H. R. 633
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
An Act
To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to provide that the annuities of certain
special agents and security personnel of the Department of State be computed
in the same way as applies generally with respect to Federal law enforcement
officers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of State Special
Agents Retirement Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIRE-
MENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM.
(a) DEFINITION OF A SPECIAL AGENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 804 of the Foreign Service Act
of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4044) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (13);
(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph
(14) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(15) ‘special agent’ means an employee of the Department
of State with a primary skill code of 2501—
‘‘(A) the duties of whose position—
‘‘(i) are primarily—
‘‘(I) the investigation, apprehension, or deten-
tion of individuals suspected or convicted of
offenses against the criminal laws of the United
States; or
‘‘(II) the protection of persons pursuant to
section 2709(a)(3) of title 22, United States Code,
against threats to personal safety; and
‘‘(ii) are sufficiently rigorous that employment
opportunities should be limited to young and physically
vigorous individuals, as determined by the Secretary
of State pursuant to section 4823 of title 22, United
States Code;
‘‘(B) performing duties described in subparagraph (A)
before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this para-
graph; or
‘‘(C) transferred directly to a position which is super-
visory or administrative in nature after performing duties
described in subparagraph (A) for at least 3 years.’’.
(2) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 852 of such Act
(22 U.S.C. 4071a) is amended—
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(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (7);
(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph
(8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(9) the term ‘special agent’ has the same meaning given
in section 804(15).’’.
(b) CONTRIBUTIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 805(a) of such Act (22 U.S.C.
4045(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) For service as a special agent, paragraph (1) shall be
applied by substituting for ‘7 percent’ the percentage that applies
to law enforcement officers under section 8334(a)(1) of title 5, United
States Code.’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 805(a)(1) (22 U.S.C.
4045(a)(1)) of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘Except as pro-
vided in subsection (h),’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise
provided in this section,’’.
(c) SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION FOR PRIOR NONDEPOSIT SERVICE.—
Section 805(d) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4045(d)) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(6) Subject to paragraph (4) and subsection (h), for purposes
of applying this subsection with respect to prior service as a special
agent, the percentages of basic pay set forth in section 8334(c)
of title 5, United States Code, with respect to a law enforcement
officer, shall apply instead of the percentages set forth in paragraph
(1).’’.
(d) COMPUTATION OF ANNUITIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 806(a) of such Act (22 U.S.C.
4046(a)) is amended—
(A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7);
and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
‘‘(6)(A) The annuity of a special agent under this subchapter
shall be computed under paragraph (1) except that, in the case
of a special agent described in subparagraph (B), paragraph (1)
shall be applied by substituting for ‘2 percent’—
‘‘(i) the percentage under subparagraph (A) of section
8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for so much of the
participant’s total service as is specified thereunder; and
‘‘(ii) the percentage under subparagraph (B) of section
8339(d)(1) of title 5, United States Code, for so much of the
participant’s total service as is specified thereunder.
‘‘(B) A special agent described in this subparagraph is any
such agent or former agent who—
‘‘(i)(I) retires voluntarily or involuntarily under section 607,
608, 611, 811, 812, or 813, under conditions authorizing an
immediate annuity, other than for cause on charges of mis-
conduct or delinquency, or retires for disability under section
808; and
‘‘(II) at the time of retirement—
‘‘(aa) if voluntary, is at least 50 years of age and
has completed at least 20 years of service as a special
agent; or
‘‘(bb) if involuntary or disability, has completed at least
20 years of service as a special agent; or
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‘‘(ii) dies in service after completing at least 20 years of
service as a special agent, when an annuity is payable under
section 809.
‘‘(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B), included with the years
of service performed by an individual as a special agent shall
be any service performed by such individual as a law enforcement
officer (within the meaning of section 8331(20) or section 8401(17)
of title 5, United States Code), or a member of the Capitol Police.’’.
(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR SPECIAL AGENTS WITH PRIOR SERVICE
UNDER THE FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYS-
TEM OR THE CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 806(a)
of such Act (22 U.S.C. 4046(a)), as amended by paragraph
(1), is further amended—
(A) by redesignating paragraph (7) (as so redesignated
by paragraph (1)) as paragraph (8); and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (6) (as added by para-
graph (1)) the following:
‘‘(7) In the case of a special agent who becomes or became
subject to subchapter II—
‘‘(A) for purposes of paragraph (6)(B), any service per-
formed by the individual as a special agent (whether under
this subchapter or under subchapter II), as a law enforce-
ment officer (within the meaning of section 8331(20) or
section 8401(17) of title 5, United States Code), or as a
member of the Capitol Police shall be creditable; and
‘‘(B) if the individual satisfies paragraph (6)(B), the
portion of such individual’s annuity which is attributable
to service under the Foreign Service Retirement and
Disability System or the Civil Service Retirement System
shall be computed in conformance with paragraph (6).’’.
(3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(A) Paragraph (8) of section 806(a) of such Act (22
U.S.C. 4046(a)), as so redesignated by paragraph (2)(A),
is amended by striking ‘‘and (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4), and
(6)’’.
(B) Paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 855(b) of such
Act (22 U.S.C. 4071d(b)) are each amended by inserting
‘‘611,’’ after ‘‘608,’’.
SEC. 3. MANDATORY SEPARATION OF SPECIAL AGENTS.
The first sentence of section 812(a)(2) of the Foreign Service
Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4052(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘Notwithstanding paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) an individual described in section 4(a)(2) of the Depart-
ment of State Special Agents Retirement Act of 1998 who
is otherwise eligible for immediate retirement under this chap-
ter; or
‘‘(B) a Foreign Service criminal investigator/inspector of
the Office of Inspector General of the Agency for International
Development who would have been eligible for retirement
pursuant to either section 8336(c) or 8412(d) of title 5, United
States Code, as applicable, had the employee remained in civil
service,
shall be separated from the Service on the last day of the month
in which such individual under subparagraph (A) or such Foreign
Service criminal investigator/inspector under subparagraph (B)
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attains 57 years of age or completes 20 years of service if then
over that age.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), this
Act and the amendments made by this Act—
(1) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this
Act; and
(2) shall apply with respect to—
(A) any individual first appointed on or after that
date as a special agent who will have any portion of such
individual’s annuity computed in conformance with section
806(a)(6) of the Foreign Service Act; and
(B) any individual making an election under subsection
(b), subject to the provisions of such subsection.
(b) ELECTION FOR CURRENT PARTICIPANTS.—
(1) ELIGIBILITY.—An election under this subsection may
be made by any currently employed participant under chapter
8 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 who is serving or has
served as a special agent, or by a survivor of a special agent
who was eligible to make an election under this section.
(2) EFFECT OF AN ELECTION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—If an individual makes an election
under this subsection, the amendments made by this Act
shall become applicable with respect to such individual,
subject to subparagraph (B).
(B) TREATMENT OF PRIOR SERVICE.—
(i) SPECIAL
CONTRIBUTION.—An individual may,
after making the election under this subsection, make
a special contribution up to the full amount of the
difference between the contributions actually deducted
from pay for prior service and the deductions that
would have been required if the amendments made
by this Act had then been in effect. Any special con-
tributions under this clause shall be computed under
regulations based on section 805(d) of the Foreign Serv-
ice Act of 1980 (as amended by section 2), including
provisions relating to the computation of interest.
(ii) ACTUARIAL REDUCTION.—
(I) RULE
IF
THE
SPECIAL
CONTRIBUTION
IS
PAID.—If the full amount of the special contribu-
tion under clause (i) is paid, no reduction under
this clause shall apply.
(II) RULE IF LESS THAN THE ENTIRE AMOUNT
IS PAID.—If no special contribution under clause
(i) is paid, or if less than the entire amount of
such special contribution is paid, the recomputed
annuity shall be reduced by an amount sufficient
to make up the actuarial present value of the
shortfall.
(c) REGULATIONS AND NOTICE.—Not later than 6 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State—
(1) shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary
to carry out this Act; and
(2) shall take measures reasonably designed to provide
notice to participants as to any rights they might have under
this Act.
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(d) ELECTION DEADLINE.—An election under subsection (b) must
be made not later than 90 days after the date on which the relevant
notice under subsection (c)(2) is provided.
(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘special
agent’’ has the meaning given such term under section 804(15)
of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4044(15)), as amended
by section 2(a).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.