Title: Senior Executive Service Accountability Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Senior Executive Service Accountability Act
This bill revises various personnel procedures applicable to career employees in the Senior Executive Service.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6376 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6376

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for certain reforms to 
 disciplinary procedures applicable to members of the Senior Executive 
                    Service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2018

 Mr. Walberg introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for certain reforms to 
 disciplinary procedures applicable to members of the Senior Executive 
                    Service, 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 ``Senior Executive Service 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. ACTIONS AGAINST SENIOR EXECUTIVES FOR PERFORMANCE OR CONDUCT.

    (a) Repeal of Pay Retention for Career Appointees Removed From the 
Senior Executive Service.--Section 3594(c)(1)(B) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(B)(i) any career appointee placed under subsection (a) 
        or (b)(2) of this section shall be entitled to receive basic 
        pay at the highest of--
                    ``(I) the rate of basic pay in effect for the 
                position in which placed;
                    ``(II) the rate of basic pay in effect at the time 
                of the placement for the position the career appointee 
                held in the civil service immediately before being 
                appointed to the Senior Executive Service; or
                    ``(III) the rate of basic pay in effect for the 
                career appointee immediately before being placed under 
                subsection (a) or (b) of this section; and
            ``(ii) any career appointee placed under subsection (b)(1) 
        of this section shall be entitled to receive basic pay at the 
        rate of basic pay in effect for the position in which placed; 
        and''.
    (b) Appraisal System Requirements.--Section 4314(b) of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end before the 
        semicolon the following: ``or, as warranted, from the civil 
        service''; and
            (2) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end before the 
        semicolon the following: ``or, as warranted, from the civil 
        service''.
    (c) Suspension for 14 Days or Less.--Paragraph (1) of section 7501 
of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) `employee' means--
                    ``(A) an individual in the competitive service who 
                is not serving a probationary period or, except as 
                provided in section 1599e of title 10, trial period 
                under an initial appointment or who has completed 1 
                year of current continuous employment in the same or 
                similar positions under other than a temporary 
                appointment limited to 1 year or less; or
                    ``(B) a career appointee in the Senior Executive 
                Service who--
                            ``(i) has completed the probationary period 
                        prescribed under section 3393(d); or
                            ``(ii) was covered by the provisions of 
                        subchapter II of this chapter immediately 
                        before appointment to the Senior Executive 
                        Service; and''.
    (d) Modification of Cause and Procedure for Suspension and 
Termination.--Section 7543 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking subsections (a), (b), and (c) and inserting 
        the following:
    ``(a) Under regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel 
Management, an agency may take an action covered by this subchapter 
against an employee only for such cause as would promote the efficiency 
of the service.
    ``(b) An employee against whom an action is proposed is entitled 
to--
            ``(1) written notice 15 business days in advance, unless 
        there is reasonable cause to believe the employee has committed 
        a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment can be imposed, 
        stating specific reasons for the proposed action;
            ``(2) a reasonable time, but not greater than 7 business 
        days, to answer orally and in writing and to furnish affidavits 
        and other documentary evidence in support of the answer;
            ``(3) be represented by an attorney or other 
        representative; and
            ``(4) a written decision and the specific reasons therefor.
    ``(c) An agency shall issue the decision not later than 15 business 
days after the agency provides notice, including a file containing all 
the evidence in support of the proposed action, to the employee 
affected.'';
            (2) in subsection (d), by inserting before the period the 
        following: ``, but only if such appeal is made not later than 
        10 business days after the effective date of the action''; and
            (3) in subsection (e), by striking ``and to the employee 
        affected upon the employee's request'' and adding at the end 
        after the period the following: ``Upon the affected employee's 
        request, copies of the documents described in the previous 
        sentence shall be furnished to the employee, to the extent 
        those documents were not provided pursuant to subsection 
        (c).''.
    (e) Conforming Amendments.--Title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 3592(b)(2)(B), by striking ``any 
        disciplinary action'' and inserting ``any action under section 
        7543'';
            (2) in section 3593(a)(2), by striking ``misconduct, 
        neglect of duty, malfeasance,'' and inserting ``a removal under 
        section 7543'';
            (3) in section 3594, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) This section shall not apply to any career appointee who is 
subject to a personnel action under subchapter V of chapter 75.''; and
            (4) in section 7542, by striking ``or to a removal under 
        section 3592 or'' and inserting the following: ``to a removal 
        from the Senior Executive Service under section 3592 of this 
        title, or to a reduction in force or a transfer of function as 
        defined in subsections (d) and (e) of section''.
    (f) Application.--The amendments made by this Act shall not apply 
to any personnel action under subchapter V of chapter 75 of title 5, 
United States Code, commenced before the date that is 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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