Federal law, commonly known as the Hatch Act, regulates certain government employees' participation in partisan political activities. When enacting the current provisions regulating employees' political participation, Congress expressly stated that the policy underlying the statute recognized employees' right to engage freely "in the political processes of the Nation." Employees in the executive branch of the federal government have been subject to certain limitations and restrictions on their partisan political activities for over a century. A general ban on voluntary, off-duty participation in partisan politics by merit system employees was instituted by executive order in 1907. Specifically, the executive order prohibited employees from using "official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the result thereof." Employees retained their right to vote and privately express political opinions, but were prohibited from taking "active part in political management or in political campaigns." Known as Civil Service Rule 1, this restriction and all of the administrative interpretations under it were eventually codified in 1939 and made applicable to most federal executive branch employees under a law commonly known as the Hatch Act. Since 1940, state and local government employees whose official jobs are connected with activities that receive federal funding have come within the purview of a part of the federal Hatch Act regarding partisan political activities. The Hatch Act and civil service restrictions were seen in some respects as protections of federal employees from coercion by higher level, politically appointed supervisors to engage in political activities against their will, as well as an effort by Congress and the Executive to assure a nonpartisan and evenhanded administration of federal laws and programs. With the advent of the modern, more independent and merit-based civil service, and the adoption of increased statutory and regulatory protections of federal employees against improper coercion and retaliation, the need for a broad ban on all voluntary, outside activities in politics as a means to protect employees was seen as less necessary and more restrictive of the rights of private expression of millions of citizens than was needed to accomplish the goals of the Hatch Act. Accordingly, Congress made significant changes to the law in the Hatch Act Reform Amendments of 1993. The 1993 amendments allow most federal employees to engage in a wide range of voluntary, partisan political activities in their time off-duty, away from their federal jobs, and off of any federal premises. While many limitations on employees' political activity were removed, the amendments retained strict restrictions for some employees of designated agencies and provided more express statutory prohibitions on workplace politicking. Most recently, Congress made changes to the Hatch Act in the Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012. These amendments did not include significant changes to the substantive prohibitions on federal employees' political activity. However, these amendments did change the status of employees of the District of Columbia, who previously were subject to Hatch Act restrictions but now are expressly excluded from coverage, and made changes to the mechanisms for enforcement of Hatch Act violations. In its current form, the Hatch Act generally prohibits some categories of political activities for all covered employees. These restrictions generally prohibit such employees from the following: using their "official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election"; soliciting, accepting, or receiving political campaign contributions from any person; running "for election to a partisan political office"; soliciting or discouraging participation in political activity of any person who either has an application for a grant, contract, or other status pending before the employing agency or is the subject of an ongoing audit, investigation, or enforcement action by the employing agency; engaging in partisan political activity on official duty time; on federal property; while wearing a uniform or insignia identifying them as federal officials or employees; or while using a government vehicle. Specific political activities that are permitted or prohibited for each category of federal employees covered by the Hatch Act are provided in the Appendix of this report. Notably, employees are not prohibited from all forms of political activity, and the Hatch Act expressly preserves an employee's "right to vote as he chooses and to express his opinion on political subjects and candidates." The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent executive agency, is responsible for administering the Hatch Act provisions, including investigating complaints and interpreting the parameters of permissible and prohibited political activities. If OSC believes that disciplinary action is warranted, it provides a complaint and statement of facts to the employee and the Merit Systems Protection Board. Employees, if subject to such a complaint, are entitled to certain procedural rights, including representation and a hearing. Penalties under the Hatch Act are generally in the nature of administrative, personnel actions. Following criticism of the penalty structure as "overly-restrictive," current penalties include removal, reduction in grade, debarment from federal employment for up to five years, suspension, reprimand, or a civil fine. The Hatch Act defines employee for purposes of the act as "any individual, other than the President and Vice President, employed or holding office in—(A) an Executive Agency other than the General Accounting Office [Government Accountability Office]; or (B) a position within the competitive service which is not in an Executive agency...." The definition expressly excludes members of the uniformed services and individuals employed or holding office in the government of the District of Columbia. Furthermore, by definition and design, the Hatch Act does not apply to employees in the legislative or judicial branches of the federal government. Notably, although not all employees of the federal government are subject to the Hatch Act, some provisions of the federal criminal code relating to political corruption and campaign finance apply to all federal officers and employees in all three branches of government. The broad definition means that the Hatch Act generally applies to all civilian officers and employees in the executive branch of the federal government. With the exception of the President and Vice President themselves, individuals who are subject to Hatch Act restrictions include rank-and-file employees in the executive branch; all officials of the executive agencies and departments, including agency and department heads appointed by the President with advice and consent of the Senate; and all officials, staff, and aides in the offices of the President and Vice President. There are limited exceptions for applicability of the Hatch Act under certain circumstances, as discussed below. Following the relaxation of limitations on participation in political activity, the majority of individuals identified as "employees" subject to the Hatch Act are considered "less restricted employees." That is, these employees are subject to the standard rules provided by the Hatch Act, whether by statute or regulation, and generally are permitted to "take an active part in political management or in political campaigns," except for the general restrictions outlined above. Some employees covered by the Hatch Act are subject to additional restrictions under current law, and may be referred to as "further restricted employees." These designations mean that such employees are subject not only to the standard rules noted above, but also to additional restrictions in the relevant statutory provisions and regulations. These employees are subject to more restrictive provisions similar to the former "no politics" rule of the original Hatch Act discussed earlier. Further restricted employees are identified by the agencies for which they work or particular positions within the executive branch. The designated agencies generally deal with law enforcement or national security matters and include the following: the Federal Election Commission; the Election Assistance Commission; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Secret Service; the Central Intelligence Agency; the National Security Council; the National Security Agency; the Defense Intelligence Agency; the Merit Systems Protection Board; the Office of Special Counsel; the Office of Criminal Investigation of the Internal Revenue Service; the Office of Investigative Programs of the United States Custom Service; the Office of Law Enforcement of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice; and the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. The heightened restrictions also apply to employees holding certain designated positions, including the following: career appointees in an Senior Executive Service position; administrative law judges; contract appeals board members; and administrative appeals judges. Employees in these agencies may not "take an active part in political management or political campaigns," unless the employee was appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The law specifies that this prohibition means that these employees are subject to the rules in place under the original Hatch Act provisions (e.g., "no politics" even if off duty or away from their official jobs or workplace). However, further restricted employees are not entirely excluded from political action under the Hatch Act. That is, they may engage in a number of political activities in their capacity as private citizens (i.e., while not on duty, in the federal workplace, or otherwise representing or appearing to represent the government) if the activity "is not performed in concert with a political party, partisan political group, or a candidate for partisan political office." The Hatch Act provides a few limited exceptions, including for employees in certain high-ranking positions and for employees seeking to engage in political activities in certain municipalities. The Hatch Act provides an exception to allow certain high-ranking officials to "engage in political activity otherwise prohibited ... if the costs associated with that political activity are not paid for by money derived from the Treasury of the United States." The exception is available to employees who hold positions with responsibilities that "continue outside normal duty hours and while away from the normal duty post," such as presidential advisers or Cabinet officers appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. In other words, these officials may engage in political activities during what would be considered official working time, as long as federal funds are not used for such activities. Any such official must reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the federal resources used in campaign activities. Congress authorized regulations that would permit employees otherwise covered by the Hatch Act's restrictions "to take an active part in political management and political campaigns involving the municipality or other political subdivision in which they reside" in certain cases.