Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB5542 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 5542
5	5	To provide for the review and appeal of determinations that personnel of
6	6	the Department of State should be restricted or precluded from serving
7	7	in certain assignments, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	SEPTEMBER18, 2023
10	10	Mr. L
11	11	IEU(for himself, Mr. CASTROof Texas, and Mr. KIMof New Jersey)
12	12	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
13	13	Foreign Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To provide for the review and appeal of determinations that
16	16	personnel of the Department of State should be re-
17	17	stricted or precluded from serving in certain assignments,
18	18	and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability in As-4
23	23	signment Restrictions and Reviews Act of 2023’’. 5
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26	26	•HR 5542 IH
27	27	SEC. 2. INCREASED ACCOUNTABILITY IN ASSIGNMENT RE-1
28	28	STRICTIONS AND REVIEW. 2
29	29	(a) S
30	30	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-3
31	31	gress that— 4
32	32	(1) the use of policies to restrict personnel from 5
33	33	serving in certain assignments may undermine the 6
34	34	ability of the Department of State to deploy relevant 7
35	35	cultural and linguistic skills at diplomatic posts 8
36	36	abroad if not applied judiciously; and 9
37	37	(2) the Department should continuously evalu-10
38	38	ate all processes relating to assignment restrictions, 11
39	39	assignment reviews, and preclusions at the Depart-12
40	40	ment. 13
41	41	(b) N
42	42	OTIFICATION OFSTATUS.—Beginning not later 14
43	43	than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 15
44	44	the Secretary shall— 16
45	45	(1) provide a status update for all Department 17
46	46	personnel who, prior to such date of enactment, were 18
47	47	subject to a prior assignment restriction, assignment 19
48	48	review, or preclusion for whom a review or decision 20
49	49	related to assignment is pending; and 21
50	50	(2) on an ongoing basis, provide a status up-22
51	51	date for any Department personnel who has been 23
52	52	the subject of a pending assignment restriction or 24
53	53	pending assignment review for more than 30 days. 25
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56	56	•HR 5542 IH
57	57	(c) NOTIFICATIONCONTENT.—The notification re-1
58	58	quired under subsection (b) shall inform relevant per-2
59	59	sonnel, as of the date of the notification— 3
60	60	(1) whether any prior assignment restriction 4
61	61	has been lifted; 5
62	62	(2) if their assignment status is subject to on-6
63	63	going review, and an estimated date for completion; 7
64	64	and 8
65	65	(3) if they are subject to any other restrictions 9
66	66	on their ability to serve at posts abroad. 10
67	67	(d) A
68	68	DJUDICATION OF ONGOINGASSIGNMENTRE-11
69	69	VIEWS.— 12
70	70	(1) T
71	71	IME LIMIT.—The Department shall estab-13
72	72	lish a reasonable time limit for the Department to 14
73	73	complete an assignment review and establish a dead-15
74	74	line by which it must inform personnel of a decision 16
75	75	related to such a review. 17
76	76	(2) A
77	77	PPEALS.—For any personnel the Depart-18
78	78	ment determines are ineligible to serve in an assign-19
79	79	ment due to an assignment restriction or assignment 20
80	80	review, a Security Appeal Panel shall convene not 21
81	81	later than 120 days of an appeal being filed. 22
82	82	(3) E
83	83	NTRY-LEVEL BIDDING PROCESS .—The De-23
84	84	partment shall include a description of the assign-24
85	85	ment review process and critical human intelligence 25
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88	88	•HR 5542 IH
89	89	threat posts in a briefing to new officers as part of 1
90	90	their entry-level bidding process. 2
91	91	(4) P
92	92	OINT OF CONTACT .—The Department 3
93	93	shall designate point of contacts in the Bureau of 4
94	94	Diplomatic Security and Bureau of Global Talent 5
95	95	Management to answer employee and Career Devel-6
96	96	opment Officer questions about assignment restric-7
97	97	tions, assignment reviews, and preclusions. 8
98	98	(e) S
99	99	ECURITYAPPEALPANEL.—Not later than 90 9
100	100	days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secu-10
101	101	rity Appeal Panel shall be comprised of— 11
102	102	(1) the head of an office responsible for human 12
103	103	resources or discrimination who reports directly to 13
104	104	the Secretary; 14
105	105	(2) the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 15
106	106	for the Bureau of Global Talent Management; 16
107	107	(3) the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 17
108	108	for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; 18
109	109	(4) an Assistant Secretary or Deputy, or equiv-19
110	110	alent, from a third bureau as designated by the 20
111	111	Under Secretary for Management; 21
112	112	(5) a representative from the geographic bureau 22
113	113	to which the restriction applies; and 23
114	114	(6) a representative from the Office of the 24
115	115	Legal Adviser and a representative from the Bureau 25
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118	118	•HR 5542 IH
119	119	of Diplomatic Security, who shall serve as non-vot-1
120	120	ing advisors. 2
121	121	(f) A
122	122	PPEALRIGHTS.—Section 414(a) of the Depart-3
123	123	ment of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (22 4
124	124	U.S.C. 2734c(a)) is amended by striking the first two sen-5
125	125	tences and inserting ‘‘The Secretary shall establish and 6
126	126	maintain a right and process for employees to appeal a 7
127	127	decision related to an assignment, based on a restriction, 8
128	128	review, or preclusion. Such right and process shall ensure 9
129	129	that any such employee shall have the same appeal rights 10
130	130	as provided by the Department regarding denial or revoca-11
131	131	tion of a security clearance.’’. 12
132	132	(g) F
133	133	AMUPDATE.—Not later than 120 days after the 13
134	134	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 14
135	135	amend all relevant provisions of the Foreign Service Man-15
136	136	ual, and any associated or related policies of the Depart-16
137	137	ment, to comply with this section. 17
138	138	(h) D
139	139	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
140	140	(1) D
141	141	EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 19
142	142	means the Department of State. 20
143	143	(2) S
144	144	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21
145	145	the Secretary of State. 22
146	146	Æ
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