SHOW UP Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1565 To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the impacts of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during the COVID–19 pandemic and a plan for the agency’s future use of telework and remote work, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 11, 2023 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. DAINES) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the impacts of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during the COVID–19 pandemic and a plan for the agency’s future use of telework and remote work, 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 ‘‘Stopping Home Office 4 Work’s Unproductive Problems Act of 2023’’ or the 5 ‘‘SHOW UP Act of 2023’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1565 IS SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 3 meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec- 4 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 5 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 6 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 7 (3) LOCALITY PAY.—The term ‘‘locality pay’’ 8 means locality pay provided for under section 5304 9 or 5304a of title 5, United States Code. 10 (4) TELEWORK; TELEWORKING.—The terms 11 ‘‘telework’’ and ‘‘teleworking’’— 12 (A) have the meaning given those terms in 13 section 6501 of title 5, United States Code; and 14 (B) include remote work. 15 SEC. 3. REINSTATEMENT OF PRE-PANDEMIC TELEWORK 16 POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND LEVELS FOR EX- 17 ECUTIVE AGENCIES. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 19 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 20 shall reinstate and apply the telework policies, practices, 21 and levels of the agency that were in effect on December 22 31, 2019. 23 (b) PROHIBITION.—The head of an agency may not 24 expand any policy, practice, or level described in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1565 IS section (a) until the date on which the head of the agency 1 submits to Congress— 2 (1) an agency plan under section 4(a)(2); and 3 (2) a certification under section 4(a)(3). 4 SEC. 4. STUDY, PLAN, AND CERTIFICATION REGARDING EX- 5 ECUTIVE AGENCY TELEWORK POLICIES, 6 PRACTICES, AND LEVELS FOR EXECUTIVE 7 AGENCIES. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency, 10 in consultation with the Director, shall submit to Con- 11 gress— 12 (1) a study on the impacts on the agency and 13 the mission of the agency of expanding telework for 14 employees as a result of the public health emergency 15 relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID– 16 19) pandemic declared under section 319 of the 17 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on Jan- 18 uary 31, 2020, including an analysis of— 19 (A) any adverse impacts of that expansion 20 on the performance by the agency of the mis- 21 sion of the agency, including the performance of 22 customer service by the agency; 23 (B) any costs to the agency during that ex- 24 pansion attributable to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1565 IS (i) owning, leasing, or maintaining un- 1 derutilized real property; or 2 (ii) paying higher rates of locality pay 3 to teleworking employees as a result of in- 4 correctly classifying those employees as 5 teleworkers rather than remote workers; 6 (C) any degree to which the agency failed 7 during that expansion to provide teleworking 8 employees with secure network capacity, com- 9 munications tools, necessary and secure access 10 to appropriate agency data assets and Federal 11 records, and equipment sufficient to enable tele- 12 working employee to be fully productive; 13 (D) any degree to which that expansion fa- 14 cilitated dispersal of the agency workforce 15 around the United States; and 16 (E) any other impacts of that expansion 17 that the head of the agency or the Director con- 18 siders appropriate; 19 (2) any agency plan to expand telework policies, 20 practices, or levels beyond the telework policies, 21 practices, and levels of the agency that were in effect 22 on December 31, 2019; and 23 (3) a certification by the Director that the 24 agency plan described in paragraph (2) will— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1565 IS (A) have a substantial positive effect on— 1 (i) the performance of the mission of 2 the agency, including the performance of 3 customer service; 4 (ii) increasing the level of dispersal of 5 agency personnel throughout the United 6 States; and 7 (iii) the reversal of any adverse im- 8 pacts described in paragraph (1)(A); 9 (B) substantially lower the costs of the 10 agency relating to owning, leasing, or maintain- 11 ing real property; 12 (C) substantially lower the costs of the 13 agency attributable to paying locality pay to 14 agency personnel working from locations out- 15 side the pay locality of their position’s official 16 worksite; and 17 (D) ensure that teleworking employees will 18 be provided with secure network capacity, com- 19 munications tools, necessary and secure access 20 to appropriate agency data assets and Federal 21 records, and equipment sufficient to enable each 22 teleworking employee to be fully productive, 23 without substantially increasing the agency’s 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1565 IS overall costs for secure network capacity, com- 1 munications tools, and equipment. 2 (b) LIMITATION.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 4 not implement an agency plan described in sub- 5 section (a)(2) for which the Director does not issue 6 a certification described in subsection (a)(3). 7 (2) SUBSEQUENT PLANS.—If the head of an 8 agency unsuccessfully submits an agency plan de- 9 scribed in subsection (a)(2) to the Director for the 10 certification described in subsection (a)(3), the head 11 of the agency may— 12 (A) submit to the Director subsequent 13 agency plans until the head of the agency re- 14 ceives the certification; and 15 (B) submit a subsequent agency plan de- 16 scribed in subparagraph (A) that is certified by 17 the Director to Congress. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 May 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1565.IS S1565 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB