[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S8757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 2768. A bill to provide competitive status to certain Federal 
employees in the State of Alaska; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, this is the third occasion on which I 
have spoken to the Senate about the life and accomplishments of the 
late Thomas P. O'Hara, an Alaskan hero.
  Thomas P. O'Hara was a protection ranger and pilot for the National 
Park Service, assigned to the Katmai National Park and Preserve in the 
Bristol Bay region of western Alaska. On December 19, 2002, Ranger 
O'Hara and his passenger, a Fish and Wildlife Service employee, were on 
a mission in the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge. Their plane 
went down on the tundra.
  When the plane was reported overdue, a rescue effort consisting of 14 
single-engine aircraft, an Alaska Air National Guard plane, and a Coast 
Guard helicopter quickly mobilized. Many of the single-engine aircraft 
were piloted by Tom's friends. The wreckage was located late in the 
afternoon of December 20. The passenger survived the crash, but Ranger 
Tom did not.
  Tom O'Hara was an experienced pilot with 11,000 hours as a pilot-in-
command. He was active in the communities of Naknek and King Salmon 
where he grew up, flying children to Bible camp and coaching young 
wrestlers. Tom provided a strong link between the residents of Bristol 
Bay and the National Park Service.
  Although Tom O'Hara was a most valued employee of the National Park 
Service, he did not enjoy the same status as National Park Service 
employees with competitive career status. Tom was hired under a special 
hiring authority established under the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act, ANILCA, which permits land management agencies like 
the National Park Service to hire, on a noncompetitive basis, Alaskans 
who by reason of having lived or worked in or near public lands in 
Alaska, have special knowledge or expertise concerning the natural or 
cultural resources of public lands and the management thereof.
  Tom O'Hara possessed this knowledge and offered it freely to the 
National Park Service. But because he was hired under this special 
authority, his opportunities for transfer and promotion within the Park 
Service were limited, even though his service was exemplary.
  As a lasting memorial to Tom O'Hara's exemplary career, I am 
introducing legislation today that will grant competitive status to 
ANILCA local hire employees who hold permanent appointments with the 
Federal land management agencies after the completion of 1 year of 
satisfactory service. In Tom's honor, the short title of this 
legislation is the Thomas P. O'Hara Public Land Career Opportunity Act 
of 2004.
  It is my sincere hope that the enactment of this legislation will 
encourage other Alaskans, particularly Alaska Natives, to follow in Tom 
O'Hara's footsteps and seek lifelong careers with the Federal land 
management agencies.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2768

       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 ``Thomas P. O'Hara Public Land 
     Career Opportunity Act of 2004''.

     SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE STATUS FOR CERTAIN FEDERAL EMPLOYEES IN 
                   THE STATE OF ALASKA.

       Section 1308 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 
     Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3198) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
     (d) and (e); and
       (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
       ``(c) Competitive Status.--An individual appointed to a 
     permanent position under subsection (a) shall, after the 
     completion of 1 year of service, be considered to have 
     competitive status and shall enjoy the rights, privileges, 
     and benefits of employees holding competitive status, 
     including the rights, privileges, and benefits relating to 
     promotion and transfer.''.
                                 ______