118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 349
AN ACT
To amend title 5, United States Code, to authorize the
appointment of spouses of members of the Armed Forces
who are on active duty, disabled, or deceased to positions
in which the spouses will work remotely.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
†S 349 ES
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Spouse Em-2
ployment Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF MILITARY SPOUSES. 4
Section 3330d of title 5, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) in subsection (a)— 7
(A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 8
paragraph (4); 9
(B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 10
following: 11
‘‘(3) The term ‘remote work’ refers to a par-12
ticular type of telework under which an employee is 13
not expected to report to an officially established 14
agency location on a regular and recurring basis.’’; 15
and 16
(C) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(5) The term ‘telework’ has the meaning given 18
the term in section 6501.’’; 19
(2) in subsection (b)— 20
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 21
the end; 22
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe-23
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 24
(C) by adding at the end the following: 25 3
†S 349 ES
‘‘(3) a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces 1
on active duty, or a spouse of a disabled or deceased 2
member of the Armed Forces, to a position in which 3
the spouse will engage in remote work.’’; and 4
(3) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘subsection 5
(a)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(4)’’. 6
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
(1) the terms ‘‘agency’’ means an agency de-9
scribed in paragraph (1) or (2) of section 901(b) of 10
title 31, United States Code; 11
(2) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an employee of 12
an agency; 13
(3) the term ‘‘remote work’’ means a particular 14
type of telework under which an employee is not ex-15
pected to report to an officially established agency 16
location on a regular and recurring basis; and 17
(4) the term ‘‘telework’’ means a work flexi-18
bility arrangement under which an employee per-19
forms the duties and responsibilities of such employ-20
ee’s position, and other authorized activities, from 21
an approved worksite other than the location from 22
which the employee would otherwise work. 23
(b) R
EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 18 months after 24
the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 25 4
†S 349 ES
of the United States shall conduct a study and publish 1
a report regarding the use of remote work by agencies, 2
which shall include a discussion of what is known regard-3
ing— 4
(1) the number of employees who are engaging 5
in remote work; 6
(2) the role of remote work in agency recruit-7
ment and retention efforts; 8
(3) the geographic location of employees who 9
engage in remote work; 10
(4) the effect that remote work has had on how 11
often employees are reporting to officially established 12
agency locations to perform the duties and respon-13
sibilities of the positions of those employees and 14
other authorized activities; and 15
(5) how the use of remote work has affected 16
Federal office space utilization and spending. 17
Passed the Senate June 22, 2023.
Attest:
Secretary. 118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 349
AN ACT
To amend title 5, United States Code, to authorize
the appointment of spouses of members of the
Armed Forces who are on active duty, disabled,
or deceased to positions in which the spouses will
work remotely.