[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4255 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4255

    To ensure that Foreign Service officers are evaluated and given 
   opportunities for advancement based on their conformance to merit 
  system principles, to require the review of Performance Improvement 
    Plans during tenure and promotion appraisals of Foreign Service 
   officers, and to eliminate the requirement for the inclusion of a 
                   public member on selection boards.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 2023

   Mr. Mast introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To ensure that Foreign Service officers are evaluated and given 
   opportunities for advancement based on their conformance to merit 
  system principles, to require the review of Performance Improvement 
    Plans during tenure and promotion appraisals of Foreign Service 
   officers, and to eliminate the requirement for the inclusion of a 
                   public member on selection boards.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Wasteful, Odious, and Kooky 
Exercises at State Act'' or the ``Stop WOKE at State Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND ACCESSIBILITY 
              ADVOCACY REQUIREMENT DURING THE FOREIGN SERVICE TENURE 
              AND PROMOTION PROCESS.

    (a) Performance Evaluations.--In evaluating the performance of any 
Foreign Service officer during the tenure and promotion process, the 
evaluator may not--
            (1) evaluate the officer's advocacy for diversity, equity, 
        inclusion, and accessibility principles; or
            (2) rate the officer's adherence and demonstrated 
        commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility 
        principles.
    (b) Foreign Service Selection Board.--The Foreign Service selection 
board may not refer to diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility 
when identifying and rank ordering employees for tenure and promotion 
in the Foreign Service.
    (c) Merit System Principles.--The Secretary of State shall ensure 
that all references to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility 
principles in the Foreign Affairs Manual, the Foreign Service Precepts, 
and the Foreign Service Employee Evaluation Report are immediately 
replaced with references to adherence to the merit system principles 
set forth in section 2301 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 3. MANDATORY REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLANS DURING TENURE 
              AND PROMOTION APPRAISAL PROCESS.

    The Secretary of State shall ensure that the tenure and promotion 
appraisal process for any Foreign Service officer include a review of 
all Performance Improvement Plans that have been issued to such officer 
during the preceding 5-year period regarding performance that was 
considered unacceptable.

SEC. 4. FOREIGN SERVICE SELECTION BOARDS.

    Section 602 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4002) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (b), by striking the first sentence; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) The chair of a selection board that is evaluating the 
performance of a member of the Service or the Senior Foreign Service 
under subsection (a) shall be in the same career track (historically 
known as `general functional cone') as such member.''.
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