[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1426 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1426
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address
insufficient compensation of employees and other personnel of the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 28, 2019
Mr. Olson (for himself, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr.
Thompson of Mississippi, and Mr. Weber of Texas) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to address
insufficient compensation of employees and other personnel of the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 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 ``Timely Review of Infrastructure
Act''.
SEC. 2. ADDRESSING INSUFFICIENT COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES AND OTHER
PERSONNEL OF THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION.
(a) In General.--Section 401 of the Department of Energy
Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7171) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(k) Addressing Insufficient Compensation of Employees and Other
Personnel of the Commission.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, if the Chairman publicly certifies that compensation for a
category of employees or other personnel of the Commission is
insufficient to retain or attract employees and other personnel
to allow the Commission to carry out the functions of the
Commission in a timely, efficient, and effective manner, the
Chairman may fix the compensation for the category of employees
or other personnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter
III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, or any other
civil service law.
``(2) Certification requirements.--A certification issued
under paragraph (1) shall--
``(A) apply with respect to a category of employees
or other personnel responsible for conducting work of a
scientific, technological, engineering, or mathematical
nature;
``(B) specify a maximum amount of reasonable
compensation for the category of employees or other
personnel;
``(C) be valid for a 5-year period beginning on the
date on which the certification is issued;
``(D) be no broader than necessary to achieve the
objective of retaining or attracting employees and
other personnel to allow the Commission to carry out
the functions of the Commission in a timely, efficient,
and effective manner; and
``(E) include an explanation for why the other
approaches available to the Chairman for retaining and
attracting employees and other personnel are
inadequate.
``(3) Renewal.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 90 days before
the date of expiration of a certification issued under
paragraph (1), the Chairman shall determine whether the
certification should be renewed for a subsequent 5-year
period.
``(B) Requirement.--If the Chairman determines that
a certification should be renewed under subparagraph
(A), the Chairman may renew the certification, subject
to the certification requirements under paragraph (2)
that were applicable to the initial certification.
``(4) New hires.--
``(A) In general.--An employee or other personnel
that is a member of a category of employees or other
personnel that would have been covered by a
certification issued under paragraph (1), but was hired
during a period in which the certification has expired
and has not been renewed under paragraph (3) shall not
be eligible for compensation at the level that would
have applied to the employee or other personnel if the
certification had been in effect on the date on which
the employee or other personnel was hired.
``(B) Compensation of new hires on renewal.--On
renewal of a certification under paragraph (3), the
Chairman may fix the compensation of the employees or
other personnel described in subparagraph (A) at the
level established for the category of employees or
other personnel in the certification.
``(5) Retention of level of fixed compensation.--A category
of employees or other personnel, the compensation of which was
fixed by the Chairman in accordance with paragraph (1), may, at
the discretion of the Chairman, have the level of fixed
compensation for the category of employees or other personnel
retained, regardless of whether a certification described under
that paragraph is in effect with respect to the compensation of
the category of employees or other personnel.
``(6) Consultation required.--The Chairman shall consult
with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management in
implementing this subsection, including in the determination of
the amount of compensation with respect to each category of
employees or other personnel.
``(7) Experts and consultants.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), the
Chairman may--
``(i) obtain the services of experts and
consultants in accordance with section 3109 of
title 5, United States Code;
``(ii) compensate those experts and
consultants for each day (including travel
time) at rates not in excess of the rate of pay
for level IV of the Executive Schedule under
section 5315 of that title; and
``(iii) pay to the experts and consultants
serving away from the homes or regular places
of business of the experts and consultants
travel expenses and per diem in lieu of
subsistence at rates authorized by sections
5702 and 5703 of that title for persons in
Government service employed intermittently.
``(B) Limitations.--The Chairman shall--
``(i) to the maximum extent practicable,
limit the use of experts and consultants
pursuant to subparagraph (A); and
``(ii) ensure that the employment contract
of each expert and consultant employed pursuant
to subparagraph (A) is subject to renewal not
less frequently than annually.''.
(b) Reports.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter for 10
years, the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate a report on information
relating to hiring, vacancies, and compensation at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission.
(2) Inclusions.--Each report under paragraph (1) shall
include--
(A) an analysis of any trends with respect to
hiring, vacancies, and compensation at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission; and
(B) a description of the efforts to retain and
attract employees or other personnel responsible for
conducting work of a scientific, technological,
engineering, or mathematical nature at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission.
(c) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply beginning on the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment
of this Act.
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