[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6217. Mr. ROMNEY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) 
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. GAO REPORT ON ALTERNATIVE MODELING FOR LOCALITY PAY 
                   FORMULATIONS.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
     ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
       (A) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
       (B) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
     Affairs of the Senate;
       (C) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
       (D) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (E) the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of 
     Representatives; and
       (F) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
     Representatives.
       (2) Locality pay formula.--The term ``locality pay 
     formula'' means the methodology used to determine the amount 
     of locality-based comparability payments paid under section 
     5304 of title 5, United States Code.
       (3) Pay locality.--The term ``pay locality'' has the 
     meaning given the term in section 5302 of title 5, United 
     States Code.
       (b) Report.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
     committees a report that assesses potential alternative 
     modeling for the locality pay formula.
       (2) Contents.--The report required under paragraph (1) 
     shall include an assessment of the following:
       (A) The costs of changing the boundaries of pay localities 
     to reflect recent (as of the date on which the report is 
     submitted) updates to the delineations of metropolitan 
     statistical areas and combined statistical areas by the 
     Office of Management and Budget.
       (B) The methodology used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
     in conducting the surveys described in section 5304(d)(1)(A) 
     of title 5, United States Code, with the objective of 
     improving the validity of those surveys to reflect market 
     sensitivity.
       (C) The impact of increasing the sample size in the 
     locality pay formula to account for jobs by occupation.
       (D) The consideration of human capital data, such as 
     attrition data, in the locality pay formula to determine the 
     effects of statistically-modeled salary estimates.
       (E) Whether and how the locality pay formula should account 
     for--
       (i) the impact of quickly rising housing costs in 
     establishing or modifying pay localities; and
       (ii) the impact of the cost of major benefits, such as 
     health insurance and pensions, and disparities in total 
     Federal and non-Federal compensation, when establishing or 
     modifying pay localities.
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