Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB354 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 354
5	5	To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the impacts
6	6	of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during
7	7	the COVID–19 pandemic and a plan for the agency’s future use of
8	8	telework and remote work, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY3, 2025
11	11	Mrs. B
12	12	LACKBURN(for herself, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. ERNST, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr.
13	13	T
14	14	ILLIS, Mr. RICKETTS, and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill;
15	15	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
16	16	rity and Governmental Affairs
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study
19	19	of the impacts of expanded telework and remote work
20	20	by agency employees during the COVID–19 pandemic
21	21	and a plan for the agency’s future use of telework and
22	22	remote work, and for other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Home Office 4
27	27	Work’s Unproductive Problems Act of 2025’’ or the 5
28	28	‘‘SHOW UP Act of 2025’’. 6
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31	31	•S 354 IS
32	32	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
33	33	In this Act: 2
34	34	(1) A
35	35	GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 3
36	36	meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec-4
37	37	tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 5
38	38	(2) D
39	39	IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 6
40	40	the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 7
41	41	(3) L
42	42	OCALITY PAY.—The term ‘‘locality pay’’ 8
43	43	means locality pay provided for under section 5304 9
44	44	or 5304a of title 5, United States Code. 10
45	45	(4) T
46	46	ELEWORK; TELEWORKING.—The terms 11
47	47	‘‘telework’’ and ‘‘teleworking’’— 12
48	48	(A) have the meaning given those terms in 13
49	49	section 6501 of title 5, United States Code; and 14
50	50	(B) include remote work. 15
51	51	SEC. 3. REINSTATEMENT OF PRE-PANDEMIC TELEWORK 16
52	52	POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND LEVELS FOR EX-17
53	53	ECUTIVE AGENCIES. 18
54	54	(a) I
55	55	NGENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 19
56	56	date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 20
57	57	shall reinstate and apply the telework policies, practices, 21
58	58	and levels of the agency that were in effect on December 22
59	59	31, 2019. 23
60	60	(b) P
61	61	ROHIBITION.—The head of an agency may not 24
62	62	expand any policy, practice, or level described in sub-25
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65	65	•S 354 IS
66	66	section (a) until the date on which the head of the agency 1
67	67	submits to Congress— 2
68	68	(1) an agency plan under section 4(a)(2); and 3
69	69	(2) a certification under section 4(a)(3). 4
70	70	SEC. 4. STUDY, PLAN, AND CERTIFICATION REGARDING EX-5
71	71	ECUTIVE AGENCY TELEWORK POLICIES, 6
72	72	PRACTICES, AND LEVELS FOR EXECUTIVE 7
73	73	AGENCIES. 8
74	74	(a) I
75	75	NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 9
76	76	date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency, 10
77	77	in consultation with the Director, shall submit to Con-11
78	78	gress— 12
79	79	(1) a study on the impacts on the agency and 13
80	80	the mission of the agency of expanding telework for 14
81	81	employees as a result of the public health emergency 15
82	82	relating to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID– 16
83	83	19) pandemic declared under section 319 of the 17
84	84	Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on Jan-18
85	85	uary 31, 2020, including an analysis of— 19
86	86	(A) any adverse impacts of that expansion 20
87	87	on the performance by the agency of the mis-21
88	88	sion of the agency, including the performance of 22
89	89	customer service by the agency; 23
90	90	(B) any costs to the agency during that ex-24
91	91	pansion attributable to— 25
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94	94	•S 354 IS
95	95	(i) owning, leasing, or maintaining un-1
96	96	derutilized real property; or 2
97	97	(ii) paying higher rates of locality pay 3
98	98	to teleworking employees as a result of in-4
99	99	correctly classifying those employees as 5
100	100	teleworkers rather than remote workers; 6
101	101	(C) any degree to which the agency failed 7
102	102	during that expansion to provide teleworking 8
103	103	employees with secure network capacity, com-9
104	104	munications tools, necessary and secure access 10
105	105	to appropriate agency data assets and Federal 11
106	106	records, and equipment sufficient to enable tele-12
107	107	working employee to be fully productive; 13
108	108	(D) any degree to which that expansion fa-14
109	109	cilitated dispersal of the agency workforce 15
110	110	around the United States; and 16
111	111	(E) any other impacts of that expansion 17
112	112	that the head of the agency or the Director con-18
113	113	siders appropriate; 19
114	114	(2) any agency plan to expand telework policies, 20
115	115	practices, or levels beyond the telework policies, 21
116	116	practices, and levels of the agency that were in effect 22
117	117	on December 31, 2019; and 23
118	118	(3) a certification by the Director that the 24
119	119	agency plan described in paragraph (2) will— 25
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122	122	•S 354 IS
123	123	(A) have a substantial positive effect on— 1
124	124	(i) the performance of the mission of 2
125	125	the agency, including the performance of 3
126	126	customer service; 4
127	127	(ii) increasing the level of dispersal of 5
128	128	agency personnel throughout the United 6
129	129	States; and 7
130	130	(iii) the reversal of any adverse im-8
131	131	pacts described in paragraph (1)(A); 9
132	132	(B) substantially lower the costs of the 10
133	133	agency relating to owning, leasing, or maintain-11
134	134	ing real property; 12
135	135	(C) substantially lower the costs of the 13
136	136	agency attributable to paying locality pay to 14
137	137	agency personnel working from locations out-15
138	138	side the pay locality of their position’s official 16
139	139	worksite; and 17
140	140	(D) ensure that teleworking employees will 18
141	141	be provided with secure network capacity, com-19
142	142	munications tools, necessary and secure access 20
143	143	to appropriate agency data assets and Federal 21
144	144	records, and equipment sufficient to enable each 22
145	145	teleworking employee to be fully productive, 23
146	146	without substantially increasing the agency’s 24
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149	149	•S 354 IS
150	150	overall costs for secure network capacity, com-1
151	151	munications tools, and equipment. 2
152	152	(b) L
153	153	IMITATION.— 3
154	154	(1) I
155	155	N GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 4
156	156	not implement an agency plan described in sub-5
157	157	section (a)(2) for which the Director does not issue 6
158	158	a certification described in subsection (a)(3). 7
159	159	(2) S
160	160	UBSEQUENT PLANS .—If the head of an 8
161	161	agency unsuccessfully submits an agency plan de-9
162	162	scribed in subsection (a)(2) to the Director for the 10
163	163	certification described in subsection (a)(3), the head 11
164	164	of the agency may— 12
165	165	(A) submit to the Director subsequent 13
166	166	agency plans until the head of the agency re-14
167	167	ceives the certification; and 15
168	168	(B) submit a subsequent agency plan de-16
169	169	scribed in subparagraph (A) that is certified by 17
170	170	the Director to Congress. 18
171	171	Æ
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