II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3771 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 8 (legislative day, February 7), 2024 Mr. Cassidy (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal , and Mr. Casey ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide increased locality pay rates to certain Bureau of Prisons employees whose duty stations are located in the pay locality designated as Rest of U.S. , and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Pay Our Correctional Officers Fairly Act . 2. Providing nearest other locality pay rate for certain Bureau of Prisons employees receiving Rest of U.S. locality rate Section 5304 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (j) and by inserting after subsection (h) the following: (i) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, and consistent with paragraph (2), the official worksite of an employee of the Bureau of Prisons that is otherwise located in the pay locality designated as Rest of U.S. shall be considered to be located in the nearest other pay locality established pursuant to this section. (2) For purposes of carrying out paragraph (1)— (A) if more than one pay locality is within 200 miles of the official worksite of such an employee, such worksite shall be considered to be located in the pay locality with the highest comparability payment; and (B) an employee of the Bureau of Prisons shall not be subject to paragraph (1) if the official worksite of such employee is not within 200 miles of the nearest boundary of any pay locality other than Rest of U.S. . . 3. Providing higher wage area pay for certain Bureau of Prisons employees Section 5343 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (g) (1) In this subsection— (A) the term covered pay locality — (i) means a pay locality established under section 5304 that includes the boundaries of 2 or more wage areas established under this section; and (ii) does not include the pay locality designated as Rest of the U.S. ; (B) the term covered wage area means a wage area established under this section, the boundary of which is located within the boundaries of a covered pay locality; (C) the term nearest other wage area means a wage area, a boundary of which is located within the boundaries of a nearest other pay locality established under section 5304(i); and (D) the term Rest of U.S. wage area means a wage area located in the pay locality designated as Rest of the U.S. . (2) (A) A prevailing rate employee of the Bureau of Prisons employed in a Rest of U.S. wage area shall be paid at the higher wage schedule and rate of the nearest other wage area established under this paragraph and the wage area of the employee. (B) For purposes of carrying out subparagraph (A), if the nearest other pay locality established under section 5304(i) contains the boundaries of 2 or more wage areas established under this section— (i) the employee shall be paid at the wage schedule and rate for employees at the nearest other Bureau of Prisons facility within 200 miles of the nearest boundary of the nearest other pay locality established under section 5304(i); and (ii) if there is no Bureau of Prisons facility in the nearest other pay locality established under section 5304(i), the employee shall be paid at the wage schedule and rate for the nearest other wage area that the Bureau of Prisons determines is most similar in population, employment, manpower, and industry to the wage area of the employee, as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this subsection. (3) A prevailing rate employee of the Bureau of Prisons employed in a covered wage area shall be paid at the highest applicable wage schedule and rate for any wage area located in the covered pay locality. . 4. Applicability The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any pay period beginning on or after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.