[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 607 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 607

     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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2019

 Mr. Cassidy (for himself, Mr. Gardner, and Ms. Murkowski) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                    on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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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