Presidential Appointee Accountability Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1990 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide additional authority to the Office of Special Counsel, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 26, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL 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 additional authority to the Office of Special Counsel, 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 ‘‘Presidential Appointee 4 Accountability Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 6 Section 1215 of title 5, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:41 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1990.IS S1990 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1990 IS (A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 1 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘A final’’ and 2 inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subparagraph 3 (C), a final’’; and 4 (B) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(C) In a case brought under paragraph (1) in- 6 volving disciplinary action against an employee in a 7 confidential, policy-making, policy-determining, or 8 policy-advocating position appointed by the Presi- 9 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 10 ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service 11 of the United States or an employee serving in a po- 12 sition at level I of the Executive Schedule under sec- 13 tion 5312), a final order of the Board— 14 ‘‘(i) may impose an assessment of a civil 15 penalty in an amount that is not more than 16 $10,000 for each violation committed by the 17 employee; and 18 ‘‘(ii) may not impose any other disciplinary 19 action.’’; and 20 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 21 following: 22 ‘‘(b)(1) In this subsection, the term ‘covered indi- 23 vidual’— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:41 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1990.IS S1990 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1990 IS ‘‘(A) means an employee in a confidential, pol- 1 icy-making, policy-determining, or policy-advocating 2 position appointed by the President, by and with the 3 advice and consent of the Senate (other than an in- 4 dividual in the Foreign Service of the United 5 States); and 6 ‘‘(B) includes an employee serving in a position 7 at level I of the Executive Schedule under section 8 5312. 9 ‘‘(2) If the Special Counsel determines under sub- 10 section (a) that disciplinary action should be taken against 11 a covered individual— 12 ‘‘(A) the Special Counsel shall prepare a writ- 13 ten complaint against the employee containing the 14 determination of the Special Counsel, which— 15 ‘‘(i) shall include— 16 ‘‘(I) a written statement of supporting 17 facts; and 18 ‘‘(II) the recommendation of the Spe- 19 cial Counsel regarding the specific discipli- 20 nary action that should be taken against 21 the covered individual; and 22 ‘‘(ii) the Special Counsel shall present to 23 the President and make publicly available; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:41 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1990.IS S1990 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1990 IS ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date on 1 which the President receives the complaint sub- 2 mitted under subparagraph (A), the President 3 shall— 4 ‘‘(i) submit to the Special Counsel a writ- 5 ten response that contains— 6 ‘‘(I) an explanation of whether the 7 President is taking the disciplinary action 8 against the covered individual rec- 9 ommended by the Special Counsel under 10 subparagraph (A)(i)(II); and 11 ‘‘(II) if the President is not taking the 12 action described in subclause (I), the rea- 13 son that the President is not taking that 14 action; and 15 ‘‘(ii) make the response required under 16 clause (i) publicly available. 17 ‘‘(3) With respect to a covered individual who is an 18 employee in a confidential, policy-making, policy-deter- 19 mining, or policy-advocating position appointed by the 20 President, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 21 ate (other than an individual in the Foreign Service of 22 the United States or an employee serving in a position 23 at level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312), 24 the action required under this subsection with respect to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:41 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1990.IS S1990 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1990 IS the individual shall be in addition to any action required 1 under subsection (a) with respect to the individual.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:41 Jul 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1990.IS S1990 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS