IB 
Union Calendar No. 351
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3737
[Report No. 108–586] 
To increase the minimum and maximum rates of basic pay payable to 
administrative law judges, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 28, 2004
Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
JULY 7, 2004
Additional sponsors: Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. VITTER, Mr. BAKER, 
Ms. NORTON, and Mr. MORAN of Virginia 
JULY 7, 2004 
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 28, 2004] 
A BILL 
To increase the minimum and maximum rates of basic pay 
payable to administrative law judges, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pay 
Compression Relief Act of 2004’’. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly pro-
vided, whenever in this Act an amendment is expressed in 
terms of an amendment to a section or other provision, the 
reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other 
provision of title 5, United States Code. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO BASIC PAY. 
(a) 
ADMINISTRATIVE
LAW
JUDGES.—Section 
5372(b)(1)(C) is amended by striking ‘‘may not exceed the 
rate for level IV’’ and inserting ‘‘may not exceed the rate 
for level III’’. 
(b) CONTRACT APPEALS BOARD MEMBERS.—Section 
5372a is amended—
(1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(b)(1) Rates of basic pay under this section—
‘‘(A) shall consist of—
‘‘(i) the rate for the chairman of an appeals 
board; 
‘‘(ii) the rate for the vice chairman of an 
appeals board; and 
‘‘(iii) the rate for all other contract appeals 
board members;
‘‘(B) shall be initially adjusted by the Office of 
Personnel Management and thereafter adjusted under 
paragraph (2); and 
‘‘(C) shall not be greater than the rate of basic 
pay for level III of the Executive Schedule nor less 
than 94 percent of the rate of basic pay for level IV 
of the Executive Schedule. 
‘‘(2) Subject to paragraph (1)(C), effective at the begin-
ning of the first applicable pay period commencing on or 
after the first day of the month in which an adjustment 
takes effect under section 5303 in the rates of basic pay 
under the General Schedule, each rate of basic pay for con-
tract appeals board members shall be adjusted by an 
amount determined by the President to be appropriate.’’; 
and 
(2) by adding after subsection (c) the following: 
‘‘(d) The Office of Personnel Management shall pre-
scribe regulations necessary to administer this section.’’. 
(c) CERTAIN
SENIOR-LEVEL
POSITIONS.—Section 
5376(b)(1)(B) is amended by striking ‘‘level IV’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘level III’’. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO LOCALITY-BASED COM-
PARABILITY PAYMENTS. 
(a) MODIFIED MAXIMUMS.—Paragraph (2) of section 
5304(g), as amended by section 1125(a)(1)(A) of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Pub-
lic Law 108–136; 117 Stat. 1638), is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(2) The applicable maximum under this subsection 
shall be—
‘‘(A) level II of the Executive Schedule for posi-
tions under subparagraphs (A)–(D) of subsection 
(h)(1); and 
‘‘(B) level III of the Executive Schedule for any 
positions under subsection (h)(1)(E) which the Presi-
dent may determine.’’. 
(b) ADMINISTRATIVE
APPEALS
JUDGES.—Section 
5304(h)(1), as amended by section 1125(a)(1)(B) of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Pub-
lic Law 108–136; 117 Stat. 1638), is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub-
paragraph (E); and 
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(D) a position to which section 5372b applies 
(relating to administrative appeals judges); and’’.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 
Section 5304(h)(2)(B), as amended by section 
1125(a)(1)(C) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108–136; 117 Stat. 1638), 
is amended—
(1) in clause (i)—
(A) by striking ‘‘(A) through (C)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(A) through (D)’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘(vii)’’ and inserting ‘‘(vi)’’; 
and 
(2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘(1)(D)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(1)(E)’’. 
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this Act 
shall—
(1) for purposes of computing any rate of com-
pensation for service performed in any pay period be-
ginning before the date specified under subsection (b), 
be treated as if they had never been enacted; and 
(2) for purposes of computing any rate of com-
pensation for service performed in any pay period be-
ginning on or after the date specified under sub-
section (b), take effect as if included in the enactment 
of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2004 (Public Law 108–136; 117 Stat. 1392).
(b) DATE SPECIFIED.—The date specified under this 
subsection shall be the earlier of—
(1) the first day of the first pay period beginning 
at least 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act; or 
(2) such other date (not earlier than the date of 
the enactment of this Act) as the Office of Personnel 
Management may determine. 
SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Office of Personnel 
Management shall submit to the Committee on Government 
Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Governmental Affairs of the Senate a written report con-
taining the following: 
(1) A list of all Executive Schedule positions, 
and the rate of basic pay in effect for and the total 
number of individuals occupying each such position. 
(2) A comparison of the rates of basic pay for 
administrative law judges, administrative appeals 
judges, and contract appeals board members (before 
and after taking comparability pay into account) 
with—
(A) the rates of basic pay for Executive 
Schedule positions; and
(B) the rates of basic pay for United States 
magistrate judges, United States bankruptcy 
judges, judges of a United States district court, 
and judges of a United States court of appeals, 
respectively. 
(3) A determination of whether rates of basic 
pay for administrative law judges, administrative ap-
peals judges, and contract appeals board members are 
incongruous with the rates of basic pay for the posi-
tions referred to in paragraphs (2)(A) and (2)(B), re-
spectively. 
(4) A recommendation on the extent to which the 
rates of basic pay for Executive Schedule positions 
should be adjusted (if at all), based on any deter-
mination under paragraph (3). 
(5) Any other information or recommendation 
which the Office of Personnel Management considers 
pertinent to the issue of appropriate rates of basic 
pay for Executive Schedule positions. 
(b) DATA AND METHODOLOGY.—The report of the Of-
fice of Personnel Management under this section shall in-
clude a statement identifying the data and methodology 
used in preparing such report. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
(1) the term ‘‘Executive Schedule positions’’ 
means positions under the Executive Schedule under 
subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 5, United States 
Code, and all other positions in the executive branch 
the annual rates of basic pay for which are individ-
ually fixed, or expressly authorized to be fixed, by 
statute, at the rate provided for a level of the Execu-
tive Schedule or at a rate determined by reference to 
a level of the Executive Schedule, but does not include 
administrative law judges, contract appeals board 
members, or administrative appeals judges; 
(2) the terms ‘‘administrative law judge’’, ‘‘con-
tract appeals board member’’, and ‘‘administrative 
appeals judge’’ have the meanings given them by sec-
tions 5372, 5372a, and 5372b of title 5, United States 
Code, respectively; and 
(3) the term ‘‘comparability pay’’ means com-
parability pay under section 5304 of title 5, United 
States Code, or similar provision of law.
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to adjust the 
rates of pay payable to administrative law judges, and for 
other purposes.’’.
Union Calendar No. 351
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3737
[Report No. 108–586] 
A BILL 
To increase the minimum and maximum rates of 
basic pay payable to administrative law judges, 
and for other purposes. 
JULY 7, 2004
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-
dered to be printed