Federal Emergency Mobilization Accountability (FEMA) Workforce Planning Act

Bill: 119-s-444
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]
Introduced: 2025-02-06
Policy area: Emergency Management
Latest action: action_date: 2025-02-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-02-06
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Federal Emergency Mobilization Accountability (FEMA) Workforce Planning Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop and submit to Congress every three years a human capital operating plan to shape and improve FEMA’s workforce, and it requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit a report analyzing the plan.</p><p>Specifically, the bill lists contents FEMA must include in the plan, such as performance measures to track staffing and training, strategies for increasing cost-efficiency, and a plan of action to address gaps in critical and emerging skills in FEMA’s workforce. The plan must discuss the membership and training of the Surge Capacity Force, through which federal employees deploy in response to a catastrophic disaster. FEMA must submit the first plan within one year after the bill’s enactment and subsequent plans at least once every three years.</p><p>The bill also requires GAO to submit a report analyzing whether FEMA’s plan meets the requirements of the bill, including any recommendations to ensure subsequent plans meet the requirements.</p>

tv_txt: II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 444 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 6 (legislative day, February 5), 2025 Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Cassidy ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the development of a workforce plan for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Federal Emergency Mobilization Accountability (FEMA) Workforce Planning Act . 2. FEMA workforce plan (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Agency. (2) Agency The term Agency means the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (3) Department The term Department means the Department of Homeland Security. (4) Surge Capacity Force The term Surge Capacity Force means the Surge Capacity Force described in section 624 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 ( 6 U.S.C. 711 ). (b) Plan Development Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 3 years thereafter, the Administrator shall develop and submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a human capital operating plan to shape and improve the workforce of the Agency. (c) Leading practices The Administrator shall develop the plan required under subsection (b) in accordance with best practices outlined by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the Comptroller General of the United States, and other sources relevant to the Federal workforce. (d) Contents The plan developed under subsection (b) shall include— (1) performance measures to monitor and evaluate progress towards the human capital goals of the Agency, including filling staffing gaps, closing skills gaps in mission critical occupations, and implementing workforce training and, if applicable, progress towards meeting those goals since the date of submission of the most recent plan under subsection (b), including— (A) a process to monitor and evaluate progress toward those goals; (B) a discussion of why the Agency has or has not met those goals, including a description of specific barriers; and (C) a discussion of the addition or deletion of any specific performance measures; (2) details of the types of employees of the Agency, including by hiring authority and cadre; (3) a comprehensive analysis of the projected costs associated with implementing the plan; (4) strategies and practices designed to increase cost-efficiency within the workforce operations of the Agency, including reducing overhead costs, improving resource utilization, and avoiding unnecessary expenditures; (5) a detailed analysis of how the Agency determined the current overall staffing goals of the Agency; (6) an analysis of the current workforce of the Agency and possible gaps in the current staffing structure of the Agency needed to fulfill the mission of the Agency, including an assessment of— (A) the critical and emerging skills that will be needed in the workforce of the Agency to support the mission and responsibilities of, and effectively manage, the Agency during the 3-year period following the date of the submission of the plan, including target staffing numbers by cadre, region, and office; (B) the skills of the workforce of the Agency, including numbers of employees by cadre, region, and office on the date of submission of the plan; (C) projected trends in the workforce of the Agency based on expected losses due to retirement and other attrition, including any known data for the causes of attrition; and (D) the staffing levels of each category of employee of the Agency, including shortages in the workforce of the Agency and in the projected workforce of the Agency that should be addressed to ensure that the Agency has continued access to the critical and emerging skills described in subparagraph (A); (7) a plan of action with specific recommendations for developing and reshaping the workforce of the Agency to address the gaps in critical and emerging skills described in paragraph (6)(A), including— (A) specific recruitment and retention goals by cadre and mission critical occupations, including the analysis that the Agency uses to produce those numbers; (B) specific strategies for developing, training, deploying, motivating, and retaining the workforce of the Agency and the ability of the workforce of the Agency to fulfill the mission and responsibilities of the Agency, including the program objectives of the Department and the Agency to be achieved through such strategies; (C) specific strategies for recruiting and retaining individuals needed to address workforce gaps within specific cadres; (D) specific strategies for the development, training, and coordinated and rapid deployment of the Surge Capacity Force; (E) specific strategies for identifying, addressing, preventing, and mitigating discriminatory actions or decisions based on political affiliation; and (F) any necessary legislative proposals to improve recruitment and retention; and (8) a discussion that— (A) details the number of employees not employed by the Agency serving in the Surge Capacity Force and the qualifications or credentials and training of such individuals; (B) includes information on annual data relating to the deployment of the workforce of the Agency following major disasters or emergencies declared by the President under section 401 or 501, respectively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5170 , 5191) during the 3-year period preceding the date of the submission of the plan; (C) details— (i) average tenure and attrition data, categorized by type of attrition, for— (I) types of Agency employees by hiring authority; and (II) specific offices, regions, and cadres of the Agency; and (ii) any known reasons why some types of Agency employees or specific offices, regions, or cadres of the Agency may have higher levels of attrition and strategies to address those higher levels of attrition; (D) details— (i) efforts of the Agency to help prevent and respond to discrimination and harassment; and (ii) information on reported cases of discrimination and harassment within the Agency and the outcomes of those cases; and (E) describes, with respect to hiring information of the Agency, the time between the date on which the Agency validates a need to hire a new employee for a position and— (i) the acceptance of an offer of employment for the position by an applicant; and (ii) the start date of the employee at the Agency for the position. (e) Report Not later than 180 days after the date of the submission of the plan required under subsection (b), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report that— (1) analyzes whether the plan meets the requirements of this Act; and (2) includes necessary recommendations to ensure subsequent plans meet the requirements of this Act. (f) No new funds No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act.