I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 4434
To amend title 5, United States Code, to modify the provisions of that
title relating to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE30, 2023
Ms. P
ORTER(for herself, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Mr.
S
MITHof Washington, Mr. NADLER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.
T
AKANO, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. HIMES) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to modify the provi-
sions of that title relating to the Federal Vacancies Re-
form Act of 1998, 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 ‘‘Accountability for Act-4
ing Officials Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 4434 IH
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF FEDERAL VACANCIES REFORM 1
ACT OF 1998. 2
(a) E
LIGIBILITYREQUIREMENTS.—Section 3345 of 3
title 5, United States Code, is amended as follows: 4
(1) In subsection (a)— 5
(A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 6
before the semi-colon the following: ‘‘, but, and 7
except as provided in subsection (e), only if the 8
individual serving in the position of first assist-9
ant has occupied such position for a period of 10
at least 30 days during the 365-day period pre-11
ceding the date of the death, resignation, or be-12
ginning of inability to serve’’; and 13
(B) by striking subparagraph (A) of para-14
graph (3) and inserting the following: 15
‘‘(A) the officer or employee served in a 16
position in such agency for a period of at least 17
1 year preceding the date of death, resignation, 18
or beginning of inability to serve of the applica-19
ble officer; and’’. 20
(2) By adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(d) For purposes of this section, a position shall be 22
considered to be the first assistant to the office with re-23
spect to which a vacancy occurs only if such position has 24
been designated, at least 30 days before the date of the 25
vacancy, by law, rule, or regulation as the first assistant 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 4434 IH
position. The previous sentence shall begin to apply on the 1
date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of the 2
Accountability for Acting Officials Act. 3
‘‘(e) The 30-day service requirement in subsection 4
(a)(1) shall not apply to any individual who is a first as-5
sistant if— 6
‘‘(1)(A) the office of such first assistant is an 7
office for which appointment is required to be made 8
by the President, by and with the advice and consent 9
of the Senate; and 10
‘‘(B) the Senate has approved the appointment 11
of such individual to such office; or 12
‘‘(2) the individual began serving in the position 13
of first assistant during the 180-day period begin-14
ning on a transitional inauguration day (as that 15
term is defined in section 3349a(a)).’’. 16
(b) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Section 3345(b) of title 5, 17
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 18
following: 19
‘‘(3) Any individual directed to perform the functions 20
and duties of the vacant office temporarily in an acting 21
capacity under subsection (a)(2) or (f) shall possess the 22
qualifications (if any) set forth in law, rule, or regulation 23
that are otherwise applicable to an individual appointed 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 4434 IH
by the President, by and with the advice and consent of 1
the Senate, to occupy such office.’’. 2
(c) A
PPLICATION TOINDIVIDUALSREMOVEDFROM 3
O
FFICE.—Paragraph (2) of section 3345(c) of title 5, 4
United States Code, is amended by inserting after ‘‘the 5
expiration of a term of office’’ the following: ‘‘or removal 6
(voluntarily or involuntarily) from office’’. 7
(d) T
ESTIMONY OFACTINGOFFICIALSBEFORECON-8
GRESS.—Section 3345 of title 5, United States Code, is 9
amended by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(f)(1) Any individual serving as an acting officer due 11
to a vacancy to which this section applies, or any indi-12
vidual who has served in such capacity and continues to 13
perform the same or similar duties beyond the time limits 14
described in section 3346, shall appear, at least once dur-15
ing any 60-day period that the individual is so serving, 16
before the appropriate committees of jurisdiction of the 17
House of Representatives and the Senate. 18
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) may be waived upon mutual 19
agreement of the chairs and ranking members of such 20
committees.’’. 21
(e) T
IMELIMITATION FORPRINCIPALOFFICES.— 22
Section 3346 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 23
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘or as pro-24
vided in subsection (d)’’ after ‘‘sickness’’; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 4434 IH
(2) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(d) With respect to the vacancy of the position of 2
head of any agency listed in subsection (b) of section 901 3
of title 31, or any other position that is within the Presi-4
dent’s cabinet and to which this section applies, sub-5
sections (a) through (c) of this section and sections 6
3348(c), 3349(b), and 3349a(b) shall be applied by sub-7
stituting ‘120’ for ‘210’ in each instance.’’. 8
(f) E
XCLUSIVITY.—Section 3347 of title 5, United 9
States Code, is amended— 10
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-11
section (c); and 12
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), any statutory 15
provision covered under paragraph (1) of such subsection 16
that contains a non-discretionary order or directive to des-17
ignate an officer or employee to perform the functions and 18
duties of a specified office temporarily in an acting capac-19
ity shall be the exclusive means for temporarily author-20
izing an acting official to perform the functions and duties 21
of such office.’’. 22
(g) R
EPORTING OFVACANCIES.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 3349 of title 5, 24
United States Code, is amended— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 4434 IH
(A) in subsection (a)— 1
(i) by striking ‘‘immediately upon’’ in 2
each instance and inserting ‘‘not later than 3
7 days after’’; 4
(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 5
‘‘and’’ at the end; 6
(iii) in paragraph (4), by striking the 7
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 8
and 9
(iv) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(5) notification of the end of the term of serv-12
ice of any person serving in an acting capacity and 13
the name of any subsequent person serving in an 14
acting capacity and the date the service of such sub-15
sequent person began not later than 7 days after 16
such date.’’; and 17
(B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘imme-18
diately’’ and inserting ‘‘not later than 14 days 19
after the date of such determination’’. 20
(2) T
ECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Paragraphs 21
(1) and (2) of subsection (b) of such section 3349 22
are amended to read as follows: 23
‘‘(1) the Committee on Homeland Security and 24
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 4434 IH
‘‘(2) the Committee on Oversight and Reform 1
of the House of Representatives;’’. 2
(h) V
ACANCIESDURINGPRESIDENTIALINAUGURAL 3
T
RANSITIONS.—Subsection (b) of section 3349a of title 5, 4
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 5
‘‘(b) Notwithstanding section 3346 (except as pro-6
vided in paragraph (2) of this subsection) or 3348(c), with 7
respect to any vacancy that exists on a transitional inau-8
guration day, or that arises during the 60-day period be-9
ginning on such day, the person serving as an acting offi-10
cer as described under section 3345 may serve in the of-11
fice— 12
‘‘(1) for no longer than 300 days beginning on 13
such day; or 14
‘‘(2) subject to subsection 3346(b), once a first 15
or second nomination for the office is submitted to 16
the Senate, from the date of such nomination for the 17
period that the nomination is pending in the Sen-18
ate.’’. 19
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4434.IH H4434
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB