[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6187-S6189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. AKAKA:
  S. 1180. A bill to provide for greater diversity within, and to 
improve policy direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive 
Service; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs.

[[Page S6188]]

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleague in the 
House of Representatives, Congressman Danny K. Davis, to reintroduce 
the Senior Executive Service Diversity Assurance Act of 2009. This 
legislation promotes greater diversity among the Federal Government's 
elite corps of senior executives and establishes a central office of 
management for these top-level Federal executives. Last year, we 
introduced this bill. Unfortunately, the Senate was not able to pass 
the bill before the adjournment of the 110th Congress.
  The Senior Executive Service, SES, is the most senior level of career 
civil servants in the Federal Government. Senior executives are 
essential to an efficient and effective Federal Government in 
management and operations. Over the next ten years, ninety percent of 
the career SES will be eligible to retire. As agencies begin to 
consider employees for SES positions, it is important that they develop 
pipelines into highly qualified candidate pools that represent diverse 
backgrounds, and ensure that applicants of all races, ethnicities, 
genders, and abilities be equally considered. According to reports by 
the Government Accountability Office, a diverse SES can bring a greater 
variety of perspectives and approaches to policy development, strategic 
planning, problem solving, and decision making.
  A 2007 Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program report by the 
Office of Personnel Management, OPM, showed that the percentage of 
minorities and women at senior pay levels in the Federal Government, 
including SES, is lower than in the total civilian labor force and the 
Federal workforce as a whole. According to a 2007 GAO report, only 15.8 
percent of the SES was minorities compared to 32.8 percent of the 
entire workforce. The Senior Executive Service Diversity Assurance Act 
directly addresses this gap.
  This legislation would require Federal agencies to submit a plan to 
OPM on how the agency is removing barriers to minorities, women, and 
individuals with disabilities to obtain appointments in the SES.
  The bill encourages agencies, to the extent practicable, to include 
minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities on their Executive 
Resource Boards as well as other qualification review boards that 
evaluate SES candidates.
  Furthermore, the legislation re-establishes the Senior Executive 
Service Resource Office, SESRO, at OPM, which was dissolved during an 
internal reorganization of OPM in 2003. This bill would restore SESRO's 
responsibilities of overseeing and managing the corps of senior 
executives. SESRO would serve as a central resource for agencies and 
provide oversight of agency recruitment and candidate development. 
Additionally, it would be responsible for ensuring diversity within the 
SES through strategic partnerships, mentorship programs, and more 
stringent reporting requirements. For too long, ethnic minorities, 
women, and persons with disabilities have been under-represented and 
this bill attempts to reform shortcomings in the system.
  In America's workforce, we need leadership that reflects its varied 
cultures and backgrounds. A more diverse SES will better ensure that 
the executive management of the Federal Government is responsive to the 
needs, policies, and goals of the Nation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill 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. 1180

       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 ``Senior Executive Service 
     Diversity Assurance Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) according to the most recent findings from the 
     Government Accountability Office--
       (A) minorities made up 22.5 percent of the individuals 
     serving at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 15.8 percent of the 
     Senior Executive Service in 2007;
       (B) women made up 34.3 percent of the individuals serving 
     at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 29.1 percent of the Senior 
     Executive Service in 2007; and
       (C) although the number of career Senior Executive Service 
     members increased from 6,110 in 2,000 to 6,555 in 2007, the 
     representation of African American men in the career Senior 
     Executive Service declined during that same period from 5.5 
     percent to 5.0 percent; and
       (2) according to the Office of Personnel Management--
       (A) black employees represented 6.1 percent of employees at 
     the Senior Pay levels and 17.9 percent of the permanent 
     Federal workforce compared to 10 percent in the civilian 
     labor force in 2008;
       (B) Hispanic employees represented 4.0 percent of employees 
     at the Senior Pay levels and 7.9 percent of the permanent 
     Federal workforce compared to 13.2 percent of the civilian 
     labor force in 2008; and
       (C) women represented 29.1 percent of employees at the 
     Senior Pay levels and 44.2 percent of the permanent Federal 
     workforce compared to 45.6 percent of the civilian labor 
     force in 2008.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act--
       (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office 
     of Personnel Management;
       (2) the term ``Senior Executive Service'' has the meaning 
     given under section 2101a of title 5, United States Code;
       (3) the terms ``agency'', ``career appointee'', and 
     ``career reserved position'' have the meanings given under 
     section 3132 of title 5, United States Code; and
       (4) the term ``SES Resource Office'' means the Senior 
     Executive Service Resource Office established under section 
     4.

     SEC. 4. SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE RESOURCE OFFICE.

       (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish 
     within the Office of Personnel Management an office to be 
     known as the Senior Executive Service Resource Office.
       (b) Mission.--The mission of the SES Resource Office shall 
     be to--
       (1) improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity 
     of the Senior Executive Service through policy formulation 
     and oversight;
       (2) advance the professionalism of the Senior Executive 
     Service; and
       (3) ensure that, in seeking to achieve a Senior Executive 
     Service reflective of the Nation's diversity, recruitment is 
     from qualified individuals from appropriate sources.
       (c) Functions.--
       (1) In general.--The functions of the SES Resource Office 
     are to--
       (A) make recommendations to the Director with respect to 
     regulations; and
       (B) provide guidance to agencies, concerning the structure, 
     management, and diverse composition of the Senior Executive 
     Service.
       (2) Specific functions.--In order to carry out the purposes 
     of this section, the SES Resource Office shall--
       (A) take such actions as the SES Resource Office considers 
     necessary to manage and promote an efficient, elite, and 
     diverse corps of senior executives by--
       (i) creating policies for the management and improvement of 
     the Senior Executive Service;
       (ii) providing oversight of the performance, structure, and 
     composition of the Senior Executive Service; and
       (iii) providing guidance and oversight to agencies in the 
     management of senior executives and candidates for the Senior 
     Executive Service;
       (B) be responsible for the policy development, management, 
     and oversight of the Senior Executive Service pay and 
     performance management system;
       (C) develop standards for certification of each agency's 
     Senior Executive Service performance management system and 
     evaluate all agency applications for certification;
       (D) be responsible for coordinating, promoting, and 
     monitoring programs for the advancement and training of 
     senior executives, including the Senior Executive Service 
     Federal Candidate Development Program;
       (E) provide oversight of, and guidance to, agency executive 
     resources boards;
       (F) be responsible for the administration of the 
     qualifications review board;
       (G) establish and maintain annual statistics (in a form 
     that renders such statistics useful to appointing authorities 
     and candidates) on--
       (i) the total number of career reserved positions at each 
     agency;
       (ii) the total number of vacant career reserved positions 
     at each agency;
       (iii) of the positions under clause (ii), the number for 
     which candidates are being sought;
       (iv) the amount of time a career reserved position is 
     vacant;
       (v) the amount of time it takes to hire a candidate into a 
     career reserved position;
       (vi) the number of individuals who have been certified in 
     accordance with section 3393(c) of title 5, United States 
     Code, and the composition of that group of individuals with 
     regard to race, ethnicity, sex, age, and individuals with 
     disabilities;
       (vii) the composition of the Senior Executive Service with 
     regard to race, ethnicity, sex, age, and individuals with 
     disabilities;
       (viii) the composition of executive resources boards with 
     regard to race, ethnicity, sex, and individuals with 
     disabilities; and

[[Page S6189]]

       (ix) the composition of qualifications review boards with 
     regard to race, ethnicity, sex, and individuals with 
     disabilities;
       (H) make available to the public through the official 
     public internet site of the Office of Personnel Management, 
     the data collected under subparagraph (G);
       (I) establish and promote mentoring programs for potential 
     candidates for the Senior Executive Service, including 
     candidates who have been certified as having the executive 
     qualifications necessary for initial appointment as a career 
     appointee under a program established under to section 
     3396(a) of title 5, United States Code;
       (J) conduct a continuing program for the recruitment of 
     women, members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and 
     individuals with disabilities for Senior Executive Service 
     positions, with special efforts directed at recruiting from 
     educational institutions, professional associations, and 
     other sources;
       (K) advise agencies on the best practices for an agency in 
     utilizing or consulting with an agency's equal employment or 
     diversity office or official (if the agency has such an 
     office or official) with regard to the agency's Senior 
     Executive Service appointments process; and
       (L) evaluate and implement strategies to ensure that 
     agencies conduct appropriate outreach to other agencies to 
     identify candidates for Senior Executive Service positions.
       (d) Protection of Individually Identifiable Information.--
     For purposes of subsection (c)(2)(H), the SES Resource Office 
     shall combine data for any agency that is not named in 
     section 901(b) of chapter 31, United States Code, to protect 
     individually identifiable information.
       (e) Cooperation of Agencies.--The head of each agency shall 
     provide the Office of Personnel Management with such 
     information as the SES Resource Office may require in order 
     to carry out subsection (c)(2)(G).
       (f) Staffing.--The Director of the Office of Personnel 
     Management shall make such appointments as necessary to staff 
     the SES Resource Office.

     SEC. 5. CAREER APPOINTMENTS.

       (a) Promoting Diversity in the Career Appointments 
     Process.--Section 3393(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after the first sentence the following: 
     ``In establishing an executive resources board, the head of 
     the agency shall, to the extent practicable, ensure diversity 
     of the board and of any subgroup thereof or other evaluation 
     panel related to the merit staffing process for career 
     appointees, by including members of racial and ethnic 
     minority groups, women, and individuals with disabilities.''.
       (b) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate 
     regulations to implement subsection (a).
       (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the 
     Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of 
     the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Government 
     Reform of the House of Representatives a report evaluating 
     agency efforts to improve diversity in executive resources 
     boards based on the information collected by the SES Resource 
     Office under section 4(c)(2)(G) (viii) and (ix).

     SEC. 6. ENCOURAGING A MORE DIVERSE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE.

       (a) Senior Executive Service Diversity Plans.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, each agency, in consultation with 
     the Office of Personnel Management and the Chief Human 
     Capital Officers Council, shall submit to the Office of 
     Personnel Management a plan to enhance and maximize 
     opportunities for the advancement and appointment of 
     minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities in the 
     agency to the Senior Executive Service. Agency plans shall be 
     reflected in the strategic human capital plan.
       (2) Contents.--Agency plans shall address how the agency is 
     identifying and eliminating barriers that impair the ability 
     of minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to 
     obtain appointments to the Senior Executive Service and any 
     actions the agency is taking to provide advancement 
     opportunities, including--
       (A) conducting outreach to minorities, women, and 
     individuals within the agency and outside the agency;
       (B) establishing and maintaining training and education 
     programs to foster leadership development;
       (C) identifying career enhancing opportunities for agency 
     employees;
       (D) assessing internal availability of candidates for 
     Senior Executive Service positions; and
       (E) conducting an inventory of employee skills and 
     addressing current and potential gaps in skills and the 
     distribution of skills.
       (3) Update of agency plans.--Agency plans shall be updated 
     at least every 2 years during the 10 years following 
     enactment of this Act. An agency plan shall be reviewed by 
     the Office of Personnel Management and, if determined to 
     provide sufficient assurances, procedures, and commitments to 
     provide adequate opportunities for the advancement and 
     appointment of minorities, women, and individuals with 
     disabilities to the Senior Executive Service, shall be 
     approved by such Office. An agency may, in updating its plan, 
     submit to the Office of Personnel Management an assessment of 
     the impacts of the plan.
       (b) Summary and Evaluation.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the deadline for the submission of any report or update under 
     subsection (a), the Director shall transmit to the Committee 
     on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 
     and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
     House of Representatives a report summarizing and evaluating 
     the agency plans or updates (as the case may be) so 
     submitted.
       (c) Coordination.--The Office of Personnel Management 
     shall, in carrying out subsection (a), evaluate existing 
     requirements under section 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 
     1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-16) and section 501 of the 
     Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791) and determine how 
     agency reporting can be performed so as to be consistent 
     with, but not duplicative of, such sections and any other 
     similar requirements.
                                 ______