Federal Employee Disclosure (FED) Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2612 To require the disclosure of pension records under the Freedom of Information Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 9, 2019 Mr. HICE of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To require the disclosure of pension records under the Freedom of Information Act, 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 ‘‘Federal Employee Dis- 4 closure (FED) Transparency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF PENSION RECORDS UNDER THE 6 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 8 sion of law, the pension record of an individual who is 9 an annuitant under chapter 83 or 84 of title 5, United 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2612 IH States Code, shall be considered a record for purposes of 1 section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly re- 2 ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act), and shall 3 be made available in accordance with subsection (a)(3) of 4 such section. 5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) ANNUITANT.—The term ‘‘annuitant’’ means 7 an annuitant as defined in— 8 (A) section 8331 of title 5, United States 9 Code; or 10 (B) section 8401 of such title. 11 (2) PENSION RECORD.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘pension 13 record’’ means any record containing any infor- 14 mation concerning an annuitant receiving an 15 annuity under chapter 83 or 84 of title 5, 16 United States Code, including, with respect to 17 the annuitant— 18 (i) full name; 19 (ii) the most recent position of the an- 20 nuitant, including the agency and division 21 for such position, position title, location, 22 and ZIP code of the place of employment 23 for such position; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2612 IH (iii) date of appointment to such posi- 1 tion; 2 (iv) monthly annuity amount; 3 (v) last plan grade, if applicable; 4 (vi) total employee annuity contribu- 5 tion; 6 (vii) total reported wages; 7 (viii) total service credits; 8 (ix) retirement date; and 9 (x) with respect to an annuitant who 10 was an employee of the United States 11 Postal Service, the name of the facility 12 that was the last place of employment of 13 the annuitant. 14 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—Such term does not in- 15 clude— 16 (i) information regarding a medical 17 condition of the annuitant; or 18 (ii) any information identifying a des- 19 ignated beneficiary of the individual. 20 (c) UPDATE OF REGULATIONS.—Not later than 30 21 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc- 22 tor of the Office of Personnel Management shall update 23 section 293.311 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, 24 in accordance with the requirements of this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2612 IH SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE, DOCUMENTATION, AND REPORTING 1 OF PERFORMANCE AWARDS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 45 of title 3 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 4 the following: 5 ‘‘§ 4510. Disclosure, documentation, and reporting of 6 performance awards 7 ‘‘(a)(1) Not later than 30 days after the end of fiscal 8 year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each 9 agency shall submit a report to the Director of the Office 10 of Personnel Management describing each performance 11 bonus awarded to an employee of the agency during the 12 most recently ended fiscal year, the name of the employee 13 receiving the bonus, and the amount of the bonus. 14 ‘‘(2) With respect to any performance bonus included 15 in a report submitted under paragraph (1) that was equal 16 to or greater than $10,000, the agency head shall include 17 in the report a detailed description of the reasons why the 18 bonus was awarded and the metrics used to determine that 19 such bonus was appropriate. 20 ‘‘(b) Not later than January 1 of each fiscal year, 21 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management 22 shall— 23 ‘‘(1) publish, on the Office’s public internet 24 website, a list containing the name of any employee 25 receiving a performance bonus in the most recently 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2612 IH ended fiscal year, the agency that awarded the 1 bonus, and the amount of the bonus; and 2 ‘‘(2) submit a report to Congress containing a 3 list of each performance bonus awarded in the most 4 recently ended fiscal year that was equal to or great- 5 er than $10,000, including the reasons why the 6 bonus was awarded and the metrics used to deter- 7 mine that the bonus was appropriate, as provided 8 under subsection (a)(2). 9 ‘‘(c) For purposes of this section— 10 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given 11 such term in section 4501 and includes— 12 ‘‘(A) the United States Postal Service and 13 the Postal Regulatory Commission; and 14 ‘‘(B) notwithstanding the matter following 15 subparagraph (G) of such section, the Ten- 16 nessee Valley Authority and the Central Bank 17 for Cooperatives; and 18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘performance bonus’ includes any 19 performance-based bonus, including a bonus under 20 this subchapter or section 5384.’’. 21 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub- 22 section (a) shall apply to any performance bonus (as that 23 term is described in section 4510 of title 5, United States 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2612 IH Code, as added by such subsection) made on or after the 1 date of enactment of this Act. 2 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3 for subchapter I of chapter 45 of title 5, United States 4 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 5 section 4509 the following: 6 ‘‘4510. Disclosure, documentation, and reporting of performance awards.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2612.IH H2612 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS