[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 21 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 21
To require each Executive department to establish policies and collect
information regarding teleworking employees of the Executive
department, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 7, 2025
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require each Executive department to establish policies and collect
information regarding teleworking employees of the Executive
department, 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 ``Requiring Effective Management and
Oversight of Teleworking Employees Act'' or the ``REMOTE Act''.
SEC. 2. UTILIZATION DATA AND REPORTING.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency office.--The term ``agency office'' means any
office space--
(A) that is owned or leased by an Executive
department; and
(B) in which not less than 1 employee of the
Executive department described in subparagraph (A), or
a contract employee with respect to that Executive
department, regularly performs the duties of that
employee or contract employee, as applicable.
(2) Budget justification materials.--The term ``budget
justification materials'' has the meaning given the term in
section 3(b)(2)(A) of the Federal Funding Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).
(3) Computer network.--The term ``computer network'' means
software or a system--
(A) that is operated by or for an Executive
department; and
(B) to which an employee of the Executive
department described in subparagraph (A), or a contract
employee with respect to that Executive department, is
required to be digitally connected in order to work on
behalf of that Executive department, such as to access
the email account, user account, or file systems
provided by the Executive department to that employee
or contract employee, as applicable.
(4) Contract employee.--The term ``contract employee''
means an individual who--
(A) is not an employee of an Executive department;
(B) is an employee of an entity that has entered
into a contract with an Executive department; and
(C) works pursuant to the contract described in
subparagraph (B).
(5) Executive department.--The term ``Executive
department'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of
title 5, United States Code.
(6) Login.--The term ``login'' means the act by which an
employee of an Executive department, or a contract employee
with respect to an Executive department, makes a digital
connection to a computer network with respect to that Executive
department.
(7) Network traffic.--The term ``network traffic'' means
the volume and flow of data across and within a computer
network.
(8) Teleworking employee.--The term ``teleworking
employee'' means an employee of an Executive department, or a
contract employee with respect to an Executive department, who
is--
(A) working on behalf of the Executive department
and not detailed to a different Federal entity; and
(B) covered by a telework agreement.
(9) Working remotely.--The term ``working remotely'' means,
with respect to a teleworking employee, that the teleworking
employee is performing work duties on a computer while located
physically outside of an agency office with respect to the
applicable Executive department (or, with respect to a contract
employee, outside of office space owned or leased by the entity
that employs the contract employee).
(b) Data Collection.--The head of each Executive department shall--
(1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, establish--
(A) policies requiring the recording of the login
activity of, and the network traffic that is generated
by, each teleworking employee with respect to that
Executive department; and
(B) directives for managers of teleworking
employees with respect to that Executive department to
periodically review the network traffic generated by
each such teleworking employee while that teleworking
employee is working remotely; and
(2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act--
(A) begin retaining the data described in paragraph
(1)(A), which shall include, with respect to each
teleworking employee with respect to that Executive
department who is working remotely--
(i) the average number of logins made each
day by the teleworking employee;
(ii) the average daily duration of the
connection by the teleworking employee to the
applicable computer network; and
(iii) the network traffic that such
teleworking employee generates while working
remotely; and
(B) establish a policy that the Executive
department may dispose of data retained under
subparagraph (A) not sooner than 3 years after the date
on which the Executive department collects the data.
(c) Swiped Data Collection.--Beginning on the date that is 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Executive
department, with respect to each employee of the Executive department
and each contract employee with respect to the Executive department who
regularly performs the job duties of the employee or contract employee,
as applicable, at the headquarters building of the Executive
department--
(1) shall require that employee or contract employee to use
a Personal Identity Verification Card or Common Access Card, as
applicable, to make a login;
(2) shall collect login data by that employee or contract
employee using a Personal Identity Verification Card or Common
Access Card, as applicable, which shall include, with respect
to the employee or contract employee--
(A) the average number of logins made each day by
the employee or contract employee;
(B) the average daily duration of the connection by
the employee or contract employee to the applicable
computer network; and
(C) the network traffic that such employee or
contract employee generates while working from the
headquarters building;
(3) shall retain data collected under paragraph (2); and
(4) may dispose of data retained under paragraph (3) not
sooner than 3 years after the date on which the Executive
department collects the data.
(d) Report.--With respect to the first fiscal year that begins
after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, and with respect to each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each
Executive department shall publish the data collected pursuant to
subsections (b)(2)(A) and (c)(2) in the budget justification materials
of the Executive department in a format that, for the applicable fiscal
year--
(1) protects personally identifiable information;
(2) compares the average login rates of teleworking
employees working remotely on each weekday to the total number
of teleworking employees approved to be working remotely on
each weekday; and
(3) compares the average login rates of teleworking
employees working remotely on each weekday to the average login
rates of employees working from the headquarters building of
the Executive department.
SEC. 3. CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER REPORTS.
Section 6506(d) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
``(1) In general.--Each year, the Chief Human Capital
Officer of each executive agency, in consultation with the
Telework Managing Officer of that agency, shall submit a report
to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers
Council on agency management efforts to promote the efficient
use of telework, which shall include a description of the
adverse effects of telework policy on the performance of the
executive agency, including any increased incidences of
disciplinary actions against employees of the executive
agency.'';
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
``(2) Collection and retention of relevant information.--
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of the
Requiring Effective Management and Oversight of Teleworking
Employees Act, the Chief Human Capital Officer of each
executive agency shall establish a policy that requires any
manager of an employee of the executive agency who teleworks
who revokes the privileges of that employee to telework due to
a reason specific to that employee to provide written
information to the human capital office of that executive
agency (which shall retain that information for a reasonable
amount of time after the employee is no longer employed by the
executive agency) and to the employee regarding the
circumstances giving rise to that revocation, which shall
include--
``(A) the name, title, office, years of service,
official worksite, and annual rate of basic pay of the
employee;
``(B) the total number of days that the employee
teleworked in the 6 work periods immediately preceding
the work period in which the revocation occurred, which
shall include an itemized identification of each day on
which that employee teleworked during those 6 work
periods;
``(C) a brief narrative summary of the
circumstances giving rise to the revocation, with
detail sufficient to confirm the propriety of the
revocation under the policies of the executive agency;
and
``(D) any steps the manager took to discipline the
employee before carrying out the revocation.''.
<all>