Foreign Service Families Act of 2019

To expand employment opportunities for spouses of Foreign Service officers. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Foreign Service Families Act of 2019 2. Telecommuting opportunities (a) Updated plan Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall revise Chapter 2360 of Volume 3 of the Foreign Affairs Manual to include an updated plan for providing telecommuting opportunities for spouses of Foreign Service officers who are stationed overseas. The Secretary of State may revise the Personnel Operations Handbook and the International Cooperative Administrative Support Services Handbook to reflect the updated plan. (b) Elements The updated plan developed under subsection (a) shall include— (1) arranging telecommuting options with Federal agencies for spouses already employed at agencies as civilian employees before moving overseas; and (2) encouraging Federal contractors to make telecommuting opportunities available to qualified eligible spouses. 3. Employment and education programs for spouses of Foreign Service officers Section 706(b)(1) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 ( 22 U.S.C. 4026(b)(1) (1) by striking The Secretary may The Secretary shall (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking and (3) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D); and (4) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following: (C) establishing a program for assisting spouses of Foreign Service officers to access employment and education opportunities, which shall be modeled after the programs authorized under sections 1784 and 1784a of title 10, United States Code, and based on regulations modeled after those prescribed pursuant to subsection (b) of such section 1784; and . 4. Reporting on Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps (a) In general Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the status of implementation of the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps. (b) Elements The report required under subsection (a) shall include the following elements: (1) A description of the status of implementation of the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps (FSFRC). (2) An assessment of the extent to which implementation was impacted by the Department of State hiring freeze and a detailed explanation of the effect of any such impacts. (3) A description of the status of implementation of a hiring preference for the FSFRC. (4) A detailed accounting of any individuals eligible for membership in the FSFRC who were unable to begin working at a new location as a result of being unable to transfer their security clearance, including an assessment of whether they would have been able to port their clearance as a member of the FSFRC if the program had been fully implemented. (5) An estimate of the number of individuals who are eligible to join the FSFRC worldwide and which of the three categories, as detailed in the Under Secretary for Management’s guidance dated May 3, 2016, under which those individuals would enroll. (6) An estimate of the number of individuals who are enrolled in the FSFRC worldwide and which of the three categories, as detailed in the Under Secretary for Management’s guidance dated May 3, 2016, under which those individuals enrolled. (7) An estimate of the number of individuals who were enrolled in each phase of the implementation of the FSFRC as detailed in guidance issued by the Under Secretary for Management of the Department of State. (8) An estimate of the number of individuals enrolled in the FSFRC who have successfully transferred a security clearance to a new post since implementation of the program began. (9) An estimate of the number of individuals enrolled in the FSFRC who have been unable to successfully transfer a security clearance to a new post since implementation of the program began. (10) An estimate of the number of individuals who have declined in writing to apply to the FSFRC. (c) Appropriate congressional committees defined In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 5. Treatment of family members of Foreign Service officers seeking positions customarily filled by Foreign Service officers or foreign national employees Section 311 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 ( 22 U.S.C. 3951 (e) The Secretary shall hold a family member of a government employee described in subsection (a) seeking employment in a position described in that subsection to employment standards not higher than the employment standards applicable to Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service personnel, or foreign national employees seeking the same position. .

Summary: Foreign Service Families Act of 2019 This bill directs the Department of State to include in the Foreign Affairs Manual an updated plan for providing telecommuting employment opportunities for the spouses of overseas Foreign Service Officers. The State Department shall facilitate employment of such spouses by providing regular career counseling, maintaining a centralized database of the skills of such spouses and available employment opportunities, and offering other employment-related assistance. (Currently, the State Department is authorized to provide such assistance but not required to do so.) The State Department shall establish a program to help such spouses access employment and education opportunities, modeled after already-authorized programs for military spouses. The State Department shall report to Congress on the status of the implementation of the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps (a program designed to speed up the hiring process for eligible family members of overseas Foreign Service officers), including (1) an update on the implementation of a hiring preference for Corps members, and (2) an accounting of any Corps-eligible individuals who were unable to fill a position at new location due to an inability to transfer a security clearance. Family members of overseas government employees shall not be held to a higher employment standard for positions customarily filled by Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service personnel, or foreign nationals.