PDF(PDF provides a complete and accurate display of this text.)Tip?
104th Congress 1st SENATE Report
Session
104-151
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 197
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EMERGENCY LEAVE TRANSFER ACT OF 1995
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 868
TO PROVIDE AUTHORITY FOR LEAVE TRANSFER FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES WHO ARE
ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY DISASTERS OR EMERGENCIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
September 29 (legislative day, September 25), 1995.--Ordered to be
printed
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman
JOHN GLENN, Ohio WILLIAM V. ROTH, Jr., Delaware
SAM NUNN, Georgia WILLIAM S. COHEN, Maine
CARL LEVIN, Michigan FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee
DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota BOB SMITH, New Hampshire
Albert L. McDermott, Staff
Director
Leonard Weiss, Minority Staff
Director
Michal Sue Prosser, Chief Clerk
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND CIVIL SERVICE
TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman
DAVID PRYOR, Arkansas THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota BOB SMITH, New Hampshire
Patricia A. Raymond, Staff
Director
Kimberly Weaver, Minority Staff
Director
Nancy Langley, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 197
104th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 104-151
_______________________________________________________________________
S. 868, FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EMERGENCY LEAVE TRANSFER ACT OF 1995
_______
September 29 (legislative day, September 25), 1995.--Ordered to be
printed
_______________________________________________________________________
Mr. Stevens, from the Committee on Governmental Affairs, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
The Committee on Governmental Affairs, to which was
referred the bill (S. 868) to establish a Federal employees
emergency leave transfer program, reports favorably thereon and
recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and summary..............................................1
II. Background and need for legislation..............................2
III. Legislative history..............................................2
IV. Summary of the legislation.......................................3
V. Estimated cost of legislation....................................4
VI. Regulatory impact of legislation.................................6
VII. Changes in existing law..........................................6
i. purpose and summary
S. 868 provides the authority for the President to direct
the Office of Personnel Management to establish an emergency
leave transfer program when a substantial number of Federal
employees are adversely affected by a disaster or emergency,
including natural disasters and emergency situations such as
that created by the Oklahoma City bombing.
Under the emergency leave transfer program, employees in
any agency could donate leave for transfer to employees in the
same agency or any other agency, and the recipients would be
allowed to use donated leave without having to first exhaust
their own leave. Further, leave recipients could include
employees who do not face a medical emergency, but need leave
because of other adverse effects from the emergency, such as
employees whose homes were destroyed by a flood or other
natural disasters. In addition, current agency leave banks
would be allowed to donate leave to the emergency leave
program. The Office of Personnel Management would establish
appropriate requirements for the operation of the program.
ii. background and need for legislation
In 1988, Congress authorized a five-year test of voluntary
leave transfer and leave bank programs within Federal agencies
(Public Law 100-566). These programs were designed to help
employees faced with a medical or family emergency who had
already exhausted all available leave. This five-year
experiment was very successful and both programs were made
permanent in 1994 (Public Law 103-103).
In 1991, Congress created a special leave bank under which
Federal employees could donate leave for use by their fellow
employees who, as members of the Armed Forces reserves, had
been called to active duty during the Persian Gulf conflict and
who would now be able to use the donated leave to ease their
reentry into civilian life (Public Law 102-25). The leave
donated by many Federal employees for this special program
significantly assisted these Persian Gulf veterans. This
experience has shown that special leave transfer programs which
operate outside of the normal programs can be appropriate.
In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, affected
employees were excused from duty without charge to leave or
loss of pay. Further, the Office of Personnel Management
coordinated the use of agencies' current leave transfer
programs, and these measures were effective in assisting the
affected employees. However, the Committee believes that it
would be appropriate to establish in law the necessary
authority for special leave transfer programs to address needs
created by declared disasters and emergencies.
iii. legislative history
S. 868 was introduced by Senator Ted Stevens on June 21,
1995 at the request of the Office of Personnel Management and
was referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. The
Subcommittee on Post Office and Civil Service unanimously
approved the bill on June 29, 1995.
The Committee on Governmental Affairs met on August 10,
1995 to consider S. 868. The bill was ordered reported without
amendment by a voice vote.
The text of S. 868, as reported, is as follows:
A BILL To provide authority for leave transfer for Federal employees
who are adversely affected by disasters or emergencies, and for other
purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this
Act may be cited as the ``Federal Employees Emergency Leave
Transfer Act of 1995''.
Sec. 2. (a) Chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by adding after subchapter V the following new
subchapter:
``SUBCHAPTER VI--LEAVE TRANSFER IN DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES
``Sec. 6391. Authority for leave transfer program in disasters and
emergencies
``(a) For the purpose of this section--
``(1) `employee' means an employee as defined in
section 6331(1); and
``(2) `agency' means an Executive agency.
``(b) In the event of a major disaster or emergency, as
declared by the President, that results in severe adverse
effects for a substantial number of employees, the President
may direct the Office of Personnel Management to establish an
emergency leave transfer program under which any employee in
any agency may donate unused annual leave for transfer to
employees of the same or other agencies who are adversely
affected by such disaster or emergency.
``(c) The Office of Personnel Management shall establish
appropriate requirements for the operation of the emergency
leave transfer program under subsection (b), including
appropriate limitations on the donation and use of annual leave
under the program. An employee may receive and use leave under
the program without regard to any requirement that any annual
leave and sick leave to a leave recipient's credit must be
exhausted before any transferred annual leave may be used.
``(d) A leave bank established under subchapter IV may, to
the extent provided in regulations prescribed by the Office of
Personnel Management, donate annual leave to the emergency
leave transfer program established under subsection (b).
``(e) Except to the extent that the Office of Personnel
Management may prescribe by regulation, nothing in section 7351
shall apply to any solicitation, donation, or acceptance of
leave under this section.
``(f) The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe
regulations necessary for the administration of this
section.''.
(b) The analysis for chapter 63 of title 5, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
``SUBCHAPTER VI--LEAVE TRANSFER IN DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES
``6391. Authority for leave transfer program in disasters and
emergencies''.
Sec. 3. The amendments made by section 2 of this Act shall
take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
iv. summary of the legislation
In the event of a major disaster or emergency, the
President would have the authority to direct the Office of
Personnel Management to create a special leave transfer program
for Federal employees affected by the disaster or emergency.
Under this Act, the emergency leave transfer program would
extend to employees who do not face a medical emergency but
need extra leave because of other effects of the disaster or
emergency.
It would allow agency-approved recipients to use donated
leave without having to first exhaust their own accumulated
leave.
It would allow employees in any Executive agency to donate
leave for transfer to affected employees in the same agency or
other agencies.
It would allow current agency leave banks to donate leave
to an emergency leave transfer program established under this
Act.
OPM would have the authority to establish appropriate
operating requirements for an emergency leave transfer program,
including appropriate limits on amounts of leave that may be
donated and used under the program.
This leave transfer program permits employees to help other
employees, at no cost to the taxpayer (other than incidental
administrative costs), since no additional leave is provided
beyond what would already be credited.
This Act shall become effective upon the date of enactment.
v. estimated cost of legislation
A copy of the cost estimate by the Congressional Budget
Office follows:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, August 30, 1995.
Hon. William V. Roth,
Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
reviewed S. 868, a bill to provide authority for leave transfer
for federal employees who are adversely affected by disasters
or emergencies, and for other purposes, as ordered reported by
the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on August 10,
1995. CBO estimates that enacting S. 868 would have no
significant budgetary impact. The bill would not affect direct
spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would
not apply. S. 868 also would have no cost to state or local
governments.
Under current law, federal employees are allowed to donate
annual leave to co-workers who have exhausted their annual
leave and sick leave as a result of a prolonged illness. Leave
transfer programs allow employees to donate their annual leave
directly to other federal employees. Leave bank programs allow
employees to donate their annual leave to a leave bank, for use
by any member of the bank stricken by a medical emergency. In
addition, when disasters have occurred in the past, the
President has granted paid administrative leave to federal
employees affected by the disaster or working in direct
disaster relief. This bill would provide a means for
distributing additional leave to these employees.
The program provided for under S. 868 would differ from the
existing program in several respects. In particular, the bill
would allow:
The extension of salary and benefits to employees who
face no medical emergency, but require extra leave,
provided that the President declares a national
disaster and requests that the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) establish a special fund for employees
affected by the disaster;
Disaster recipients to use transferred annual leave
before exhausting any existing annual or sick leave;
Employees currently not able to transfer annual
leave, such as employees of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, to
participate under this program;
Existing leave banks within agencies to donate
credits to an emergency transfer leave program; and
transferred leave credits not used under a special
emergency leave program to be returned to the original
donors.
The use of donated leave results in salary payments that
could not have been made without the donation of leave. While
S. 868 would allow employees to use transferred leave before
exhausting their own leave credits, it is likely that any
remaining leave would be used later in the year or carried over
and used in another year. In this case, additional salary
payments would be made that could not have been made without
the donation of leave.
Currently, the net impact on the government of transferring
annual leave depends on how the donor would otherwise have used
the transferred leave. If a donor would have accumulated and
cashed in the accrued leave upon departing from government
service, the government incurs additional costs for the
recipient's salary and benefits and experiences reduced costs
from lower payments when the donor departs. The net effect of a
leave transfer of this type depends on whether the donor's rate
of pay was higher or lower than that of the recipient. If the
donor would have used the leave, the government incurs
additional costs for the recipient's salary and benefits, but
gains additional work days from the donor. Finally, if the
donor would have forfeited the leave, the government incurs
additional costs, but receives no benefit from additional work
or reduced future costs. In the last two cases, the government
incurs net costs from leave sharing.
Under S. 868, the net impact on the federal government
would depend on the number of times a major disaster or
emergency occurs that results in a presidential request for a
special leave program, and whether the credits donated would
otherwise not have been donated under current law. CBO has no
way of determining the likelihood of such disasters occurring,
nor the response by employees to a special leave program. Past
experience, however, shows that donations rise dramatically at
the end of a leave year, when most employees otherwise forfeit
leave in excess of 240 hours. We expect, then, that any
donations made under S. 868 largely would represent a
redistribution of credits otherwise donated to the leave
program for medical emergencies. Hence, we expect that the new
leave transfers would not result in any significant budgetary
effect. Any additional costs that might result from a special
leave program would be paid from appropriated funds and would
not affect direct spending or receipts.
CBO estimates that the administrative costs for
implementing S. 868 also would be minimal and subject to
appropriations. These costs would include the cost to OPM for
establishing new regulations and administering any temporary
programs, upon presidential request, and agency costs related
to notifying employees of the special leave program and
transferring any donated credits.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is John R.
Righter.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Marcuss
(For June E. O'Neill, Director).
VI. Regulatory Impact of Legislation
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory and paperwork impact of S. 868. The
Office of Personnel Management has advised that the provisions
of this Act can be implemented with minimal paperwork
requirements.
Therefore, the Committee directs OPM to develop
implementing regulations that minimize any paperwork
requirements placed on agencies, leave donors, and leave
recipients.
VII. Changes in Existing Law
Paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires that changes in existing law made by the bill
be detailed in the Committee Report. Because S. 868 creates a
new subchapter of chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code,
there is no existing law to be omitted.
