I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3285 

To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to establish factors 

for making determinations on the suitability of individuals for employment with the District of Columbia Government, to require individuals 

to undergo criminal background checks as a condition of appointment 

in the excepted service of the District Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 31, 2011 

Mr. ISSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to establish factors for making determinations on the suitability 

of individuals for employment with the District of Columbia Government, to require individuals to undergo criminal background checks as a condition of appointment 

in the excepted service of the District Government, 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 ‘‘District of Columbia 

3 Employee Suitability Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CRITERIA FOR MAKING SUITABILITY DETERMINA5 TIONS FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMPLOY6 MENT; REQUIRING CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

7 CHECKS FOR APPOINTMENT TO EXCEPTED 

8 SERVICE. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title IV of the District 

10 of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1–204.21 et seq., D.C. 

11 Official Code) is amended by adding at the end the fol12 lowing new section: 

13 ‘‘REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANTS FOR EMPLOYMENT

14 WITH DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT

15 ‘‘SEC. 425. (a) CRITERIA FOR SUITABILITY DETER16 MINATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para18 graph (2), in determining whether an individual is 

19 suitable for employment with the District of Colum20 bia Government, the hiring authority involved may 

21 find an individual unsuitable and take a suitability 

22 action only on the basis of the following factors: 

23 ‘‘(A) Misconduct or negligence in employ24 ment. 

25 ‘‘(B) Criminal or dishonest conduct. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Material, intentional false statement, 

2 or deception or fraud in examination or ap3 pointment. 

4 ‘‘(D) Alcohol abuse, without evidence of 

5 substantial rehabilitation, of a nature and dura6 tion that suggests that the applicant or ap7 pointee would be prevented from performing the 

8 duties of the position in question, or would con9 stitute a direct threat to the property or safety 

10 of the applicant or appointee or others. 

11 ‘‘(E) Illegal use of narcotics, drugs, or 

12 other controlled substances without evidence of 

13 substantial rehabilitation. 

14 ‘‘(F) Knowing and willful engagement in 

15 acts or activities designed to overthrow the 

16 United States Government by force. 

17 ‘‘(G) Any statutory or regulatory bar 

18 which prevents the lawful employment of the in19 dividual involved in the position in question. 

20 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.—In addi21 tion to the factors described in paragraph (1), the 

22 hiring authority may consider any of the following 

23 factors with respect to an individual’s suitability for 

24 employment to the extent that it considers such fac25 tors pertinent with respect to the individual involved: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The nature of the position for which 

2 the individual is applying or in which the indi3 vidual is employed. 

4 ‘‘(B) The nature and seriousness of the 

5 conduct. 

6 ‘‘(C) The circumstances surrounding the 

7 conduct. 

8 ‘‘(D) How recently the conduct occurred. 

9 ‘‘(E) The age of the individual involved at 

10 the time of the conduct. 

11 ‘‘(F) Contributing societal conditions. 

12 ‘‘(G) The absence or presence of rehabilita13 tion or efforts toward rehabilitation. 

14 ‘‘(3) RECIPROCITY.—A hiring authority cannot 

15 make a new determination under this subsection for 

16 an individual who has already been determined suit17 able or fit based on character or conduct unless a 

18 new investigation is required under the District of 

19 Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit Per20 sonnel Act of 1978 (or any successor law governing 

21 a merit personnel system for the District of Colum22 bia), or no new investigation is required but the in23 vestigative record on file for the individual shows 

24 conduct that is incompatible with the core duties of 

25 the relevant covered position. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SCOPE OF COVERAGE.—This subsection 

2 shall apply to any office in the executive branch of 

3 the District of Columbia Government and to any 

4 independent agency of the District of Columbia es5 tablished under part F of this title, but does not 

6 apply to the Council or the courts of the District of 

7 Columbia. 

8 ‘‘(5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection ap9 plies with respect to individuals who seek employ10 ment with the District of Columbia Government 

11 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

12 ‘‘(b) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR AP13 POINTMENT TO EXCEPTED SERVICE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—An individual may not be 

15 appointed to any position in the excepted service 

16 under the District of Columbia Government Com17 prehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978 (or any suc18 cessor law governing a merit personnel system for 

19 the District of Columbia) unless the individual ap20 plies for and submits to a criminal background 

21 check in accordance with the Criminal Background 

22 Checks for the Protection of Children Act of 2004 

23 and the regulations issued to carry out such Act. 

24 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATION.—For purposes of this 

25 section, the Criminal Background Checks for the 


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1 Protection of Children Act of 2004 shall apply to an 

2 individual seeking appointment to a position in the 

3 excepted service in the same manner as such Act ap4 plies to an individual applying for paid employment 

5 by a covered child or youth services provider under 

6 such Act. 

7 ‘‘(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection ap8 plies with respect to individuals who are appointed 

9 to positions in the excepted service after the date of 

10 the enactment of this section.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

12 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act is amended 

13 by adding at the end of the item relating to part B of 

14 title IV the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 425. Requirements for applicants for employment with District of Columbia Government.’’. 

Æ 


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