Timely Review of Infrastructure Act

II Calendar No. 610 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1426 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 10, 2020 Received; read twice and placed on the calendar AN ACT 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timely Review of In- 4 frastructure Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1426 PCS SEC. 2. ADDRESSING INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATION OF 1 EMPLOYEES AND OTHER PERSONNEL OF THE 2 FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMIS- 3 SION. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 401 of the Department of 5 Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7171) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(k) ADDRESSING INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATION OF 8 EMPLOYEES AND OTHER PERSONNEL OF THE COMMIS- 9 SION.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 11 provision of law, if the Chairman publicly certifies 12 that compensation for a category of employees or 13 other personnel of the Commission is insufficient to 14 retain or attract employees and other personnel to 15 allow the Commission to carry out the functions of 16 the Commission in a timely, efficient, and effective 17 manner, the Chairman may fix the compensation for 18 the category of employees or other personnel without 19 regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 20 53 of title 5, United States Code, or any other civil 21 service law. 22 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—A cer- 23 tification issued under paragraph (1) shall— 24 ‘‘(A) apply with respect to a category of 25 employees or other personnel responsible for 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1426 PCS conducting work of a scientific, technological, 1 engineering, or mathematical nature; 2 ‘‘(B) specify a maximum amount of rea- 3 sonable compensation for the category of em- 4 ployees or other personnel; 5 ‘‘(C) be valid for a 5-year period beginning 6 on the date on which the certification is issued; 7 ‘‘(D) be no broader than necessary to 8 achieve the objective of retaining or attracting 9 employees and other personnel to allow the 10 Commission to carry out the functions of the 11 Commission in a timely, efficient, and effective 12 manner; and 13 ‘‘(E) include an explanation for why the 14 other approaches available to the Chairman for 15 retaining and attracting employees and other 16 personnel are inadequate. 17 ‘‘(3) RENEWAL.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 19 days before the date of expiration of a certifi- 20 cation issued under paragraph (1), the Chair- 21 man shall determine whether the certification 22 should be renewed for a subsequent 5-year pe- 23 riod. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1426 PCS ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—If the Chairman de- 1 termines that a certification should be renewed 2 under subparagraph (A), the Chairman may 3 renew the certification, subject to the certifi- 4 cation requirements under paragraph (2) that 5 were applicable to the initial certification. 6 ‘‘(4) NEW HIRES.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee or other 8 personnel that is a member of a category of em- 9 ployees or other personnel that would have been 10 covered by a certification issued under para- 11 graph (1), but was hired during a period in 12 which the certification has expired and has not 13 been renewed under paragraph (3) shall not be 14 eligible for compensation at the level that would 15 have applied to the employee or other personnel 16 if the certification had been in effect on the 17 date on which the employee or other personnel 18 was hired. 19 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION OF NEW HIRES ON 20 RENEWAL.—On renewal of a certification under 21 paragraph (3), the Chairman may fix the com- 22 pensation of the employees or other personnel 23 described in subparagraph (A) at the level es- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1426 PCS tablished for the category of employees or other 1 personnel in the certification. 2 ‘‘(5) RETENTION OF LEVEL OF FIXED COM- 3 PENSATION.—A category of employees or other per- 4 sonnel, the compensation of which was fixed by the 5 Chairman in accordance with paragraph (1), may, at 6 the discretion of the Chairman, have the level of 7 fixed compensation for the category of employees or 8 other personnel retained, regardless of whether a 9 certification described under that paragraph is in ef- 10 fect with respect to the compensation of the category 11 of employees or other personnel. 12 ‘‘(6) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—The Chair- 13 man shall consult with the Director of the Office of 14 Personnel Management in implementing this sub- 15 section, including in the determination of the 16 amount of compensation with respect to each cat- 17 egory of employees or other personnel. 18 ‘‘(7) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 20 graph (B), the Chairman may— 21 ‘‘(i) obtain the services of experts and 22 consultants in accordance with section 23 3109 of title 5, United States Code; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1426 PCS ‘‘(ii) compensate those experts and 1 consultants for each day (including travel 2 time) at rates not in excess of the rate of 3 pay for level IV of the Executive Schedule 4 under section 5315 of that title; and 5 ‘‘(iii) pay to the experts and consult- 6 ants serving away from the homes or reg- 7 ular places of business of the experts and 8 consultants travel expenses and per diem 9 in lieu of subsistence at rates authorized 10 by sections 5702 and 5703 of that title for 11 persons in Government service employed 12 intermittently. 13 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS.—The Chairman 14 shall— 15 ‘‘(i) to the maximum extent prac- 16 ticable, limit the use of experts and con- 17 sultants pursuant to subparagraph (A); 18 and 19 ‘‘(ii) ensure that the employment con- 20 tract of each expert and consultant em- 21 ployed pursuant to subparagraph (A) is 22 subject to renewal not less frequently than 23 annually.’’. 24 (b) REPORTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1426 PCS (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years 2 thereafter for 10 years, the Chairman of the Federal 3 Energy Regulatory Commission shall submit to the 4 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 5 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 6 and Natural Resources of the Senate a report on in- 7 formation relating to hiring, vacancies, and com- 8 pensation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- 9 mission. 10 (2) INCLUSIONS.—Each report under para- 11 graph (1) shall include— 12 (A) an analysis of any trends with respect 13 to hiring, vacancies, and compensation at the 14 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and 15 (B) a description of the efforts to retain 16 and attract employees or other personnel re- 17 sponsible for conducting work of a scientific, 18 technological, engineering, or mathematical na- 19 ture at the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- 20 mission. 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1426 PCS (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 Passed the House of Representatives December 9, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 610 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1426 AN ACT 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. DECEMBER 10, 2020 Received; read twice and placed on the calendar VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1426.PCS H1426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS