[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES EMERGENCY LEAVE TRANSFER ACT 
                                OF 1997

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 17, 1997

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, on May 26, 1995, in response to the bombing 
of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the Office 
of Personnel Management [OPM] transmitted to Congress the Federal 
Employees Emergency Leave Transfer Act of 1995. With jury selection 
just begun in the Oklahoma City trial, it is time to pass this bill 
that would enhance the use of transfers of leave to assist Federal 
employees who are adversely affected by disasters or emergencies as 
declared by the President. I am reintroducing the bill today as we mark 
the anniversary month of the bombing in Oklahoma City. The bill was 
passed by the Senate and House last year and failed to go to conference 
because of opposition to an unrelated amendment attached in the House.
  In 1988, Congress authorized a 5-year test of voluntary leave 
transfer and leave bank programs within Federal agencies. These 
programs were designed to help employees faced with a medical or family 
emergency who had already exhausted all available leave. In 1994, the 
House Post Office and Civil Service Committee's Subcommittee on 
Compensation and Employee Benefits held a hearing on the programs, 
which documented their success. Legislation I authored making them 
permanent was subsequently enacted.
  Current leave transfer law limits, in some situations, the transfer 
of donated leave from one agency to another. Current law also requires 
that donated leave be used only for personal or family medical 
emergencies, and that employees exhaust all personal leave balances 
before qualifying for leave donations.
  In the wake of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma 
City in April 1995, affected employees were excused from duty without 
being required to use their available leave. This was made possible by 
OPM's efforts to coordinate agencies' existing leave transfer programs. 
It became apparent from this experience that such situations would be 
better handled by establishing in law the necessary authority for 
special leave transfer programs to address needs created by 
Presidentially declared disasters and emergencies.
  Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), chairman of the Senate Governmental 
Affairs Committee first introduced OPM's proposal, S. 868, on June 21, 
1995. The bill was approved by the committee, without amendment, on 
August 10, 1995. It passed the Senate by unanimous consent on October 
19, 1995. The Congressional Budget Office determined that S. 868 would 
not affect direct spending or receipts, and that any administrative 
costs resulting from its implementation would be minimal.
  S. 868 was referred to the House Subcommittee on Civil Service which 
did not hold hearings on the measure, but referred the bill to the full 
House Government Reform and Oversight Committee. The full committee 
attached several other measures, including the Veterans Preference 
bill, to S. 868, and the House subsequently passed the bill as amended. 
The Senate, however, failed to consider the bill as amended and it did 
not become law.
  The bill I introduce today is identical to S. 868. It requires that 
in the event of a major disaster or emergency, the President would have 
the authority to direct OPM to create a special leave transfer program 
for affected Federal employees. Employees need not be facing a medical 
emergency to qualify, they would need the leave because of the adverse 
effects of the disaster or emergency. The bill would allow agency 
approved recipients to use donated leave without having to first 
exhaust their own accumulated leave. It would allow employees in any 
executive agency to donate leave for transfer to affected employees in 
the same agency or other agencies. It would also allow agency leave 
banks to donate leave to any emergency leave transfer program 
established under this act. OPM would be permitted to establish rules 
for the operation of this special program.
  The Federal Employees Emergency Leave Transfer Act enjoys the support 
not only of OPM but of the Federal employee organizations, has no 
budgetary impact, and has not been controversial. I urge my colleagues 
to support this important bill.

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