Reduce Bureaucracy Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1619 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for a 2-year prohibition on employment in a career civil service position for any former political appointee, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2021 Ms. ERNST 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 for a 2-year prohibition on employment in a career civil service position for any former political appointee, 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 ‘‘Reduce Bureaucracy 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1619 IS SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON EMPLOYMENT OF POLITICAL AP- 1 POINTEES IN CAREER CIVIL SERVICE POSI- 2 TIONS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 4 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 5 the following: 6 ‘‘§ 3117. Employment of political appointees 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given 9 the term ‘Executive agency’ in section 105; 10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Associate Director’ means the 11 Associate Director for Merit System Accountability 12 and Compliance at the Office of Personnel Manage- 13 ment; 14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘career position’ means— 15 ‘‘(A) a position in the competitive service 16 filled by career or career-conditional appoint- 17 ment; 18 ‘‘(B) a position in the excepted service 19 filled by an appointment of equivalent tenure as 20 a position described in subparagraph (A); 21 ‘‘(C) a career reserved position, as defined 22 in section 3132(a)(8), in the Senior Executive 23 Service; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1619 IS ‘‘(D) a general position in the Senior Exec- 1 utive Service when filled by a career appointee, 2 as defined in section 3132(a)(4); 3 ‘‘(4) the term ‘participated’ means an action 4 taken as an officer or employee through decision, ap- 5 proval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering 6 of advice, investigation, or other such action; 7 ‘‘(5) the term ‘particular matter’ includes any 8 investigation, application, request for a ruling or de- 9 termination, rulemaking, contract, controversy, 10 claim, charge, accusation, arrest, or judicial or other 11 proceeding; 12 ‘‘(6) the term ‘political appointee’ means an in- 13 dividual serving in an appointment of any duration 14 to a political position; and 15 ‘‘(7) the term ‘political position’ means— 16 ‘‘(A) a position with respect to which ap- 17 pointment is made— 18 ‘‘(i) by the President; or 19 ‘‘(ii) by the President, by and with the 20 advice and consent of the Senate; 21 ‘‘(B) a position that has been excepted 22 from the competitive service by reason of its 23 confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, 24 or policy-advocating character; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1619 IS ‘‘(C) a position described in sections 5312 1 through 5316 (relating to the Executive Sched- 2 ule); and 3 ‘‘(D) a general position in the Senior Exec- 4 utive Service during such time as it is filled 5 by— 6 ‘‘(i) a noncareer appointee, as defined 7 in section 3132(a)(7); or 8 ‘‘(ii) a limited term appointee or a 9 limited emergency appointee, as defined in 10 paragraphs (5) and (6) of section 3132(a), 11 respectively, who is serving under a polit- 12 ical appointment. 13 ‘‘(b) APPOINTMENT APPROVAL REQUIRED.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 15 not appoint any individual described in paragraph 16 (5) to a career position within the agency without 17 receiving prior written approval from the Associate 18 Director, consistent with the requirements of this 19 subsection. 20 ‘‘(2) REQUEST.—The head of an agency shall 21 submit to the Associate Director a request to ap- 22 prove the appointment of any individual described in 23 paragraph (5) to a career position, which shall in- 24 clude certification by the head of the agency to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1619 IS Associate Director that the appointment is necessary 1 for the agency to meet the mission of the agency. 2 ‘‘(3) REVIEW AND DETERMINATION.—The As- 3 sociate Director— 4 ‘‘(A) shall— 5 ‘‘(i) review any request received under 6 paragraph (2); and 7 ‘‘(ii) deny any request described in 8 clause (i), unless the Associate Director de- 9 termines that the appointment process 10 with respect to the request was fair, open, 11 and free from political influence; and 12 ‘‘(B) may, if the Associate Director makes 13 a determination described in subparagraph 14 (A)(ii), approve a request submitted under 15 paragraph (2). 16 ‘‘(4) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS.—With re- 17 spect to any request approved under paragraph 18 (3)(B), the Associate Director shall, not less than 5 19 days before the date on which the Associate Director 20 provides approval to the head of the requesting 21 agency, provide to the Committee on Homeland Se- 22 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 23 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 24 House of Representatives the agency certification 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1619 IS under paragraph (2) and the rationale of the appli- 1 cable agency head with respect to that certification. 2 ‘‘(5) COVERED INDIVIDUALS.—An individual 3 described in this paragraph is— 4 ‘‘(A) a political appointee; 5 ‘‘(B) a former political appointee who held 6 any political position during the 5-year period 7 before the date on which the applicable request 8 described in paragraph (2) is submitted; or 9 ‘‘(C) at the discretion of the Director of 10 the Office of Personnel Management, a former 11 political appointee who held any political posi- 12 tion before the 5-year period described in sub- 13 paragraph (B). 14 ‘‘(c) RESTRICTION ON APPOINTMENT.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 16 law, rule, or regulation, during the 2-year period fol- 17 lowing the date on which a political appointee leaves 18 or departs from a political position, that appointee 19 may not be appointed to any career position in the 20 civil service. 21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 22 apply to a political appointee who has not personally 23 and substantially participated in any particular mat- 24 ter while employed in a political position. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1619 IS ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—Nothing in this section may be 1 construed to restrict the appointment of an individual who 2 is— 3 ‘‘(1) entitled to reinstatement under section 4 3593(b); or 5 ‘‘(2) eligible for reinstatement under section 6 3593(a).’’. 7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 8 for subchapter I of chapter 31 of title 5, United States 9 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec- 10 tion 3116 the following: 11 ‘‘3117. Employment of political appointees.’’. (c) APPLICATION.— 12 (1) APPOINTMENT REQUESTS.—Section 13 3117(b) of title 5, United States Code, as added by 14 subsection (a), shall apply to any appointment or re- 15 quest for appointment described in such section sub- 16 mitted to the Associate Director for Merit System 17 Accountability and Compliance after the date of en- 18 actment of this Act. 19 (2) LIMITATION ON APPOINTMENTS.—Section 20 3117(c) of title 5, United States Code, as added by 21 subsection (a), shall apply to any individual who 22 leaves or departs from a political position (as that 23 term is defined in section 3117(a) of such title, as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1619 IS added by such subsection) after the date of enact- 1 ment of this Act. 2 (d) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 4 Personnel Management shall issue regulations nec- 5 essary to carry out this section and the amendments 6 made by this section. 7 (2) CONTENTS.—The regulations issued under 8 paragraph (1) shall include guidance regarding the 9 definition of the term ‘‘personally and substantially 10 participated in any particular matter’’ in section 11 3117(c)(2) of title 5, United States Code, as added 12 by subsection (a), consistent with section 2641.201 13 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, and the defi- 14 nitions of applicable terms in section 3117(a) of title 15 5, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 16 SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF POLITICAL AP- 17 POINTEES. 18 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 19 (1) the terms ‘‘limited term appointee’’, ‘‘lim- 20 ited emergency appointee’’, and ‘‘noncareer ap- 21 pointee’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec- 22 tion 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code; and 23 (2) the term ‘‘political appointee’’ means any 24 individual who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1619 IS (A) is employed in a position on the Exec- 1 utive Schedule under sections 5312 through 2 5316 of title 5, United States Code; 3 (B) is a limited term appointee, a limited 4 emergency appointee, or a noncareer appointee; 5 or 6 (C) is employed in a position in the execu- 7 tive branch of the Federal Government of a 8 confidential or policy-determining character 9 under Schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of 10 title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 11 successor regulations. 12 (b) LIMITATION.—The President, acting through the 13 Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the 14 Director of the Office of Personnel Management, shall 15 take such actions as necessary to ensure that the total 16 number of political appointees shall not exceed 2,000. 17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 18 on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment 19 of this Act. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1619.IS S1619 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS