[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7951 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7951
To amend title 5, United States Code, to improve Federal agency
teleworking programs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 7, 2022
Mr. Connolly (for himself and Mr. Sarbanes) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to improve Federal agency
teleworking programs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Telework Metrics and Cost Savings
Act''.
SEC. 2. IMPROVING FEDERAL AGENCY TELEWORKING PROGRAMS.
(a) Definition of Telework.--Paragraph (3) of section 6501 of title
5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(3) Telework.--The term `telework' or `teleworking'--
``(A) refers to a work flexibility arrangement
under which an employee performs (on a periodic or
full-time basis) the duties and responsibilities of
such employee's position, and other authorized
activities, from an approved worksite other than the
location from which the employee would otherwise work;
and
``(B) includes remote work, which refers to a
particular type of telework arrangement under which an
employee is not expected to report to an officially
established agency location on a regular and recurring
basis.''.
(b) Federal Agency Teleworking Policies.--Section 6502 of title 5,
United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking ``and'' at the end of
subparagraph (B);
(ii) by striking the period at the end of
subparagraph (C) and inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(D) provide for executive agency managers and
supervisors annual work training and instruction in
compliance with the requirements in section 6503.'';
and
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``any calendar
year'' and inserting ``any of the 5 calendar years
preceding a calendar year in which a determination is
made pursuant to this subparagraph with respect to an
employee's eligibility to telework''; and
(2) in subection (b)--
(A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph
(4);
(B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph
(5) and inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(6) include annual agency goals for the number and
percent of employees participating in telework--
``(A) three or more days per pay period;
``(B) one or 2 days per pay period;
``(C) once per month; and
``(D) on an occasional, episodic, or short-term
basis; and
``(7) methods for collecting data on, setting goals for,
and reporting costs savings to the executive agency achieved
through teleworking, consistent with the guidance developed
under section 2(g) of the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings
Act.''.
(c) Training and Monitoring.--Section 6503 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by inserting ``or
supervisors'' after ``managers''; and
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ``, except that an
agency head may not exempt a manager or supervisor described in
subsection (a)(1)(B) from any training required under
subsection (a)(3)'' after ``date of enactment of this
chapter''.
(d) Policy and Support.--Section 6504, of title 5, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Review.--The Director of the Office of Personnel
Management, in coordination with the Department of Homeland
Security and the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, shall--
``(A) perform an annual review of the guidelines
issued under this subsection; and
``(B) make any updates to the guidelines issued
under this subsection that are determined to be
appropriate as a result of a review conducted under
subparagraph (A).''; and
(2) in subsection (d), in the subsection heading, by
inserting ``; Plans for Disease Outbreaks'' after ``Operations
Plans''.
(e) Reports.--
(1) OPM reports.--Section 6506(b) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
(i) by striking ``and'' at the end of
clause (i); and
(ii) by inserting after clause (ii) the
following:
``(iii) the Chief Human Capital Officers
Council; and''; and
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) in subparagraph (F)(vi), by striking
``and'' at the end;
(ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking the
period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(H) agency cost savings achieved through
teleworking, consistent with the guidance developed
under section 2(g) of the Telework Metrics and Cost
Savings Act.''.
(2) CHCO reports.--Section 6506(d) of title 5, United
States Code, is amended--
(A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph
(3); and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
``(2) Contents.--Each report submitted by a Chief Human
Capital Officer under paragraph (1) shall include--
``(A) annual goals for increasing the percent of
employees of the executive agency who are eligible for
and participating in teleworking--
``(i) three or more days per pay period;
``(ii) one or 2 days per pay period;
``(iii) once per month; and
``(iv) on an occasional, episodic, or
short-term basis; and
``(B) the teleworking status of positions to which
an individual has been appointed under section 3330d
(relating to appointment of military spouses) and the
total number of such individuals in such positions who
requested, but were denied, telework.''.
(3) Agency report on teleworking reduction.--Section 6506
of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(e) Notification for Reduction in Teleworking Participation.--Not
later than 30 days before the date that an executive agency implements
or modifies a teleworking plan that would reduce the percentage of
employees at the agency who telework, the head of the executive agency
shall provide written notification, including a justification for the
reduction in telework participation and a description of how the agency
will pay for any increased costs resulting from that reduction, to--
``(1) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management;
``(2) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of
Representatives; and
``(3) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate.''.
(4) Technical correction.--Section 6506(b)(1) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by striking ``with Chief'' and
inserting ``with the Chief''.
(f) Regulations.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 65 of title 5, United States Code,
is amended by adding after section 6506 the following:
``Sec. 6507. Regulations.
``The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations
necessary for the administration of this chapter with respect to
employees in each executive agency. In this section, the term
`executive agency' does not include the Government Accountability
Office.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for such
chapter is amended by adding after the item relating to section
6506 the following:
``6507. Regulations.''.
(3) Conforming amendment.--Section 6501(2) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by striking ``section 6506'' and
inserting ``sections 6506 and 6507''.
(g) Guidance.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management, in collaboration with the Chief Human Capital Officer
Council, shall establish uniform guidance for agencies on how agencies
are to collect qualitative and quantitative data on, set goals for, and
report cost savings achieved through, teleworking related to reduced
absences, continuity of operations, reduced real estate and utility
costs, and reduced community costs, among other cost savings measures.
(h) Limitation on Reducing Telework Eligibility.--An executive
agency may not reduce or otherwise limit the level of employees at the
executive agency eligible to telework, or reduce or otherwise limit
eligibility for, or levels of, teleworking on a uniform, agency-wide
basis, below such levels in effect at the executive agency on the date
of enactment of this Act. In this subsection, the terms ``executive
agency'' and ``telework'' have the meanings given such terms in section
6501 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a) of
this section.
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR OPM DIRECTOR.
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall--
(1) publish guidance and standards to assist agencies in
determining telework eligibility as well as guidance to Federal
agencies on how agencies are to provide to the Office annually
qualitative and quantitative data on telework use and
implementation as well as all cost savings achieved through,
teleworking related to reduced absences, continuity of
operations, reduced real estate and utility costs, and reduced
community costs, among other cost savings measures;
(2) publish online, at least annually, the Government-wide
data on agency telework use and implementation, including
agency use and implementation of telework as well as data
collected on cost savings;
(3) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, submit to Congress a report that analyzes persistent
barriers to increasing agency telework across the Federal
Government; and
(4) not later than 1 year after the submission of the
report under paragraph (3), the Office shall offer agencies
guidance to help address such barriers.
SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.
The Federal Chief Human Capital Officer (or the equivalent
position) within each executive agency (as that term is defined in
section 6506(a) of title 5, United States Code) shall--
(1) implement controls to verify that all employees who
supervise other employees have completed training on telework
availability and implementation described in section 6502(b)
and 6503(c) of such title, as amended by section 2 of this Act;
(2) in accordance with section 2(g), provide to the Office
of Personnel Management, on an annual basis, qualitative and
quantitative data on telework use and implementation as well as
all cost savings achieved through, teleworking related to
reduced absences, continuity of operations, reduced real estate
and utility costs, and reduced community costs, among other
cost savings measures; and
(3) at least once every year, review all agency telework
policies and ensure they are in compliance with Office
standards and guidance as well as with Federal law.
SEC. 5. TELEWORK DATA INTEGRITY ACT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Telework Data
Integrity Act'' or the ``TDI Act''.
(b) Plan on Improving Data in OPM Enterprise Human Resources
Integration System.--
(1) Development.--Consistent with recommendations contained
in the report entitled ``COVID-19: Federal Telework Increased
During the Pandemic, but More Reliable Data are Needed to
Support Oversight'', published by the Government Accountability
Office on February 8, 2022, the Director of the Office of
Personnel Management shall develop and implement a plan to
improve the reliability of data (including telework data) in
the Enterprise Human Resources Integration system (in this
section referred to as the ``system'') of the Office of
Personnel Management. Such plan shall--
(A) provide for consistent monitoring of Federal
payroll data system-generated error and edit check
reports, and ensure timely action is taken to address
identified issues;
(B) integrate Federal payroll data into the system;
(C) evaluate existing internal control activities
and develop new internal control activities for Federal
payroll data, including transactional edit checks that
leverage information in other system datasets; and
(D) establish phases of implementation of the plan,
and clear deadlines for the timely completion of such
phases.
(2) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit the plan
developed under paragraph (1) to--
(A) the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the
House of Representatives;
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
(C) the Government Accountability Office.
(3) Implementation.--Not later than 90 days after the date
the plan is submitted under paragraph (2), the Office of
Personnel Management shall begin to implement such plan.
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