Federal Employee Student Debt Transparency Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1295 To amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to require Senior Executive Service and schedule C employees to disclose Federal student loan debt, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 26, 2023 Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. MARSHALL, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to require Senior Executive Service and schedule C employ- ees to disclose Federal student loan debt, 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 Stu- 4 dent Debt Transparency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1295.IS S1295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1295 IS SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN DEBT BY 1 SES AND SCHEDULE C EMPLOYEES. 2 Section 13104 of title 5, United States Code, is 3 amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(j) DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN 5 DEBT BY SES AND SCHEDULE C EMPLOYEES.— 6 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 7 ‘covered employee’ means an employee of the execu- 8 tive branch who occupies— 9 ‘‘(A) a Senior Executive Service position 10 (as defined in section 3132(a)); or 11 ‘‘(B) a position of a confidential or policy- 12 determining nature under schedule C of subpart 13 C of part 213 of title 5, Code of Federal Regu- 14 lations, or any successor regulation. 15 ‘‘(2) REPORTS BY COVERED EMPLOYEES.—Not 16 later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 17 the Federal Employee Student Debt Transparency 18 Act, and not later than February 28 of each year 19 thereafter, each covered employee shall file a report 20 containing a full and complete statement of the out- 21 standing balance of principal and interest owed by 22 the covered employee on— 23 ‘‘(A) each loan made under part D of title 24 IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 25 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.); and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1295.IS S1295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1295 IS ‘‘(B) any loan made, insured, or guaran- 1 teed under part B or E of such title (20 U.S.C. 2 1071 et seq., 1087aa et seq.). 3 ‘‘(3) NEW COVERED EMPLOYEES.—Not later 4 than 60 days after the date on which an individual 5 assumes the position of a covered employee, the indi- 6 vidual shall file a report containing the information 7 required under paragraph (2). 8 ‘‘(4) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 9 May 1 of each year, the Director of the Office of 10 Government Ethics shall transmit to Congress a re- 11 port containing— 12 ‘‘(A) the total amount owed by all covered 13 employees as reported pursuant to paragraphs 14 (2) and (3); and 15 ‘‘(B) the name of any covered employee 16 who failed to file or report any information re- 17 quired to be reported pursuant to paragraph 18 (2) or (3).’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:43 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1295.IS S1295 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS