II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 399
To place limitations on excepting positions from the competitive service,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY14, 2023
Mr. K
AINE(for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. CARDIN, Mr.
V
ANHOLLEN, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms.
H
IRONO, Mr. KING, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr.
W
HITEHOUSE, and Mr. CARPER) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To place limitations on excepting positions from the
competitive service, 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 ‘‘Saving the Civil Serv-4
ice Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON EXCEPTING POSITIONS FROM 1
COMPETITIVE SERVICE AND TRANSFERRING 2
POSITIONS. 3
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 4
(1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means any department, 5
agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Govern-6
ment; 7
(2) the term ‘‘competitive service’’ has the 8
meaning given the term in section 2102 of title 5, 9
United States Code; 10
(3) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 11
the Office of Personnel Management; and 12
(4) the term ‘‘excepted service’’ has the mean-13
ing given the term in section 2103 of title 5, United 14
States Code. 15
(b) L
IMITATIONS.—A position in the competitive 16
service may not be excepted from the competitive service 17
unless that position is placed— 18
(1) in any of schedules A through E, as de-19
scribed in section 6.2 of title 5, Code of Federal 20
Regulations, as in effect on September 30, 2020; 21
and 22
(2) under the terms and conditions under part 23
6 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect 24
on September 30, 2020. 25
(c) T
RANSFERS.— 26
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(1) WITHIN EXCEPTED SERVICE .—A position in 1
the excepted service may not be transferred to any 2
schedule other than a schedule described in sub-3
section (b)(1). 4
(2) OPM
CONSENT REQUIRED .—An agency 5
may not transfer any occupied position from the 6
competitive service or the excepted service into 7
schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code 8
of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations, 9
without the prior consent of the Director. 10
(3) L
IMIT DURING PRESIDENTIAL TERM .—Dur-11
ing any 4-year presidential term, an agency may not 12
transfer from a position in the competitive service to 13
a position in the excepted service the greater of the 14
following: 15
(A) A total number of employees that is 16
more than 1 percent of the total number of em-17
ployees employed by that agency, as of the first 18
day of that presidential term. 19
(B) 5 employees. 20
(4) E
MPLOYEE CONSENT REQUIRED .—Notwith-21
standing any other provision of this section— 22
(A) an employee who occupies a position in 23
the excepted service may not be transferred to 24
an excepted service schedule other than the 25
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schedule in which that position is located with-1
out the prior written consent of the employee; 2
and 3
(B) an employee who occupies a position in 4
the competitive service may not be transferred 5
to the excepted service without the prior written 6
consent of the employee. 7
(d) O
THERMATTERS.— 8
(1) A
PPLICATION.—Notwithstanding section 9
7425(b) of title 38, United States Code, this section 10
shall apply to a position under chapter 73 or 74 of 11
that title. 12
(2) R
EPORT.—Not later than March 15 of each 13
calendar year, the Director shall submit to Congress 14
a report on the immediately preceding calendar year 15
that lists— 16
(A) each position that, during the year cov-17
ered by the report, was transferred from the 18
competitive service to the excepted service and 19
a justification as to why each such position was 20
so transferred; and 21
(B) any violation of this section that oc-22
curred during the year covered by the report. 23
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(e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the 1
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue reg-2
ulations to implement this section. 3
Æ
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