Promotion Accessibility Act

Bill: 116-hr-7798
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Castro, Joaquin [D-TX-20]
Introduced: 2020-07-27
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Department of State

Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad

Employee performance

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Latest action: action_date: 2020-07-27
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-07-27
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Promotion Accessibility Act</b></p> <p>This bill authorizes members of the Foreign Service or the Senior Foreign Service to submit a gap memo in advance of having their performance evaluated by a selection board, and it prohibits members of a selection board from considering such a submission as negative when evaluating a member's performance.</p> <p>A gap memo is a written record indicating and explaining a gap in the record of a member that is due to personal circumstances, including for health, family, or other reasons.</p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7798 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 27, 2020 Mr. Castro of Texas (for himself and Ms. Titus ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 relating to selection boards regarding performance evaluations of Foreign Service officers, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Promotion Accessibility Act . 2. Implementation of gap memorandum in selection board process (a) In general Section 603 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 ( 22 U.S.C. 4003 ) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (c) (1) A member of the Service or member of the Senior Foreign Service whose performance will be evaluated by a selection board may submit to such selection board a gap memo in advance of such evaluation. (2) Members of a selection board may not consider as negative the submission of a gap memo by a member described in paragraph (1) when evaluating the performance of such member. (3) In this subsection, the term gap memo means a written record, submitted to a selection board in a standard format established by the Director General of the Foreign Service, which indicates and explains a gap in the record of a member of the Service or member of the Senior Foreign Service whose performance will be evaluated by such selection board, which gap is due to personal circumstances, including for health, family, or other reason as determined by the Director General in consultation with the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. . (b) Consultation and guidance (1) Consultation Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director General of the Foreign Service shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate regarding the development of the gap memo under subsection (c) of section 603 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, as added by subsection (a). (2) Definition In this subsection, the term gap memo has the meaning given such term in subsection (c) of section 603 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980.