Title: Federal Workforce Accountability and Modernization Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Federal Workforce Accountability and Modernization Act
This bill provides statutory authority for the executive order titled Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service, which was issued on October 21, 2020. The order places executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, in the excepted service instead of the competitive service.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8711 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8711

 To amend title 5, United States Code, to codify Executive Order 13957 
   entitled ``Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted 
                   Service'', and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 30, 2020

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 5, United States Code, to codify Executive Order 13957 
   entitled ``Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted 
                   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 ``Federal Workforce Accountability and 
Modernization Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING SCHEDULE F OF THE EXCEPTED SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United 
States Codes, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3330f. Schedule F of the excepted service
    ``(a) There is established in the excepted service a Schedule F 
consisting of any position that is of a confidential, policy-
determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character and that is 
not normally subject to change as a result of a Presidential 
transition.
    ``(b) Not later than 210 days after the date of enactment of this 
section, and annually thereafter, the head of each Executive agency 
shall review each position at the agency covered by subchapter II of 
chapter 75.
    ``(c) Following any review under subsection (b), the head shall--
            ``(1) with respect to positions not excepted from the 
        competitive service by statute, petition the Director of the 
        Office of Personnel Management to place in Schedule F any 
        competitive service or excepted service position under schedule 
        A, B, or D positions within the agency that the head determines 
        to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or 
        policy-advocating character and that are not normally subject 
        to change as a result of a Presidential transition; and
            ``(2) for positions excepted from the competitive service 
        by statute, determine which such positions are of a 
        confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-
        advocating character and are not normally subject to change as 
        a result of a Presidential transition.
    ``(d) Any petition under subsection (c)(1) shall include a written 
explanation for the basis for the agency head's determination that such 
position should be placed in Schedule F, and the agency head shall 
publish such determination in the Federal Register.
    ``(e) When conducting the review required by subsection (b), each 
agency head should consider the appropriateness of either petitioning 
the Director to place in Schedule F or including in the determination 
published in the Federal Register, as applicable, positions whose 
duties include any of the following:
            ``(1) Substantive participation in the advocacy for or 
        development or formulation of policy, especially--
                    ``(A) substantive participation in the development 
                or drafting of regulations and guidance; or
                    ``(B) substantive policy-related work in an agency 
                or agency component that primarily focuses on policy.
            ``(2) The supervision of attorneys.
            ``(3) Substantial discretion to determine the manner in 
        which the Executive agency exercises functions committed to the 
        agency by law.
            ``(4) Viewing, circulating, or otherwise working with 
        proposed regulations, guidance, executive orders, or other non-
        public policy proposals or deliberations generally covered by 
        deliberative process privilege and either--
                    ``(A) directly reporting to, or regularly working 
                with, an individual appointed by the President or an 
                Executive agency head who is paid at a rate not less 
                than that earned by employees at GS-13 of the General 
                Schedule; or
                    ``(B) working in the agency or agency component 
                executive secretariat (or equivalent).
            ``(5) Conducting, on the Executive agency's behalf, 
        collective bargaining negotiations under chapter 71.
    ``(f) The Director shall determine whether to grant any petition 
under subsection (c) to place a position in Schedule F. Not later than 
December 31 of each year, the Director shall report to the President, 
through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the 
Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, concerning the number 
of petitions granted and denied for that year for each Executive 
agency.
    ``(g) Each Executive agency head shall, as necessary and 
appropriate, expeditiously petition the Federal Labor Relations 
Authority to determine whether any Schedule F position must be excluded 
from a collective bargaining unit under section 7112(b), paying 
particular attention to the question of whether incumbents in such 
positions are required or authorized to formulate, determine, or 
influence the policies of the agency.
    ``(h) In appointing an individual to a position in Schedule F, each 
Executive agency shall follow the principle of veteran preference as 
far as administratively feasible.
    ``(i) Each Executive agency shall establish rules to prohibit the 
same personnel practices prohibited by section 2302(b) with respect to 
any employee or applicant for employment in Schedule F of the excepted 
service.
    ``(j) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management may 
prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out this section.
    ``(k) In this section--
            ``(1) the term `Director' means the Director of the Office 
        of Personnel Management; and
            ``(2) the term `Executive agency' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 105, but does not include the Government 
        Accountability Office.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections of subchapter I of 
chapter 33 of title 5, United States Codes, is amended by adding after 
the item relating to section 3330e the following:

``3330f. Schedule F of the excepted service.''.
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