H. R. 719 
One Hundred Fourteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE FIRST SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the sixth day of January, two thousand and fifteen 
An Act 
To require the Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing Federal 
law and regulations regarding criminal investigator positions, 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 ‘‘TSA Office of Inspection Account-
ability Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Consistent with Federal law and regulations, for law 
enforcement officers to qualify for premium pay as criminal 
investigators, the officers must, in general, spend on average 
at least 50 percent of their time investigating, apprehending, 
or detaining 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 
requirement, even though they are considered law enforcement 
officers under TSA policy and receive premium pay. 
(3) Instead, TSA criminal investigators in the Office of 
Inspection primarily monitor the results of criminal investiga-
tions 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 investiga-
tors at a lower cost. 
(4) The premium pay and other benefits afforded to TSA 
criminal investigators in the Office of Inspection who are incor-
rectly classified as such will cost the taxpayer as much as 
$17 million over 5 years if TSA fails to make any changes 
to the number 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 Availability Pay, but not 
the costs of law enforcement training, statutory early retire-
ment benefits, police vehicles, and weapons. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act:
H. R. 719—2 
(1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administration’’ means 
the Transportation Security Administration. 
(2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ 
means the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Transpor-
tation Security) of the Department of Homeland Security. 
(3) INSPECTOR
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspector General’’ 
means the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland 
Security. 
SEC. 4. INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDIT. 
(a) AUDIT.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Inspector General shall analyze the data 
and methods that the Assistant Secretary uses to identify Office 
of Inspection employees of the Administration who meet the require-
ments of sections 8331(20), 8401(17), and 5545a of title 5, United 
States Code, and provide the relevant findings to the Assistant 
Secretary, including a finding on whether the data and methods 
are adequate and valid. 
(b) PROHIBITION ON HIRING.—If the Inspector General finds 
that such data and methods are inadequate or invalid, the Adminis-
tration shall not hire any new employee to work in the Office 
of Inspection of the Administration until— 
(1) the Assistant Secretary makes a certification 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 Committees 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 certifi-
cation. 
SEC. 5. TSA OFFICE OF INSPECTION WORKFORCE CERTIFICATION. 
(a) CERTIFICATION
TO CONGRESS.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall, by not later than 90 days after the date the Inspector General 
provides its findings to the Assistant Secretary under section 4(a), 
document and certify in writing to the Committee on Homeland 
Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate that only 
those Office of Inspection employees of the Administration who 
meet the requirements of sections 8331(20), 8401(17), and 5545a 
of title 5, United States Code, are classified as criminal investigators 
and are receiving premium pay and other benefits associated with 
such classification. 
(b) EMPLOYEE
RECLASSIFICATION.—The Assistant Secretary 
shall reclassify criminal investigator positions in the Office of 
Inspection as noncriminal investigator positions or non-law enforce-
ment positions if the individuals in those positions do not, or are 
not expected to, spend an average of at least 50 percent of their 
time performing criminal investigative duties. 
(c) PROJECTED COST SAVINGS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary shall estimate 
the total long-term cost savings to the Federal Government 
resulting from the implementation of subsection (b), and provide 
such estimate to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate by not later than 
180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.