[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 354 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 354
To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the
impacts of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during
the COVID-19 pandemic and a plan for the agency's future use of
telework and remote work, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 3, 2025
Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Crapo, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Cassidy, Mr.
Tillis, Mr. Ricketts, and Mr. Grassley) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require Executive agencies to submit to Congress a study of the
impacts of expanded telework and remote work by agency employees during
the COVID-19 pandemic and a plan for the agency's future use of
telework and remote work, 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 ``Stopping Home Office Work's
Unproductive Problems Act of 2025'' or the ``SHOW UP Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the
term ``Executive agency'' in section 105 of title 5, United
States Code.
(2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Office of Personnel Management.
(3) Locality pay.--The term ``locality pay'' means locality
pay provided for under section 5304 or 5304a of title 5, United
States Code.
(4) Telework; teleworking.--The terms ``telework'' and
``teleworking''--
(A) have the meaning given those terms in section
6501 of title 5, United States Code; and
(B) include remote work.
SEC. 3. REINSTATEMENT OF PRE-PANDEMIC TELEWORK POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND
LEVELS FOR EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, the head of each agency shall reinstate and apply the
telework policies, practices, and levels of the agency that were in
effect on December 31, 2019.
(b) Prohibition.--The head of an agency may not expand any policy,
practice, or level described in subsection (a) until the date on which
the head of the agency submits to Congress--
(1) an agency plan under section 4(a)(2); and
(2) a certification under section 4(a)(3).
SEC. 4. STUDY, PLAN, AND CERTIFICATION REGARDING EXECUTIVE AGENCY
TELEWORK POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND LEVELS FOR EXECUTIVE
AGENCIES.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the head of each agency, in consultation with
the Director, shall submit to Congress--
(1) a study on the impacts on the agency and the mission of
the agency of expanding telework for employees as a result of
the public health emergency relating to the Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared under section 319 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020,
including an analysis of--
(A) any adverse impacts of that expansion on the
performance by the agency of the mission of the agency,
including the performance of customer service by the
agency;
(B) any costs to the agency during that expansion
attributable to--
(i) owning, leasing, or maintaining
underutilized real property; or
(ii) paying higher rates of locality pay to
teleworking employees as a result of
incorrectly classifying those employees as
teleworkers rather than remote workers;
(C) any degree to which the agency failed during
that expansion to provide teleworking employees with
secure network capacity, communications tools,
necessary and secure access to appropriate agency data
assets and Federal records, and equipment sufficient to
enable teleworking employee to be fully productive;
(D) any degree to which that expansion facilitated
dispersal of the agency workforce around the United
States; and
(E) any other impacts of that expansion that the
head of the agency or the Director considers
appropriate;
(2) any agency plan to expand telework policies, practices,
or levels beyond the telework policies, practices, and levels
of the agency that were in effect on December 31, 2019; and
(3) a certification by the Director that the agency plan
described in paragraph (2) will--
(A) have a substantial positive effect on--
(i) the performance of the mission of the
agency, including the performance of customer
service;
(ii) increasing the level of dispersal of
agency personnel throughout the United States;
and
(iii) the reversal of any adverse impacts
described in paragraph (1)(A);
(B) substantially lower the costs of the agency
relating to owning, leasing, or maintaining real
property;
(C) substantially lower the costs of the agency
attributable to paying locality pay to agency personnel
working from locations outside the pay locality of
their position's official worksite; and
(D) ensure that teleworking employees will be
provided with secure network capacity, communications
tools, necessary and secure access to appropriate
agency data assets and Federal records, and equipment
sufficient to enable each teleworking employee to be
fully productive, without substantially increasing the
agency's overall costs for secure network capacity,
communications tools, and equipment.
(b) Limitation.--
(1) In general.--The head of an agency may not implement an
agency plan described in subsection (a)(2) for which the
Director does not issue a certification described in subsection
(a)(3).
(2) Subsequent plans.--If the head of an agency
unsuccessfully submits an agency plan described in subsection
(a)(2) to the Director for the certification described in
subsection (a)(3), the head of the agency may--
(A) submit to the Director subsequent agency plans
until the head of the agency receives the
certification; and
(B) submit a subsequent agency plan described in
subparagraph (A) that is certified by the Director to
Congress.
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