Saving the Civil Service Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 326 To nullify the Executive Order 13957 entitled ‘‘Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service’’, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 15, 2021 Mr. CONNOLLY (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. BEYER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. TRONE, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALO- NEY of New York, and Ms. WEXTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To nullify the 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saving the Civil Serv- 4 ice Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. NULLIFICATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 13957 RE- 6 LATING TO SCHEDULE F IN THE EXCEPTED 7 SERVICE. 8 (a) RESCISSION.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H326.IH H326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 326 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of the Execu- 1 tive Order 13957 (relating to Executive Order on 2 Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service), 3 issued on October 21, 2020, are rescinded and shall 4 have no force or effect. 5 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 6 take effect as if enacted on October 21, 2020. 7 (b) LIMITATION ON FUNDS.—No Federal funds may 8 be used to implement, administer, or otherwise carry out 9 the Executive Order described in subsection (a)(1), or any 10 successor Executive Order or regulation. 11 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS ON CONVERSIONS OF POSITIONS AND 12 APPOINTMENTS. 13 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other law, 14 rule, or regulation, and except as provided in subsection 15 (b)— 16 (1) a position in the competitive service or the 17 Senior Executive Service may not be converted to a 18 position in the excepted service; and 19 (2) an individual serving in an appointment in 20 the competitive service or the Senior Executive Serv- 21 ice may not be converted to an appointment in the 22 excepted service. 23 (b) CONVERSIONS AND APPOINTMENTS RE- 24 VERSED.—Notwithstanding subsection (a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H326.IH H326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 326 IH (1) any position in the competitive service that 1 was converted to a position in the excepted service 2 under Executive Order 13957 during the period be- 3 ginning on October 21, 2020, and ending on the 4 date of enactment of this Act shall be converted to 5 a position in the competitive service; 6 (2) any individual serving in an appointment in 7 the competitive service who was converted to an ap- 8 pointment in the excepted service under such Execu- 9 tive Order during such period shall be converted to 10 an appointment in the competitive service; 11 (3) any individual serving in an appointment in 12 the excepted service who was transferred to schedule 13 F from any of schedules A, B, C, D, or E in the 14 excepted service during such period shall be trans- 15 ferred to such schedule A, B, C, D, or E (as the 16 case may be); 17 (4) any individual noncompetitively appointed 18 to any position under schedule F during such period 19 shall be transferred to schedule C in the excepted 20 service; and 21 (5) any individual serving in the Senior Execu- 22 tive Service as a limited term appointee, limited 23 emergency appointee, or noncareer appointee (as 24 those terms are defined in paragraphs (5), (6), and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H326.IH H326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 326 IH (7), respectively, of section 3132(a) of title 5, United 1 States Code) and who was converted to an appoint- 2 ment in the excepted service under such Executive 3 Order during such period shall be converted to such 4 appointee position in the Senior Executive Service. 5 (c) POLITICAL APPOINTEES NONCOMPETITIVELY AP- 6 POINTED OR TRANSFERRED TO SCHEDULE F POSI- 7 TIONS.—Any individual described in subsection (b)(3), 8 (b)(4), or (b)(5)— 9 (1) may not be converted to a position or ap- 10 pointment in the competitive service; 11 (2) may not acquire competitive status under 12 any conversion carried out under this section; and 13 (3) shall not be afforded any employment pro- 14 tections established under section 6 of the Executive 15 Order 13957. 16 (d) REINSTATEMENT.—Any individual occupying a 17 position that was converted from the competitive service 18 to the excepted service under the Executive Order 13957, 19 and any individual whose appointment was converted from 20 the competitive service to the excepted service under such 21 Executive Order, who was involuntarily removed from the 22 civil service during the period beginning on October 21, 23 2020, and ending on the date of enactment of this Act 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H326.IH H326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 326 IH shall be appointed by reinstatement with backpay in ac- 1 cordance with section 5596 of title 5, United States Code. 2 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 (1) the terms ‘‘civil service’’, ‘‘competitive serv- 4 ice’’, and ‘‘excepted service’’ have the meaning given 5 those terms in sections 2101(1), 2102, and 2103, re- 6 spectively, of title 5, United States Code; and 7 (2) the term ‘‘schedule F’’ means schedule F in 8 the excepted service established under Executive 9 Order 13957. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:06 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H326.IH H326 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS