II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 353
To establish a commission to study the relocation of certain agencies outside
of the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. RICKETTS)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To establish a commission to study the relocation of certain
agencies outside of the Washington, DC metropolitan
area, 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 ‘‘Commission to Relo-4
cate the Federal Bureaucracy Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. AGENCY RELOCATION COMMISSION. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.— 7
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(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 1
meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 2
United States Code. 3
(2) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 4
means the Commission established under subsection 5
(b). 6
(3) C
OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘‘covered 7
agency’’ means an agency that is not a security-re-8
lated agency, as determined by the President. 9
(4) T
ELEWORK.—The term ‘‘telework’’ has the 10
meaning given the term in section 6501 of title 5, 11
United States Code. 12
(5) W
ASHINGTON, DC METROPOLITAN AREA .— 13
The term ‘‘Washington, DC metropolitan area’’ 14
means— 15
(A) the District of Columbia; 16
(B) Montgomery and Prince George’s 17
Counties in the State of Maryland; and 18
(C) Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, and 19
Prince William Counties and the City of Alex-20
andria in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 21
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established a Com-22
mission to study the relocation of covered agencies based 23
in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to other areas 24
throughout the United States. 25
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(c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be com-1
posed of— 2
(1) the Director of the White House Presi-3
dential Personnel Office; 4
(2) the Director of the Office of Personnel 5
Management; 6
(3) the Comptroller General of the United 7
States; 8
(4) the Director of the Office of Management 9
and Budget; 10
(5) the Secretary of Agriculture; 11
(6) the Secretary of Commerce; 12
(7) the Secretary of Education; 13
(8) the Secretary of Energy; 14
(9) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-15
ices; 16
(10) the Secretary of Housing and Urban De-17
velopment; 18
(11) the Secretary of the Interior; 19
(12) the Secretary of Labor; 20
(13) the Secretary of Transportation; 21
(14) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 22
(15) the Administrator of the Environmental 23
Protection Agency; and 24
(16) the Commissioner of Food and Drugs. 25
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(d) REPORT.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 2
the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 3
shall submit to Congress a report on the study de-4
scribed in subsection (b). 5
(2) F
ACTORS.—In developing the report re-6
quired under paragraph (1), the Commission shall 7
recommend the transfer of covered agencies with 8
consideration of— 9
(A) financial efficiency, including whether 10
the cost of living of an area is below the na-11
tional average; 12
(B) whether an area has adequate pre-ex-13
isting infrastructure and available private land 14
to be used for the purpose of covered agencies; 15
(C) whether an area has existing industries 16
relating to the business of a covered agency 17
that can serve as public and private sector part-18
ners of the covered agency and strengthen the 19
ability of the covered agency to carry out the 20
duties of the covered agency; 21
(D) whether, at any time during the 5-year 22
period preceding the date of enactment of this 23
Act, not less than 50 percent of the workforce 24
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of the covered agency has participated in 1
telework; 2
(E) whether an area maintains adequate 3
technology infrastructure to allow agencies to 4
operate efficiently; and 5
(F) whether an area is— 6
(i) a qualified opportunity zone (as 7
defined in section 1400Z–1(a) of the Inter-8
nal Revenue Code of 1986); or 9
(ii) an area that meets one or more of 10
the criteria described in section 301(a) of 11
the Public Works and Economic Develop-12
ment Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3161(a)). 13
(3) C
OMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT .—In developing 14
the report required under paragraph (1), the Com-15
mission shall consult with stakeholders that are local 16
to potential relocation sites, including State and 17
local government officials, business leaders from rel-18
evant industries, representatives from regional eco-19
nomic development agencies, and residents. 20
(4) R
ELOCATION TARGET .—In developing the 21
report required under paragraph (1), the Commis-22
sion shall prioritize achieving a goal of transferring 23
not fewer than 100,000 employees of covered agen-24
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cies outside of the Washington, DC metropolitan 1
area. 2
Æ
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