I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3499 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide additional authority to 
the Office of Special Counsel, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 26, 2019 
Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. RASKIN, and Mr. DESAULNIER) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide additional 
authority to the Office of Special Counsel, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Appointee 
Accountability Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 
Section 1215 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(3)— 
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(A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 
preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘A final’’ and 
inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subparagraph 
(C), a final’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) In a case brought under paragraph (1) in-
volving disciplinary action against an employee in a 
confidential, policy-making, policy-determining, or 
policy-advocating position appointed by the Presi-
dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen-
ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service 
of the United States or an employee serving in a po-
sition at level I of the Executive Schedule under sec-
tion 5312), a final order of the Board— 
‘‘(i) may impose an assessment of a civil 
penalty in an amount that is not more than 
$10,000 for each violation committed by the 
employee; and 
‘‘(ii) may not impose any other disciplinary 
action.’’; and 
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(b)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered indi-
vidual’— 
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‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date on 
which the President receives the complaint sub-
mitted under subparagraph (A), the President 
shall— 
‘‘(i) submit to the Special Counsel a writ-
ten response that contains— 
‘‘(I) an explanation of whether the 
President is taking the disciplinary action 
against 
the 
covered 
individual 
rec-
ommended by the Special Counsel under 
subparagraph (A)(i)(II); and 
‘‘(II) if the President is not taking the 
action described in subclause (I), the rea-
son that the President is not taking that 
action; and 
‘‘(ii) make the response required under 
clause (i) publicly available. 
‘‘(3) With respect to a covered individual who is an 
employee in a confidential, policy-making, policy-deter-
mining, or policy-advocating position appointed by the 
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen-
ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service of 
the United States or an employee serving in a position 
at level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312), 
the action required under this subsection with respect to 
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the individual shall be in addition to any action required 
under subsection (a) with respect to the individual.’’. 
Æ 
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