[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1881 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1881

To modify the rate of basic pay and the classification of positions for 
  certain United States Border Patrol agents, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 1999

  Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas (for herself and Mr. Reyes) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a period to 
      be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To modify the rate of basic pay and the classification of positions for 
  certain United States Border Patrol agents, 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 ``Border Patrol Recruitment and 
Retention Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The United States, being a nation of immigrants and a 
        nation operating under laws and agreements that establish 
        immigration procedures by which all Border Patrol agents must 
        abide, should authorize a step pay increase for its United 
        States Border Patrol agents after 1 year of service, in an 
        effort to better recruit and retain urgently needed agents to 
        safely guard the Nation's borders.
            (2) The United States Border Patrol performs critical work, 
        and its agents are assigned duties that involve considerable 
        risks and require unique talents to protect the integrity of 
        the borders of the United States.
            (3) The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is 
        authorized to add a total of 5,000 additional border agents, at 
        a rate of 1,000 per fiscal year from fiscal year 1997 to fiscal 
        year 2001, did not request any additional agents in its 
        proposed budget for fiscal year 2000, despite being in dire 
        need of increasing its border patrol.
            (4) Due to poor recruitment and retention of United States 
        Border Patrol agents, 7 classes at the Academy have already 
        been canceled and less than 400 agents are currently in 
        training. At this rate, training of agents would still fail to 
        meet the fiscal year 1999 and fiscal year 2000 budget requests 
        relating to the addition of Border Patrol agents.
            (5) There is a real need to increase the border patrol 
        along the Southwest border, in States such as Texas, Arizona, 
        California, and New Mexico. Such an increase is necessary and 
        proper.

SEC. 3. BORDER PATROL AGENT PAY AND CLASSIFICATION.

    (a) In General.--Any Border Patrol agent classified as a GS-1896 
position who completes a 1-year period of service at a GS-9 grade and 
whose current rating of record is fully successful or higher shall be 
classified at a GS-11 grade and receive pay at the minimum rate of 
basic pay for a GS-11 position.
    (b) Nonreduction.--Subsection (a) shall not be construed to--
            (1) limit or reduce the rate of pay of any Border Patrol 
        agent; or
            (2) reclassify a Border Patrol agent at a lower 
        classification of position.
    (c) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on the first 
day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after the later 
of--
            (1) October 1, 1999; or
            (2) 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. OFFICE OF BORDER PATROL RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service shall establish an Office of Border Patrol 
Recruitment and Retention within the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service.
    (b) Functions.--The Office of Border Patrol Recruitment and 
Retention shall--
            (1) develop outreach programs to identify and recruit 
        prospective Border Patrol agents;
            (2) develop programs to retain Border Patrol agents; and
            (3) submit recommendations to the Commissioner of the 
        Immigration and Naturalization Service relating to pay and 
        benefits of Border Patrol agents.
    (c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 150 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service shall submit a report to the Congress on the 
establishment and activities of the Office of Border Patrol Recruitment 
and Retention.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for fiscal year 
2000 and such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year thereafter 
to carry out this Act.
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