[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4528 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4528

  To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to address the insufficient 
 compensation and recruitment of employees and other personnel of the 
         Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 11, 2023

 Ms. DeGette introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to address the insufficient 
 compensation and recruitment of employees and other personnel of the 
         Nuclear 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 ``Strengthening the NRC Workforce Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. COMMISSION WORKFORCE.

    (a) General Authority.--The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 
2201 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 161A the following:

``SEC. 161B. COMMISSION WORKFORCE.

    ``(a) Direct Hire Authority.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 161 d. of this 
        Act and section 3304 of title 5, United States Code, and 
        without regard to the provisions of sections 3309 through 3318 
        of title 5, United States Code, if the Chairman of the 
        Commission issues a certification that there is a severe 
        shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need for covered 
        positions to carry out the Commission's responsibilities and 
        activities, the Chairman may, subject to paragraphs (2) and 
        (3), recruit and directly appoint highly qualified individuals 
        into the competitive service.
            ``(2) Limitations.--Any action authorized pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall be consistent with the merit principles of 
        section 2301 of title 5, United States Code, and the Chairman 
        shall comply with the public notice requirements of section 
        3327 of such title 5.
            ``(3) Termination.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A certification issued or 
                renewed under this subsection shall terminate on the 
                earlier of--
                            ``(i) the date that is 5 years after the 
                        certification is renewed or issued; or
                            ``(ii) the date on which the Chairman 
                        determines there is no longer a severe shortage 
                        of candidates or a critical hiring need for 
                        covered positions to carry out the Commission's 
                        responsibilities and activities.
                    ``(B) Renewal.--The Chairman may renew a 
                certification issued or renewed under this subsection 
                for an additional 5-year period if the Chairman 
                determines there is still a severe shortage of 
                candidates or a critical hiring need for covered 
                positions to carry out the Commission's 
                responsibilities and activities.
            ``(4) Covered position.--In this subsection, the term 
        `covered position' means a position in which an employee is 
        responsible for conducting work of a scientific, technical, 
        engineering, mathematical, legal, or otherwise highly 
        specialized or skilled nature.
    ``(b) Addressing Insufficient Compensation of Employees and Other 
Personnel of the Commission.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, if the Chairman of the Commission 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 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 
                who serve in covered positions, as defined in 
                subsection (a)(4);
                    ``(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; and
                    ``(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.
            ``(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. Not later than 60 days after the 
        Chairman's request for consultation under this paragraph, the 
        Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall respond to 
        and consult with the Chairman for purposes of this paragraph.
            ``(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.
    ``(c) Additional Compensation Authority.--
            ``(1) For new employees.--The Commission may pay a person 
        recruited and directly appointed under subsection (a) a 1-time 
        hiring bonus in an amount not to exceed $25,000.
            ``(2) For existing employees.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), an 
                employee who the Chairman determines exhibited 
                exceptional performance in a fiscal year may be paid a 
                performance bonus in an amount not to exceed the least 
                of--
                            ``(i) $25,000; and
                            ``(ii) the amount of the limitation that is 
                        applicable for a calendar year under section 
                        5307(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code.
                    ``(B) Limitations.--
                            ``(i) Subsequent bonuses.--Any person who 
                        receives a performance bonus under subparagraph 
                        (A) may not receive another performance bonus 
                        under that subparagraph for a period of 5 years 
                        thereafter.
                            ``(ii) Hiring bonuses.--Any person who 
                        receives a 1-time hiring bonus under paragraph 
                        (1) may not receive a performance bonus under 
                        subparagraph (A) unless more than one year has 
                        elapsed since the payment of such 1-time hiring 
                        bonus.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
161A the following:

``Sec. 161B. Commission workforce.''.

SEC. 3. REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Chairman of the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works of the Senate a report on information 
relating to hiring, vacancies, and compensation at the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission.
    (b) Inclusions.--Each report under subsection (a) shall include--
            (1) an analysis of any trends with respect to hiring, 
        vacancies, and compensation at the Nuclear Regulatory 
        Commission; and
            (2) a description of the efforts to retain and attract 
        employees or other personnel responsible for conducting work of 
        a scientific, technical, engineering, mathematical, legal, or 
        otherwise highly specialized or skilled nature at the Nuclear 
        Regulatory Commission.
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