Timely Review of Infrastructure Act

II Calendar No. 254 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 607 [Report No. 116–134] To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address insufficient compensation of employees and other personnel of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mr. GARDNER, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources OCTOBER 22, 2019 Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment [Insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address insufficient compensation of employees and other personnel of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 607 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timely Review of In- 2 frastructure Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. ADDRESSING INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATION OF 4 EMPLOYEES AND OTHER PERSONNEL OF THE 5 FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMIS- 6 SION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 401 of the Department of 8 Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7171) is amended 9 by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(k) ADDRESSING INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATION OF 11 EMPLOYEES AND OTHER PERSONNEL OF THE COMMIS- 12 SION.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 14 provision of law, if the Chairman publicly certifies 15 that compensation for a category of employees or 16 other personnel of the Commission is insufficient to 17 retain or attract employees and other personnel to 18 allow the Commission to carry out the functions of 19 the Commission in a timely, efficient, and effective 20 manner, the Chairman may fix the compensation for 21 the category of employees or other personnel without 22 regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 23 53 of title 5, United States Code, or any other civil 24 service law. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 607 RS ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—A cer- 1 tification issued under paragraph (1) shall— 2 ‘‘(A) apply with respect to a category of 3 employees or other personnel responsible for 4 conducting work of a scientific, technological, 5 engineering, or mathematical nature; 6 ‘‘(B) specify a maximum amount of rea- 7 sonable compensation for the category of em- 8 ployees or other personnel; 9 ‘‘(C) be valid for a 5-year period beginning 10 on the date on which the certification is issued; 11 ‘‘(D) be no broader than necessary to 12 achieve the objective of retaining or attracting 13 employees and other personnel to allow the 14 Commission to carry out the functions of the 15 Commission in a timely, efficient, and effective 16 manner; and 17 ‘‘(E) include an explanation for why the 18 other approaches available to the Chairman for 19 retaining and attracting employees and other 20 personnel are inadequate. 21 ‘‘(3) RENEWAL.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 23 days before the date of expiration of a certifi- 24 cation issued under paragraph (1), the Chair- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 607 RS man shall determine whether the certification 1 should be renewed for a subsequent 5-year pe- 2 riod. 3 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—If the Chairman de- 4 termines that a certification should be renewed 5 under subparagraph (A), the Chairman may 6 renew the certification, subject to the certifi- 7 cation requirements under paragraph (2) that 8 were applicable to the initial certification. 9 ‘‘(4) NEW HIRES.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee or other 11 personnel that is a member of a category of em- 12 ployees or other personnel that would have been 13 covered by a certification issued under para- 14 graph (1), but was hired during a period in 15 which the certification has expired and has not 16 been renewed under paragraph (3) shall not be 17 eligible for compensation at the level that would 18 have applied to the employee or other personnel 19 if the certification had been in effect on the 20 date on which the employee or other personnel 21 was hired. 22 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION OF NEW HIRES ON 23 RENEWAL.—On renewal of a certification under 24 paragraph (3), the Chairman may fix the com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 607 RS pensation of the employees or other personnel 1 described in subparagraph (A) at the level es- 2 tablished for the category of employees or other 3 personnel in the certification. 4 ‘‘(5) RETENTION OF LEVEL OF FIXED COM- 5 PENSATION.—A category of employees or other per- 6 sonnel, the compensation of which was fixed by the 7 Chairman in accordance with paragraph (1), may, at 8 the discretion of the Chairman, have the level of 9 fixed compensation for the category of employees or 10 other personnel retained, regardless of whether a 11 certification described under that paragraph is in ef- 12 fect with respect to the compensation of the category 13 of employees or other personnel. 14 ‘‘(6) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—The Chair- 15 man shall consult with the Director of the Office of 16 Personnel Management in implementing this sub- 17 section, including in the determination of the 18 amount of compensation with respect to each cat- 19 egory of employees or other personnel. 20 ‘‘(7) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 22 graph (B), the Chairman may— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 607 RS ‘‘(i) obtain the services of experts and 1 consultants in accordance with section 2 3109 of title 5, United States Code; 3 ‘‘(ii) compensate those experts and 4 consultants for each day (including travel 5 time) at rates not in excess of the rate of 6 pay for level IV of the Executive Schedule 7 under section 5315 of that title; and 8 ‘‘(iii) pay to the experts and consult- 9 ants serving away from the homes or reg- 10 ular places of business of the experts and 11 consultants travel expenses and per diem 12 in lieu of subsistence at rates authorized 13 by sections 5702 and 5703 of that title for 14 persons in Government service employed 15 intermittently. 16 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.—The Chairman 17 shall— 18 ‘‘(i) to the maximum extent prac- 19 ticable, limit the use of experts and con- 20 sultants pursuant to subparagraph (A); 21 and 22 ‘‘(ii) ensure that the employment con- 23 tract of each expert and consultant em- 24 ployed pursuant to subparagraph (A) is 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 607 RS subject to renewal not less frequently than 1 annually.’’. 2 (b) REPORTS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 4 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years 5 thereafter for 10 years, the Chairman of the Federal 6 Energy Regulatory Commission shall submit to the 7 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 8 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 9 and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on in- 10 formation relating to hiring, vacancies, and com- 11 pensation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- 12 mission. 13 (2) INCLUSIONS.—Each report under para- 14 graph (1) shall include— 15 (A) an analysis of any trends with respect 16 to hiring, vacancies, and compensation at the 17 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and 18 (B) a description of the efforts to retain 19 and attract employees or other personnel re- 20 sponsible for conducting work of a scientific, 21 technological, engineering, or mathematical na- 22 ture at the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- 23 mission. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 607 RS (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 1 section (a) shall apply beginning on the date that is 30 2 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 SEC. 3. REPORT ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY 4 OF ENERGY TO IMPLEMENT FLEXIBLE COM- 5 PENSATION MODELS. 6 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 7 of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to Congress 8 a report examining the full scope of the hiring authority 9 made available to the Secretary by the Office of Personnel 10 Management to implement flexible compensation models, 11 including pay for performance and pay banding, through- 12 out the Department of Energy, including at the National 13 Laboratories, for the purposes of hiring, recruiting, and re- 14 taining employees responsible for conducting work of a sci- 15 entific, technological, engineering, or mathematical nature. 16 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 254 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 607 [Report No. 116–134] A BILL To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address insufficient compensation of em- ployees and other personnel of the Federal En- ergy Regulatory Commission, and for other pur- poses. OCTOBER 22, 2019 Reported with an amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Oct 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S607.RS S607 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS