJECT TO ONGO8 ING ADJUDICATION, LITIGATION, OR INVESTIGATION.—

9 The Ombudsman shall refrain from any involvement in the

10 merits of individual matters that are the subject of ongo11 ing adjudication or litigation, or investigations related to

12 such adjudication or litigation.

13 ‘‘(g) REPORTS.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

15 after the date of the enactment of this section, and

16 semiannually thereafter, the Ombudsman shall sub17 mit to the Director of the Peace Corps, the Chair of

18 the Peace Corps National Advisory Council, and

19 Congress a report containing a summary of—

20 ‘‘(A) the complaints, questions, and con21 cerns considered by the Ombudsman;

22 ‘‘(B) the inquiries completed by the Om23 budsman;
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1 ‘‘(C) recommendations for action with re2 spect to such complaints, questions, concerns,

3 or inquiries; and

4 ‘‘(D) any other matters that the Ombuds5 man considers relevant.

6 ‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Each report sub7 mitted under paragraph (1) shall maintain confiden8 tiality on any matter that the Ombudsman considers

9 appropriate in accordance with subsection (e).

10 ‘‘(h) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘em11 ployee’ means an employee of the Peace Corps, an em12 ployee of the Office of Inspector General of the Peace

13 Corps, an individual appointed or assigned under the For14 eign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3901 et seq.) to carry

15 out functions under this Act, or an individual subject to

16 a personal services contract with the Peace Corps.’’.

17 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE PEACE

18 CORPS.

19 The Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.), as

20 amended by section 2 of this Act, is further amended by

21 inserting after section 4A the following new section:

22 ‘‘SEC. 4B. OFFICE OF SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE

23 PEACE CORPS.

24 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

25 Peace Corps the Office of Safety and Security of the Peace
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1 Corps (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘Of2 fice’). The Office shall be headed by the Associate Director

3 of Safety and Security of the Peace Corps, who shall be

4 appointed by and report directly to the Director of the

5 Peace Corps.

6 ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Office established

7 under subsection (a) shall be responsible for all safety and

8 security activities of the Peace Corps, including

9 background checks of volunteers and staff, safety and se10 curity of volunteers and staff (including training), safety

11 and security of facilities, security of information tech12 nology, and other responsibilities as required by the Direc13 tor.

14 ‘‘(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that—

16 ‘‘(1) the Associate Director of Safety and Secu17 rity of the Peace Corps, as appointed pursuant to

18 subsection (a) of this section, should assign a Peace

19 Corps country security coordinator for each country

20 where the Peace Corps has a program of volunteer

21 service for the purposes of carrying out the field re22 sponsibilities of the Office established under sub23 section (a); and

24 ‘‘(2) each country security coordinator—
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1 ‘‘(A) should be under the supervision of

2 the Peace Corps country director in each such

3 country;

4 ‘‘(B) should report directly to the Asso5 ciate Director of Safety and Security of the

6 Peace Corps, as appointed pursuant to sub7 section (a) of this section, on all matters of im8 portance as the country security coordinator

9 considers necessary;

10 ‘‘(C) should be responsible for coordinating

11 with the regional security officer of the Peace

12 Corps responsible for the country to which such

13 country security officer is assigned; and

14 ‘‘(D) should be a United States citizen who

15 has access to information, including classified

16 information, relating to the possible threats

17 against Peace Corps volunteers.’’.

18 SEC. 4. OFFICE OF MEDICAL SERVICES OF THE PEACE

19 CORPS.

20 (a) REPORT ON MEDICAL SCREENING AND PLACE21 MENT COORDINATION.—Not later than 120 days after the

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the

23 Peace Corps shall submit to the appropriate congressional

24 committees a report that—
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1 (1) describes the medical screening procedures

2 and guidelines used by the office responsible for

3 medical services of the Peace Corps to determine

4 whether an applicant for Peace Corps service has

5 worldwide clearance, limited clearance, a deferral pe6 riod, or is not medically, including psychologically,

7 qualified to serve in the Peace Corps as a volunteer;

8 (2) describes the procedures and guidelines

9 used by the Peace Corps to ensure that applicants

10 for Peace Corps service are matched with a host

11 country where the applicant, reasonable accommoda12 tions notwithstanding, can complete at least two

13 years of volunteer service without interruption due

14 to foreseeable medical conditions; and

15 (3) with respect to each of the fiscal years 2000

16 through 2003 and the first six months of fiscal year

17 2004, states the number of—

18 (A) medical screenings of applicants con19 ducted;

20 (B) applicants who have received world21 wide clearance, limited clearance, deferral peri22 ods, and medical disqualifications to serve;

23 (C) appeals to the Medical Screening Re24 view Board of the Peace Corps and the number
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1 of times that an initial screening decision was

2 upheld;

3 (D) requests to the head of the office re4 sponsible for medical services of the Peace

5 Corps for reconsideration of a decision of the

6 Medical Screening Review Board and the num7 ber of times that the decision of the Medical

8 Screening Review Board was upheld by the

9 head of such office;

10 (E) Peace Corps volunteers who became

11 medically qualified to serve because of a deci12 sion of the Medical Screening Review Board

13 and who were later evacuated or terminated

14 their service early due to medical reasons;

15 (F) Peace Corps volunteers who became

16 medically qualified to serve because of a deci17 sion of the head of the office responsible for

18 medical services of the Peace Corps and who

19 were later evacuated or terminated their service

20 early due to medical reasons;

21 (G) Peace Corps volunteers who the agency

22 has had to separate from service due to the dis23 covery of undisclosed medical information; and
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1 (H) Peace Corps volunteers who have ter2 minated their service early due to medical, in3 cluding psychological, reasons.

4 (b) DEFINITION.—In subsection (a), the term ‘‘ap5 propriate congressional committees’’ means the Com6 mittee on International Relations of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of

8 the Senate.

9 (c) FULL TIME DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES.—

10 Section 4(c) of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2503(c))

11 is amended by adding at the end the following new para12 graph:

13 ‘‘(5) The Director of the Peace Corps shall ensure

14 that the head of the office responsible for medical services

15 of the Peace Corps does not occupy any other position in

16 the Peace Corps.’’.

17 SEC. 5. REPORTS ON THE ‘‘FIVE YEAR RULE’’ AND ON WORK

18 ASSIGNMENTS OF VOLUNTEERS OF THE

19 PEACE CORPS.

20 (a) REPORT BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comp23 troller General shall submit to the appropriate con24 gressional committees a report on the effects of the

25 limitation on the duration of employment, appoint-
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1 ment, or assignment of officers and employees of the

2 Peace Corps under section 7 of the Peace Corps Act

3 (22 U.S.C. 2506) on the ability of the Peace Corps

4 to effectively manage Peace Corps operations.

5 (2) CONTENTS.—The report described in para6 graph (1) shall include—

7 (A) a description of such limitation;

8 (B) a description of the history of such

9 limitation and the purposes for which it was en10 acted and amended;

11 (C) an analysis of the impact of such limi12 tation on the ability of the Peace Corps to re13 cruit capable volunteers, establish productive

14 and worthwhile assignments for volunteers, pro15 vide for the health, safety, and security of vol16 unteers, and, as declared in section 2(a) of the

17 Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501(a)), ‘‘pro18 mote a better understanding of the American

19 people on the part of the peoples served and a

20 better understanding of other peoples on the

21 part of the American people’’;

22 (D) an assessment of whether the applica23 tion of such limitation has accomplished the ob24 jectives for which it was intended; and
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1 (E) recommendations, if any, for legisla2 tion to amend provisions of the Peace Corps

3 Act relating to such limitation.

4 (b) REPORT ON WORK ASSIGNMENTS OF VOLUN5 TEERS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di8 rector of the Peace Corps shall submit to the appro9 priate congressional committees a report on the ex10 tent to which the work assignments of Peace Corps

11 volunteers fulfill the commitment of the Peace Corps

12 to ensuring that such assignments are well devel13 oped, with clear roles and expectations, and that vol14 unteers are well-suited for their assignments.

15 (2) CONTENTS.—The report described in para16 graph (1) shall include—

17 (A) an assessment of the extent to which

18 agreements between the Peace Corps and host

19 countries delineate clear roles for volunteers in

20 assisting host governments to advance their na21 tional development strategies;

22 (B) an assessment of the extent to which

23 the Peace Corps recruits volunteers who have

24 skills that correlate with the expectations cited
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1 in the country agreements and assigns such vol2 unteers to such posts;

3 (C) a description of procedures for deter4 mining volunteer work assignments and min5 imum standards for such assignments;

6 (D) a volunteer survey on health, safety,

7 and security issues as well as satisfaction sur8 veys which will have been conducted after the

9 date of the enactment of this Act; and

10 (E) an assessment of the plan of the Peace

11 Corps to increase the number of volunteers who

12 are assigned to projects in sub-Saharan Africa,

13 Asia, and the Western Hemisphere, particularly

14 among communities of African descent within

15 countries in the Western Hemisphere, which

16 help combat HIV/AIDS and other global infec17 tious diseases.

18 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro19 priate congressional committees’’ means the Committee on

20 International Relations of the House of Representatives

21 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

22 SEC. 6. INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE PEACE CORPS.

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT INSPECTOR

24 GENERAL.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General Act

2 of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended—

3 (A) in section 8G(a)(2), by striking ‘‘, the

4 Peace Corps’’;

5 (B) in section 9(a)(1), by adding at the

6 end the following new subparagraph:

7 ‘‘(X) of the Peace Corps, the office of that

8 agency referred to as the ‘Office of Inspector

9 General’; and’’; and

10 (C) in section 11—

11 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or

12 the Office of Personnel Management’’ and

13 inserting ‘‘the Office of Personnel Manage14 ment, or the Peace Corps’’; and

15 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘,

16 the Peace Corps’’ after ‘‘the Office of Per17 sonnel Management’’.

18 (2) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section

19 9(a)(1)(U) of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5

20 U.S.C. App.) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

21 end.

22 (b) TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT.—The Director of

23 the Peace Corps may appoint an individual to assume the

24 powers and duties of the Inspector General of the Peace

25 Corps under the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C.
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1 App.) on an interim basis until such time as a person is

2 appointed by the President, by and with the advice and

3 consent of the Senate, pursuant to the amendments made

4 in this section.

5 (c) EXEMPTION FROM EMPLOYMENT TERM LIMITS

6 UNDER THE PEACE CORPS ACT.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Peace

8 Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2506) is amended—

9 (A) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub10 section (b); and

11 (B) by adding at the end the following new

12 subsection:

13 ‘‘(c) The provisions of this section that limit the dura14 tion of service, appointment, or assignment of individuals

15 shall not apply to—

16 ‘‘(1) the Inspector General of the Peace Corps;

17 ‘‘(2) officers of the Office of the Inspector Gen18 eral of the Peace Corps;

19 ‘‘(3) any individual whose official duties pri20 marily include the safety and security of Peace

21 Corps volunteers or employees;

22 ‘‘(4) the head of the office responsible for med23 ical services of the Peace Corps; or
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1 ‘‘(5) any health care professional within the of2 fice responsible for medical services of the Peace

3 Corps.’’.

4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The first pro5 viso of section 15(d)(4) of the Peace Corps Act (22

6 U.S.C. 2514(d)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘7(c)’’

7 and inserting ‘‘7(b)’’.

8 (d) COMPENSATION.—Section 7 of the Peace Corps

9 Act (22 U.S.C. 2506), as amended by subsection (c) of

10 this section, is further amended by adding at the end the

11 following new subsection:

12 ‘‘(d) The Inspector General of the Peace Corps shall

13 be compensated at the rate provided for level IV of the

14 Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United

15 States Code.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives June 1, 2004.

Attest:

Clerk.