I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 719 
To require the Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing 
Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2015 
Mr. KATKO (for himself, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Mississippi, and Mr. SANFORD) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
A BILL 
To require the Transportation Security Administration to 
conform to existing Federal law and regulations regard-
ing criminal investigator positions, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘TSA Office of Inspec-
tion Accountability Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) Consistent with Federal law and regula-
tions, for law enforcement officers to qualify for pre-
mium pay as criminal investigators, the officers 
must, in general, spend on average at least 50 per-
cent of their time investigating, apprehending, or de-
taining individuals suspected or convicted of offenses 
against the criminal laws of the United States. 
(2) According to the Inspector General of the 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS IG), the 
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does 
not ensure that its cadre of criminal investigators in 
the Office of Inspection are meeting this require-
ment, even though they are considered law enforce-
ment officers under TSA policy and receive premium 
pay. 
(3) Instead, TSA criminal investigators in the 
Office of Inspection primarily monitor the results of 
criminal investigations conducted by other agencies, 
investigate administrative cases of TSA employee 
misconduct, and carry out inspections, covert tests, 
and internal reviews, which the DHS IG asserts 
could be performed by employees other than criminal 
investigators at a lower cost. 
(4) The premium pay and other benefits af-
forded to TSA criminal investigators in the Office of 
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Inspection who are incorrectly classified as such will 
cost the taxpayer as much as $17,000,000 over 5 
years if TSA fails to make any changes to the num-
ber of criminal investigators in the Office of Inspec-
tion, according to the DHS IG. 
(5) This may be a conservative estimate, as it 
accounts for the cost of Law Enforcement Avail-
ability Pay, but not the costs of law enforcement 
training, statutory early retirement benefits, police 
vehicles, and weapons. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra-
tion’’ means the Transportation Security Adminis-
tration. 
(2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 
Homeland Security (Transportation Security) of the 
Department of Homeland Security. 
(3) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec-
tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De-
partment of Homeland Security. 
SEC. 4. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 
(a) REVIEW.—Not later than 60 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall 
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analyze the data and methods that the Assistant Secretary 
uses to identify employees of the Administration who meet 
the requirements of sections 8331(20), 8401(17), and 
5545a of title 5, United States Code, and provide the rel-
evant findings to the Assistant Secretary, including a find-
ing on whether the data and methods are adequate and 
valid. 
(b) PROHIBITION ON HIRING.—If the Inspector Gen-
eral finds that such data and methods are inadequate or 
invalid, the Administration may not hire any new em-
ployee to work in the Office of Inspection of the Adminis-
tration until— 
(1) the Assistant Secretary makes a certifi-
cation described in section 5 to the Committee on 
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate; and 
(2) the Inspector General submits to such Com-
mittees a finding, not later than 30 days after the 
Assistant Secretary makes such certification, that 
the Assistant Secretary utilized adequate and valid 
data and methods to make such certification. 
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