| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 21 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require each Executive department to establish policies and collect informa- |
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| 6 | 6 | | tion regarding teleworking employees of the Executive department, and |
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| 7 | 7 | | for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY7, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Ms. E |
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| 11 | 11 | | RNSTintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred |
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| 12 | 12 | | to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To require each Executive department to establish policies |
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| 15 | 15 | | and collect information regarding teleworking employees |
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| 16 | 16 | | of the Executive department, and for other purposes. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Requiring Effective 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employees 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Act’’ or the ‘‘REMOTE Act’’. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. UTILIZATION DATA AND REPORTING. 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (a) D |
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| 25 | 25 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 |
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| 27 | 27 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) AGENCY OFFICE.—The term ‘‘agency of-1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | fice’’ means any office space— 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (A) that is owned or leased by an Execu-3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | tive department; and 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (B) in which not less than 1 employee of 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | the Executive department described in subpara-6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | graph (A), or a contract employee with respect 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | to that Executive department, regularly per-8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | forms the duties of that employee or contract 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | employee, as applicable. 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (2) B |
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| 40 | 40 | | UDGET JUSTIFICATION MATERIALS .—The 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | term ‘‘budget justification materials’’ has the mean-12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ing given the term in section 3(b)(2)(A) of the Fed-13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | eral Funding Accountability and Transparency Act 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (3) C |
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| 46 | 46 | | OMPUTER NETWORK .—The term ‘‘com-16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | puter network’’ means software or a system— 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (A) that is operated by or for an Executive 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | department; and 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (B) to which an employee of the Executive 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | department described in subparagraph (A), or a 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | contract employee with respect to that Execu-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | tive department, is required to be digitally con-23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | nected in order to work on behalf of that Exec-24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | utive department, such as to access the email 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 59 | 59 | | account, user account, or file systems provided 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | by the Executive department to that employee 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | or contract employee, as applicable. 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (4) C |
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| 63 | 63 | | ONTRACT EMPLOYEE .—The term ‘‘con-4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | tract employee’’ means an individual who— 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (A) is not an employee of an Executive de-6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | partment; 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (B) is an employee of an entity that has 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | entered into a contract with an Executive de-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | partment; and 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (C) works pursuant to the contract de-11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | scribed in subparagraph (B). 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (5) E |
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| 73 | 73 | | XECUTIVE DEPARTMENT .—The term ‘‘Ex-13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ecutive department’’ has the meaning given the term 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | in section 101 of title 5, United States Code. 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (6) L |
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| 77 | 77 | | OGIN.—The term ‘‘login’’ means the act 16 |
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| 78 | 78 | | by which an employee of an Executive department, 17 |
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| 79 | 79 | | or a contract employee with respect to an Executive 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | department, makes a digital connection to a com-19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | puter network with respect to that Executive depart-20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | ment. 21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (7) N |
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| 84 | 84 | | ETWORK TRAFFIC.—The term ‘‘network 22 |
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| 85 | 85 | | traffic’’ means the volume and flow of data across 23 |
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| 86 | 86 | | and within a computer network. 24 |
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| 88 | 88 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 89 | 89 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 90 | 90 | | (8) TELEWORKING EMPLOYEE .—The term 1 |
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| 91 | 91 | | ‘‘teleworking employee’’ means an employee of an 2 |
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| 92 | 92 | | Executive department, or a contract employee with 3 |
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| 93 | 93 | | respect to an Executive department, who is— 4 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (A) working on behalf of the Executive de-5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | partment and not detailed to a different Fed-6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | eral entity; and 7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | (B) covered by a telework agreement. 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (9) W |
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| 99 | 99 | | ORKING REMOTELY .—The term ‘‘working 9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | remotely’’ means, with respect to a teleworking em-10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | ployee, that the teleworking employee is performing 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | work duties on a computer while located physically 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | outside of an agency office with respect to the appli-13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | cable Executive department (or, with respect to a 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | contract employee, outside of office space owned or 15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | leased by the entity that employs the contract em-16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | ployee). 17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (b) D |
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| 109 | 109 | | ATACOLLECTION.—The head of each Executive 18 |
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| 110 | 110 | | department shall— 19 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (1) not later than 180 days after the date of 20 |
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| 112 | 112 | | enactment of this Act, establish— 21 |
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| 113 | 113 | | (A) policies requiring the recording of the 22 |
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| 114 | 114 | | login activity of, and the network traffic that is 23 |
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| 115 | 115 | | generated by, each teleworking employee with 24 |
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| 116 | 116 | | respect to that Executive department; and 25 |
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| 118 | 118 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 119 | 119 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 120 | 120 | | (B) directives for managers of teleworking 1 |
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| 121 | 121 | | employees with respect to that Executive de-2 |
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| 122 | 122 | | partment to periodically review the network 3 |
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| 123 | 123 | | traffic generated by each such teleworking em-4 |
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| 124 | 124 | | ployee while that teleworking employee is work-5 |
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| 125 | 125 | | ing remotely; and 6 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en-7 |
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| 127 | 127 | | actment of this Act— 8 |
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| 128 | 128 | | (A) begin retaining the data described in 9 |
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| 129 | 129 | | paragraph (1)(A), which shall include, with re-10 |
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| 130 | 130 | | spect to each teleworking employee with respect 11 |
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| 131 | 131 | | to that Executive department who is working 12 |
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| 132 | 132 | | remotely— 13 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (i) the average number of logins made 14 |
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| 134 | 134 | | each day by the teleworking employee; 15 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (ii) the average daily duration of the 16 |
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| 136 | 136 | | connection by the teleworking employee to 17 |
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| 137 | 137 | | the applicable computer network; and 18 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (iii) the network traffic that such tele-19 |
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| 139 | 139 | | working employee generates while working 20 |
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| 140 | 140 | | remotely; and 21 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (B) establish a policy that the Executive 22 |
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| 142 | 142 | | department may dispose of data retained under 23 |
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| 143 | 143 | | subparagraph (A) not sooner than 3 years after 24 |
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| 146 | 146 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 147 | 147 | | the date on which the Executive department 1 |
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| 148 | 148 | | collects the data. 2 |
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| 149 | 149 | | (c) S |
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| 150 | 150 | | WIPEDDATACOLLECTION.—Beginning on the 3 |
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| 151 | 151 | | date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this 4 |
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| 152 | 152 | | Act, the head of each Executive department, with respect 5 |
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| 153 | 153 | | to each employee of the Executive department and each 6 |
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| 154 | 154 | | contract employee with respect to the Executive depart-7 |
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| 155 | 155 | | ment who regularly performs the job duties of the em-8 |
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| 156 | 156 | | ployee or contract employee, as applicable, at the head-9 |
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| 157 | 157 | | quarters building of the Executive department— 10 |
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| 158 | 158 | | (1) shall require that employee or contract em-11 |
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| 159 | 159 | | ployee to use a Personal Identity Verification Card 12 |
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| 160 | 160 | | or Common Access Card, as applicable, to make a 13 |
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| 161 | 161 | | login; 14 |
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| 162 | 162 | | (2) shall collect login data by that employee or 15 |
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| 163 | 163 | | contract employee using a Personal Identity 16 |
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| 164 | 164 | | Verification Card or Common Access Card, as appli-17 |
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| 165 | 165 | | cable, which shall include, with respect to the em-18 |
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| 166 | 166 | | ployee or contract employee— 19 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (A) the average number of logins made 20 |
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| 168 | 168 | | each day by the employee or contract employee; 21 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (B) the average daily duration of the con-22 |
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| 170 | 170 | | nection by the employee or contract employee to 23 |
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| 171 | 171 | | the applicable computer network; and 24 |
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| 173 | 173 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 174 | 174 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 175 | 175 | | (C) the network traffic that such employee 1 |
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| 176 | 176 | | or contract employee generates while working 2 |
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| 177 | 177 | | from the headquarters building; 3 |
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| 178 | 178 | | (3) shall retain data collected under paragraph 4 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (2); and 5 |
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| 180 | 180 | | (4) may dispose of data retained under para-6 |
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| 181 | 181 | | graph (3) not sooner than 3 years after the date on 7 |
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| 182 | 182 | | which the Executive department collects the data. 8 |
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| 183 | 183 | | (d) R |
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| 184 | 184 | | EPORT.—With respect to the first fiscal year 9 |
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| 185 | 185 | | that begins after the date that is 180 days after the date 10 |
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| 186 | 186 | | of enactment of this Act, and with respect to each fiscal 11 |
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| 187 | 187 | | year thereafter, the head of each Executive department 12 |
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| 188 | 188 | | shall publish the data collected pursuant to subsections 13 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (b)(2)(A) and (c)(2) in the budget justification materials 14 |
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| 190 | 190 | | of the Executive department in a format that, for the ap-15 |
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| 191 | 191 | | plicable fiscal year— 16 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (1) protects personally identifiable information; 17 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (2) compares the average login rates of tele-18 |
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| 194 | 194 | | working employees working remotely on each week-19 |
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| 195 | 195 | | day to the total number of teleworking employees 20 |
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| 196 | 196 | | approved to be working remotely on each weekday; 21 |
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| 197 | 197 | | and 22 |
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| 198 | 198 | | (3) compares the average login rates of tele-23 |
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| 199 | 199 | | working employees working remotely on each week-24 |
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| 200 | 200 | | day to the average login rates of employees working 25 |
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| 203 | 203 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 204 | 204 | | from the headquarters building of the Executive de-1 |
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| 205 | 205 | | partment. 2 |
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| 206 | 206 | | SEC. 3. CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER REPORTS. 3 |
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| 207 | 207 | | Section 6506(d) of title 5, United States Code, is 4 |
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| 208 | 208 | | amended— 5 |
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| 209 | 209 | | (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-6 |
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| 210 | 210 | | lows: 7 |
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| 211 | 211 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 212 | 212 | | N GENERAL.—Each year, the Chief 8 |
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| 213 | 213 | | Human Capital Officer of each executive agency, in 9 |
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| 214 | 214 | | consultation with the Telework Managing Officer of 10 |
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| 215 | 215 | | that agency, shall submit a report to the Chair and 11 |
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| 216 | 216 | | Vice Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers 12 |
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| 217 | 217 | | Council on agency management efforts to promote 13 |
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| 218 | 218 | | the efficient use of telework, which shall include a 14 |
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| 219 | 219 | | description of the adverse effects of telework policy 15 |
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| 220 | 220 | | on the performance of the executive agency, includ-16 |
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| 221 | 221 | | ing any increased incidences of disciplinary actions 17 |
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| 222 | 222 | | against employees of the executive agency.’’; 18 |
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| 223 | 223 | | (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-19 |
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| 224 | 224 | | graph (3); and 20 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-21 |
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| 226 | 226 | | lowing: 22 |
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| 227 | 227 | | ‘‘(2) C |
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| 228 | 228 | | OLLECTION AND RETENTION OF REL -23 |
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| 229 | 229 | | EVANT INFORMATION .—Not later than 60 days after 24 |
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| 230 | 230 | | the date of enactment of the Requiring Effective 25 |
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| 233 | 233 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 234 | 234 | | Management and Oversight of Teleworking Employ-1 |
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| 235 | 235 | | ees Act, the Chief Human Capital Officer of each 2 |
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| 236 | 236 | | executive agency shall establish a policy that re-3 |
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| 237 | 237 | | quires any manager of an employee of the executive 4 |
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| 238 | 238 | | agency who teleworks who revokes the privileges of 5 |
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| 239 | 239 | | that employee to telework due to a reason specific to 6 |
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| 240 | 240 | | that employee to provide written information to the 7 |
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| 241 | 241 | | human capital office of that executive agency (which 8 |
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| 242 | 242 | | shall retain that information for a reasonable 9 |
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| 243 | 243 | | amount of time after the employee is no longer em-10 |
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| 244 | 244 | | ployed by the executive agency) and to the employee 11 |
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| 245 | 245 | | regarding the circumstances giving rise to that rev-12 |
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| 246 | 246 | | ocation, which shall include— 13 |
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| 247 | 247 | | ‘‘(A) the name, title, office, years of serv-14 |
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| 248 | 248 | | ice, official worksite, and annual rate of basic 15 |
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| 249 | 249 | | pay of the employee; 16 |
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| 250 | 250 | | ‘‘(B) the total number of days that the em-17 |
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| 251 | 251 | | ployee teleworked in the 6 work periods imme-18 |
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| 252 | 252 | | diately preceding the work period in which the 19 |
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| 253 | 253 | | revocation occurred, which shall include an 20 |
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| 254 | 254 | | itemized identification of each day on which 21 |
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| 255 | 255 | | that employee teleworked during those 6 work 22 |
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| 256 | 256 | | periods; 23 |
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| 257 | 257 | | ‘‘(C) a brief narrative summary of the cir-24 |
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| 258 | 258 | | cumstances giving rise to the revocation, with 25 |
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| 261 | 261 | | •S 21 IS |
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| 262 | 262 | | detail sufficient to confirm the propriety of the 1 |
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| 263 | 263 | | revocation under the policies of the executive 2 |
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| 264 | 264 | | agency; and 3 |
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| 265 | 265 | | ‘‘(D) any steps the manager took to dis-4 |
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| 266 | 266 | | cipline the employee before carrying out the 5 |
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| 267 | 267 | | revocation.’’. 6 |
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| 268 | 268 | | Æ |
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