[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1056-H1057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA INSPECTOR GENERAL IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1997

  Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 514) to permit the waiver of District of Columbia 
residency requirements for certain employees of the Office of the 
Inspector General of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 514

       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 ``District of Columbia 
     Inspector General Improvement Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. WAIVER OF RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES 
                   OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.

       Section 906 of the District of Columbia Government 
     Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978 (sec. 1-610.6, D.C. 
     Code) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``or subsection (d)'' 
     after ``subsection (c)''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(d) At the request of the Inspector General (as described 
     in section 208(a) of the District of Columbia Procurement 
     Practices Act of 1985), the Director of Personnel may waive 
     the application of subsections (a) and (b) to employees of 
     the Office of the Inspector General.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Davis] and the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Scott] each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis].
  (Mr. DAVIS of Virginia asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, my thanks to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton] for 
permitting expeditious consideration of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 514 is straightforward legislation. It was part of 
H.R. 3664 which was approved by the Subcommittee on the District of 
Columbia and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight last June 
20. There are complications, however, with other parts of the bill and 
it was never taken before the full House.
  This bill is being brought forward separately this year because there 
is an urgent need to pass section 2. That section allows the director 
of personnel of the District of Columbia to waive the residency 
requirement for employees of the Office of Inspector General at the 
request of the inspector general.
  This legislation is necessary because the personnel in the IG's 
office are all defined as excepted personnel under the Merit Personnel 
Act and are required to reside in the District of Columbia within 12 
months of employment. The bill would thus guarantee the widest possible 
talent pool for the inspector general to hire from. Considering the 
importance placed in this office when it was enhanced in the control 
board legislation, I agreed to pursue the waiver that this bill 
contains.
  The IG's office currently consists of 35 individuals, a number of 
whom are not District residents. These individuals accepted employment 
on condition that their employment would not be barred by the residency 
requirement.
  The Office of Personnel has determined that, lacking authority to 
grant a waiver, that the residency requirement will have to be enforced 
beginning as early as March 24. Thus, failure to pass this legislation, 
H.R. 514, at this time could result in a significant exodus of highly 
trained and qualified personnel at a time of numerous sensitive 
investigations. This would clearly be unacceptable, particularly in 
light of the fact that the inspector general has just announced her 
resignation from the District and this would really leave the office 
utterly rudderless.
  The Congressional Budget Office has certified that this bill would 
not effect the Federal budget. I would urge passage of H.R. 514.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
would like to thank the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Burton], the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis], and the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Waxman] for their work on the District of Columbia Inspector 
General Improvement Act.
  Mr. Speaker, it is noncontroversial. A lot of work has gone into it, 
and Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the House would pass the bill.

[[Page H1057]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton].
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the very kind gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Scott] for yielding to me. I want to thank the gentleman 
from Indiana [Mr. Burton] and the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis], 
as well as the gentleman from California [Mr. Waxman], the ranking 
member, for their work on the District of Columbia Inspector General 
Improvement Act, a bill that would allow the District's director of 
personnel to waive the residency requirement for employees in the 
office of the inspector general at the inspector general's request.
  In April 1995, the Congress passed the District of Columbia financial 
responsibility and management assistance authority law, which expanded 
and strengthened the office of inspector general in the District of 
Columbia. Pursuant to the financial authority statute, Angela Avant was 
appointed inspector general in January 1996.
  Because of the apparent delay in finding a suitable candidate, Ms. 
Avant was under considerable pressure from Congress and the financial 
authority to recruit staff. She received some criticism for not filling 
positions quickly enough, in part because the positions allocated to 
the inspector general are ``excepted service'' positions and thus were 
subject to the requirement of District residency. The inspector general 
found that the residency requirement made it difficult to recruit 
several highly specialized personnel to staff her office. To alleviate 
these concerns, Mayor Barry transmitted legislation to the council on 
March 28, 1996, which contained a provision that waived the residency 
requirement under very limited circumstances.
  When it appeared that it would take some time for the Council 
Committee on Government Operations to consider the bill, I called 
council member Harold Brazil, then chairman of the committee, who said 
that he had no objection to the waiver going forward in the Congress. 
The residency requirement for the inspector general then became part of 
H.R. 3664, the District of Columbia Improvement and Efficiency Act of 
1996, and on the assurance that this noncontroversial waiver was likely 
to be enacted, the inspector general hired several staff members who 
reside outside of the District of Columbia on a temporary basis.
  H.R. 3664 was never brought to the floor because another provision of 
the bill violated the pay-go rule. To overcome that problem, the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis] submitted the residency language to 
the House District of Columbia Committee on Appropriations for 
inclusion in the 1997 omnibus appropriations bill, but in the rush to 
finalize the language of the omnibus bill in the final days of the 
104th Congress, this provision apparently was omitted.

  Mr. Speaker, it is urgent that the Congress pass this bill to allow 
the Office of Inspector General to keep on staff personnel that have 
already been hired. Under the Merit Personnel Act, the temporary waiver 
of residency expires for employees who are ``excepted service'' after 6 
months. Several of the employees hired by the inspector general will be 
in violation of this rule as early as March 24, if this legislation is 
not enacted.
  Maintaining the inspector general's staff is a high priority for the 
Congress and the financial authority because of the urgent need to 
uncover instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in the D.C. government. By 
passing this bill, the House sends a message that it wants to encourage 
fast action on these important priorities.
  I emphasize that this bill involves no violation of home rule because 
all branches of government, the Mayor, and the city council apparently 
agree that it should be passed expeditiously without going through the 
council, which would not be prepared to take it up as quickly as we 
have been.
  I ask the House to pass this piece of unfinished business from the 
104th Congress, the District of Columbia Inspector General Improvement 
Act, H.R. 514.
  Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Let me thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. 
Norton] for her comments and help in bringing this to the floor as well 
as the gentleman from California [Mr. Waxman] and the gentleman from 
Virginia [Mr. Scott] the gentleman from Virginia for his remarks.
  As the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton] has 
noted, the Mayor and the council support this legislation, as does the 
control board.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Camp). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill H.R. 514, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title was amended so as to read: ``A bill to permit the waiver of 
District of Columbia residency requirements for certain employees of 
the Office of the Inspector General of the District of Columbia.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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