Official Time Reporting Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 605 To amend title 5, United States Code, to require that the Office of Personnel Management submit an annual report to Congress relating to the use of official time by Federal employees. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2019 Mr. HICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. ARRINGTON, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to require that the Office of Personnel Management submit an annual report to Congress relating to the use of official time by Federal employees. 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 ‘‘Official Time Report- 4 ing Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H605.IH H605 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 605 IH SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7131 of title 5, United 2 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(e)(1)(A) Not later than March 31 of each calendar 5 year, the Office of Personnel Management, in consultation 6 with the Office of Management and Budget, shall submit 7 to each House of Congress a report on the operation of 8 this section during the fiscal year last ending before the 9 start of such calendar year. 10 ‘‘(B) Not later than December 31 of each calendar 11 year, each agency (as defined by section 7103(a)(3)) shall 12 furnish to the Office of Personnel Management the infor- 13 mation which such Office requires, with respect to such 14 agency, for purposes of the report which is next due under 15 subparagraph (A). 16 ‘‘(2) Each report by the Office of Personnel Manage- 17 ment under this subsection shall include, with respect to 18 the fiscal year described in paragraph (1)(A), at least the 19 following information: 20 ‘‘(A) The total amount of official time granted 21 to employees. 22 ‘‘(B) The average amount of official time ex- 23 pended per bargaining unit employee. 24 ‘‘(C) The specific types of activities or purposes 25 for which official time was granted, and the impact 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H605.IH H605 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 605 IH which the granting of such official time for such ac- 1 tivities or purposes had on agency operations. 2 ‘‘(D) The total number of employees to whom 3 official time was granted, and, of that total, the 4 number who were not engaged in any activities or 5 purposes except activities or purposes involving the 6 use of official time. 7 ‘‘(E) The total amount of compensation (includ- 8 ing fringe benefits) afforded to employees in connec- 9 tion with activities or purposes for which they were 10 granted official time. 11 ‘‘(F) A description of any room or space des- 12 ignated at the agency (or its subcomponent) where 13 official time activities will be conducted, including 14 the square footage of any such room or space. 15 ‘‘(3) All information included in a report by the Of- 16 fice of Personnel Management under this subsection with 17 respect to a fiscal year— 18 ‘‘(A) shall be shown both agency-by-agency and 19 for all agencies; and 20 ‘‘(B) shall be accompanied by the corresponding 21 information (submitted by the Office in its report 22 under this subsection) for the fiscal year before the 23 fiscal year to which such report pertains, together 24 with appropriate comparisons and analyses. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H605.IH H605 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 605 IH ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘offi- 1 cial time’ means any period of time, regardless of agency 2 nomenclature— 3 ‘‘(A) which may be granted to an employee 4 under this chapter (including a collective bargaining 5 agreement entered into under this chapter) to per- 6 form representational or consultative functions; and 7 ‘‘(B) during which the employee would other- 8 wise be in a duty status.’’. 9 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 10 section (a) shall be effective beginning with the report 11 which, under the provisions of such amendment, is first 12 required to be submitted by the Office of Personnel Man- 13 agement to each House of Congress by a date which oc- 14 curs at least 6 months after the date of the enactment 15 of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:08 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H605.IH H605 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS