[Senate Report 110-526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




                                                      Calendar No. 1101
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-526

======================================================================



                    TELEWORK ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 1000


                TO ENHANCE THE FEDERAL TELEWORK PROGRAM

 


               November 19, 2008.--Ordered to be printed



        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

               JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan                 SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii              TED STEVENS, Alaska
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas              NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana          TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois               PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           JOHN WARNER, Virginia
JON TESTER, Montana                  JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire

                  Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
                     Kevin J. Landy, Chief Counsel
                   Lawrence B. Novey, Senior Counsel
                        Kenya N. Wiley, Counsel
   Thomas J.R. Richards, Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on 
  Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
                          District of Columbia
     Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
        Amanda Wood, Minority Director for Governmental Affairs
    Jennifer A. Hemingway, Minority Staff Director, Subcommittee on 
  Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the 
                          District of Columbia
                  Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk



                                                      Calendar No. 1101
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-526

======================================================================



 
                    TELEWORK ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2007

                                _______
                                

               November 19, 2008.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Lieberman, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1000]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1000) to enhance 
the Federal Telework Program, having considered the same, 
reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that 
the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................1
III. Legislative History..............................................6
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................7
  V. Estimated Cost of Legislation...................................10
 VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................11
VII. Changes in Existing Law.........................................12

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, requires 
federal agencies to establish telework policies, determine the 
eligibility of employees to participate in telework programs, 
establish a Telework Managing Officer, and improve the 
reporting on telework programs.

              II. Background and Need for the Legislation

    Precursors to telework in the federal government date back 
as far as the 1930s, when employees worked from their homes or 
other off-site locations on issues as sensitive as financial 
reports of credit union examinations.\1\ In the 1960s a 
consultant rocket scientist named Jack Nilles teleworked from 
Los Angeles to Washington, DC for the U.S. Air Force Space 
Program, and in 1973 he coined the terms ``teleworking'' and 
``telecommuting.''\2\ Over the subsequent decades, federal 
agencies began promoting ``flexiplace'' programs under which 
federal personnel worked from home or remote sites, and, by the 
early 1990s, the President's Council on Management Improvement 
implemented a pilot flexiplace program government-wide.\3\ Over 
the past decade, advances in information and computer 
technology have greatly increased the ability of many federal 
employees to work from home or from other locations convenient 
to home, and in 2006 there were over 110,000 employees 
teleworking in the federal government.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Congressional Research Service Report, Telework in the Federal 
Government: Background, Policy, and Oversight (RL30863), by Lorraine H. 
Tong and Barbara L. Schwemle (April 3, 2002), at page 3.
    \2\Id.
    \3\Id., at pages 3-5.
    \4\U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Status of Telework in the 
Federal Government: Report to Congress 2007 (December 2007), available 
online at [http://www.telework.gov/Reports_ and_Studies/Annual_Reports/
2007_TeleworkReport.pdf] (hereinafter referred to as the ``2007 
Telework Status Report''), at page 2.
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    This Committee believes that telework is an important tool 
for agencies to use in improving many areas of their 
operations. The Congressional Research Service has summarize a 
number of the ways in which telework is seen as offering 
valuable benefits to agencies:

          Management considerations, such as productive and 
        satisfied workers; environmental considerations, such 
        as reduced traffic congestion and improved air quality; 
        and quality of life considerations, such as 
        accommodating the short- or long-term health problems 
        or family responsibilities of employees, have been 
        offered as justification for telework programs. Some 
        believe that the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks 
        on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the 
        discovery of anthrax in Washington, DC, and other 
        cities have fundamentally changed the workplace and 
        demonstrated the practical application of telework to 
        the continued operation of the government. Issues of 
        security, crisis management, disaster recovery, and 
        remote access to office computer systems are prompting 
        some federal executive and legislative branch agencies 
        and their employees to expand existing telework 
        programs or to consider telework.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\CRS Report, note 1 above, at Summary page.

    Information about how telework can be a powerful management 
tool for federal agencies was presented at a hearing before 
this Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight of Government 
Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of 
Columbia.\6\ In the area of human capital management, an Office 
of Personnel Management (OPM) representative testified that 
``telework is a useful tool which can help attract and retain a 
21st century high-performing workforce that produces high-
quality results,''\7\ and the Director of the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office (PTO), reported on his agency's own experience 
that telework ``allows for decreased commute time, greater 
control over workloads, and even a more balanced lifestyle. 
This all translates into increased employee productivity and 
satisfaction, as well as higher employee retention.''\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\Hearing on ``Assessing Telework Policies and Initiatives in the 
Federal Government,'' before this Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight 
of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of 
Columbia, 110th Congress, 1st Session, June 12, 2007, S. Hrg. 110-390 
(hereinafter referred to as the ``Telework Hearing'').
    \7\Testimony of Mr. Daniel A. Green, Deputy Associate Director for 
Employee and Family Support Policy, Strategic Human Resources Policy 
Division, Office of Personnel Management, at Telework Hearing, note 6 
above.
    \8\Testimony of the Honorable Jon W. Dudas, Under Secretary of 
Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, U.S. Patent & 
Trademark Office, at Telework Hearing, note 6 above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    According to testimony of a representative from the General 
Services Administration (GSA), telework is also a natural 
mechanism for agencies' Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plans 
for emergencies,\9\ such as natural disasters or terrorist 
attacks that prevent employees from getting to the agency's 
offices. To be an effective part of the COOP Plan, telework 
must be a part of the agency's normal operations, ``so that 
employees may fully transition to this alternative work 
arrangement in the event of an emergency. The result would be a 
more well trained and properly equipped work force that is 
allowed to participate in telework to the maximum extent 
possible.''\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\Testimony of Mr. Stan Kaczmarczyk, Principle Deputy Associate 
Administrator for Government-Wide Policy, General Services 
Administration, at Telework Hearing, note 6 above.
    \10\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Telework also has beneficial impacts on traffic congestion, 
the environment, and energy conservation. As the GSA witness 
explained, the Federal government is the largest employer in 
the United States as well as the largest employer in the 
National Capital Region, and strikingly large benefits could 
accrue if half of the federal workforce were to telework two 
days per week: ``that theoretically could cut nearly a fourth 
(23 percent), or 944,000 tons of work trip emissions produced 
by federal workers who commute to work in single occupancy 
vehicles. Collectively, these teleworkers could theoretically 
save nearly 2 billion miles of vehicle travel, more than 90 
million gallons of gasoline, more than 277 million dollars in 
gasoline expenses, and more than32,000 typical work years of 
time.''\11\ This is one reason that the U.S. Department of 
Transportation includes expansion of telecommuting as a key part of the 
National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation 
Network.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\Id.
    \12\U.S. Department of Transportation, National Strategy to Reduce 
Congestion on America's Transportation Network (May 2006), available 
online at [http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/OST/012988.pdf].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Witnesses at the hearing also testified about creative 
arrangements to get the most benefit out of telework. One such 
measure is called ``hoteling,'' where employees are not 
assigned a permanent office workspace, yielding significant 
cost savings. The Director of PTO testified that his agency's 
telework program ``combines management-by-objective with 
hoteling, which translates into documented space and related 
cost-savings for the PTO.''\13\ A GSA witness further testified 
that ``telework combined with alternative officing can enable 
agencies to reduce cost and improve the utilization of existing 
facilities.''\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\Testimony of Jon Dudas, note 8 above.
    \14\Testimony of Stanley Kaczmarczyk, note 9 above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Congress has long recognized that telework by federal 
personnel can yield important benefits to agencies and the 
public, and Congress previously has mostly used the 
appropriations process to support telework policies and 
programs. In 1990 the Treasury, Postal Service, and General 
Government Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1991 authorized 
federal agencies to pay for telephone lines, related equipment, 
and monthly fees in the homes of teleworkers participating in a 
telework pilot program.\15\ Five years later, that 
authorization was made permanent in the same appropriations 
bill for fiscal year 1996.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\Pub. L. No. 101-509, Sec. 624 (Nov. 5, 1990).
    \16\Pub. L. No. 104-52, Sec. 620 (Nov. 19, 1995).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In October 2000, the Department of Transportation and 
Related Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001 included 
provisions that required each executive agency ``to establish a 
policy under which eligible employees of the agency may 
participate in telecommuting to the maximum extent possible 
without diminished employee performance,'' and required the 
Director of OPM to apply the requirements of the legislation to 
25 percent of the federal workforce population in 2001 and to 
an additional 25 percent of the federal workforce population 
each year thereafter.\17\ To further keep track of agencies' 
compliance with telework requirements, the legislation required 
the OPM to conduct an annual survey of federal agencies' 
implementation of telework.\18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\Pub. L. No. 106-346, Sec. 359 (Oct. 23, 2003).
    \18\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    OPM reported that, between 2001 and 2004, the number of 
federal employees eligible to telework rose from 521,542 to 
752,337, bringing the total eligibility up to 44 percent of the 
1.7 million member federal workforce.\19\ Furthermore, the 
number of federal employees who were actually teleworking rose 
from 72,844 to 140,694 between 2001 and 2004.\20\ However, in 
2003, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that, 
since each agency had its own telework policy to fit the 
agency's mission and culture, efforts to report on and measure 
telework programs were inconsistent.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\U.S. Office of Personnel Management, The Status of Telework in 
the Federal Government 2002, available online at [http://
www.telework.gov/Reports_and_Studies/tw_rpt02/status-toc.aspx]; U.S. 
Office of Personnel Management, The Status of Telework in the Federal 
Government 2005 (December 2005), available online at [http://
www.telework.gov/ tw_rpt05/index.aspx].
    \20\Id., at page i.
    \21\U.S. Government Accountability Office, Human Capital: Further 
Guidance, Assistance, and Coordination Can Improve Federal Telework 
Efforts (GAO-03-679) (July 2003).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In response to the low percentage of federal employees 
actually participating in telework, Congress adopted a 
requirement, as part of the fiscal year 2004 Commerce, Justice, 
State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
that agencies must designate an employee to be the telework 
coordinator and take on the responsibility of developing agency 
telework programs.\22\ The next year, Congress approved a 
provision in the fiscal year 2005 Commerce, Justice, and State 
Appropriations Act that required each agency within that bill's 
jurisdiction to report to the Appropriations Committees and 
certify that telework opportunities were offered to 100 percent 
of the eligible workforce.\23\ If agencies did not meet this 
requirement, $5 million would be withheld from their 
funding.\24\ Subsequently, the Science, State, Justice, 
Commerce, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal 
year 2006 included provisions to withhold $5 million from those 
agencies if they had not increased the number of eligible 
teleworkers above the previous year's level and provide 
quarterly reports to the Appropriations Committee on the 
status.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\Pub. L. No. 108-199, Sec. 627 (Jan. 23, 2004).
    \23\Pub. L. No. 108-447, Sec. 622 (Dec. 8, 2004).
    \24\Id.
    \25\Pub. L. No. 109-108, Secs. 617 and 619 (Nov. 22, 2005).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite these actions by Congress, and despite resources 
provided by OPM and GSA, only 110,592 employees were 
teleworking in the federal government and only slightly more 
than half of those employees were teleworking one or more days 
per week, according to the 2007 Annual Telework Report from 
OPM.\26\ In comparison, 1,250,980 employees were eligible to 
telework and only 554,761 employees were ineligible to 
telework.\27\ When looking at significant barriers to telework, 
OPM's 2007 telework survey reported that 60 percent of agencies 
said ensuring adequate ``office coverage'' (i.e., ensuring that 
necessary in-office functions are staffed) was a barrier, 49 
percent cited ``management resistance,'' and 46 percent said 
that ``organizational culture'' was a barrier.\28\ All three of 
these issues reflect the challenge for agency leadership in 
making telework a priority in the culture, management, and 
operations of the agency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \26\2007 Telework Status Report, note 4 above.
    \27\Id., at page 8.
    \28\Id., at page 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This issue of agency leadership as a barrier to telework 
was highlighted by a number of witnesses during the OGM 
hearing. The PTO Director, who has established a robust 
telework policy, discussed the importance of convincing 
management to support telework:

          The leaders really had to be convinced originally by 
        some very bright people within the office who 
        recognized the good that could be done and that 
        telework would improve morale. Managers who were just 
        honored at the tenth anniversary of our program went to 
        leadership at the highest levels to request we get this 
        done. Then it was just a matter of making certain all 
        the managers realized this is our direction and 
        vision.\29\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \29\Oral testimony of Dudas at Telework Hearing, note 6 above, at 
page 13.

    The difficulties gaining manager support for telework were 
further illustrated by a survey conducted by the Telework 
Exchange and the Federal Managers Association (FMA), which 
found that only 35 percent of managers felt their agencies 
supported telework.\30\ As explained in testimony by a 
representative of FMA, the study found that managers cite fear 
of not having control over employees and productivity issues as 
the top inhibitors of telework.\31\ However, the study also 
found that, as managers become more exposed to and involved 
with telework, they express more favorable attitudes towards 
telework.\32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \30\Telework Exchange and the Federal Managers Association, Face-
to-Face with Management Reality--A Telework Research Report (January 
22, 2007), available online at [http://www.teleworkexchange.com/
managementstudy/Face-to-Face-with-Management-Reality-Study-012207.pdf], 
at slide 5.
    \31\Testimony of Tom Davison, Trustee, Chapter 275, Environmental 
Protection Agency Region 5 FMA, at Telework Hearing, note 6 above.
    \32\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To help address managers' concerns and provide them 
reassurance about telework, the FMA witness recommended 
training of both managers and employees:

          Strong policies and procedures in place before 
        teleworking occurs is one way to ensure employees focus 
        on their work. . . . Educating managers and employees 
        alike on the benefits of teleworking would certainly 
        make one more likely to participate. Training is an 
        essential part of helping both employees and agencies 
        realize the benefits of teleworking. . . . Without 
        educating managers and employees alike regarding 
        teleworking opportunities available across the 
        government, participation will remain stagnant.\33\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \33\Id.

    S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, is designed 
to address these leadership barriers and to enable greater 
implementation of telework at federal agencies. Specifically, 
the appointment of a Telework Managing Officer (TMO) under 
S.1000 is important to overcoming an agency's leadership 
barriers. Appointing a TMO whose primary responsibility is to 
oversee and implement telework policies at a given agency will 
enable the agency to focus the TMO's time solely on telework 
issues for the agency.
    This legislation would be the first comprehensive 
authorization measure addressing telework policies within the 
government. Telework is an important component of an agencies' 
culture, and agency leadership should think of telework 
programs as a part of overall human capital and agency 
management strategies. The Committee believes this legislation 
strikes an appropriate balance by mandating that each agency 
must establish a telework policy, while providing agencies with 
flexibility to work telework programs into their culture and 
mission in an appropriate manner.
    In addition to establishing a telework policy, each agency 
would be required by the bill to determine whether employees 
are eligible to participate in telework and to notify the 
employees of their eligibility. Eligibility criteria ensure 
that telework will not diminish performance. Each agency would 
also have to set up a training program for all employees and 
managers involved in telework.

                        III. Legislative History

    S. 1000 was introduced by Senator Ted Stevens on March 27, 
2007, and was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs. The bill was referred to the 
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal 
Workforce, and the District of Columbia on June 6, 2007. S. 
1000 was co-sponsored by Senator Landrieu, Senator Voinovich, 
and Senator Coleman.
    The Subcommittee held a hearing on June 12, 2007, entitled 
``Assessing Telework Policies and Initiatives in the Federal 
Government.'' Testimony was received from: Daniel Green, Deputy 
Associate Director, Center for Employee and Family Support 
Policy, OPM; The Honorable Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of 
Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, PTO; Stan 
Kaczmarczyk, Principal Deputy Associate Administrator for 
Government-Wide Policy, GSA; Bernice Steinhardt, Director of 
Strategic Issues, GAO; Tom Davison, Trustee of Chapter 275, 
Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 FMA; Stephen O'Keeffe, 
Executive Officer, Telework Exchange; and David Isaacs, 
Government Affairs Director, Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
    On November 14, 2007, the Committee considered S. 1000. The 
Committee ordered the bill favorably reported as amended by the 
Akaka-Stevens Substitute Amendment by voice vote. Members 
present were Lieberman, Carper, McCaskill, Tester, Collins, 
Stevens, Voinovich, and Coleman. The substitute amendment 
offered during the Committee markup revised the legislation to 
include technical and substantive input from OPM, GSA, GAO, 
PTO, federal employee groups, and other Members of the 
Committee. The substitute amendment clarifies the eligibility 
and participation policy requiring agencies to develop telework 
agreements with employees, allows the legislative branch more 
flexibility in creating telework policies, allows OPM greater 
coordinating responsibility for developing telework guidelines 
for agencies, removes the specific duties and full-time senior-
level employee requirements for the Telework Managing Officer, 
clarifies OPM's reporting requirement and the Office of 
Management and Budget's role in providing recommendations for 
agencies, and adds a travel expenses test program.

                    IV. Section-by-Section Analysis


Section 1. Short title

    This section states that the Act may be cited as the 
``Telework Enhancement Act of 2007.''

Section 2. Definitions

    This section defines ``telework'' as a work arrangement 
where the employee regularly works at home or at sites 
convenient to the employee's home during at least 20 percent of 
each pay period.
    This section also defines the term ``noncompliant'' as not 
conforming to provisions in the Act, and defines the terms 
``employee'' and ``executive agency'' by cross referencing 
existing definitions in Title 5, United States Code.

Section 3. Executive agencies telework requirement

    Subsection (a). Telework Eligibility. This subsection 
requires each agency to establish a telework policy, determine 
the eligibility for all employees of the agency to participate 
in telework, and notify employees of their eligibility. This 
must be done not later than 180 days after enactment.
    Subsection (b). Participation. This subsection requires 
that each agency's telework policy must--(1) ensure that 
telework does not diminish employee performance or agency 
operations, (2) require a written agreement between a manager 
and employee in order for that employee to participate in 
telework, (3) provide that employees may not be eligible to 
telework if they violate the terms of the written agreement, 
(4) exempt employees whose duties require daily physical 
presence for activity with equipment or handling of secure 
materials (except in an emergency), and (5) determine how 
telework may be used as part of the continuity of operations 
plans in the event of an emergency.

Section 4. Training and monitoring

    This section requires that agencies develop interactive, 
instructor-lead telework training programs for all employees 
eligible to participate in telework and all managers of 
teleworkers. The section further requires that, for employee 
performance appraisals, no distinction is to be made between 
employees who telework and those who do not, and that, when 
determining diminished employee performance, agencies are to 
consult OPM performance management guidelines.

Section 5. Policy and support

    Subsection (a). Agency Consultation With the Office of 
Personnel Management. This subsection requires executive 
agencies to consult with OPM when developing telework policies.
    Subsection (b). Guidance and Consultation. This subsection 
requires OPM to provide telework policies and guidance to 
agencies in the areas of pay and leave, agency closure, 
performance management, official worksite, recruitment and 
retention, and accommodation for employees with disabilities. 
In developing this policy and guidance, OPM is to consult with 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the areas of 
continuity of operations and long-term emergencies, and with 
the General Services Administration (GSA) in the areas of 
telework centers, travel, technology, equipment, and dependent 
care.
    Subsection (c). Continuity of Operations Plans. This 
subsection provides that, when an agency is operating under a 
continuity of operations plan, that plan will supersede any 
telework policy.
    Subsection (d). Telework Web site. This subsection requires 
OPM to maintain a Web site dedicated to telework, including 
telework-related links, announcements, guidance developed by 
OPM, and guidance submitted by FEMA or GSA to OPM.

Section 6. Telework Managing Officer

    Subsection (a). In General. This subsection requires the 
head of each executive agency to appoint an employee of the 
agency to serve as the Telework Managing Officer, which is to 
be established in the office of the Chief Human Capital Officer 
or comparable office. This subsection also makes conforming 
amendments to two previous appropriations acts, so that 
telework-related positions established under those acts are 
renamed ``Telework Managing Officers.''
    Subsection (b). Duties. This subsection states that the 
Telework Managing Officer will be devoted to policy development 
and implementation related to agency telework programs; will 
advise agency leadership on telework issues, be a resource for 
managers and employees, and serve as a primary point of contact 
for OPM on telework; and will perform other duties as assigned.

Section 7. Annual report to Congress

    This section requires that OPM submit a report to this 
Committee and to the House Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform addressing telework programs at executive 
agencies within 18 months after the date of enactment and then 
every year thereafter. OPM is also required to transmit a copy 
of its annual telework report to the Government Accountability 
Office (GAO) and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
    OPM's annual telework reports must include the following 
information as provided to OPM by each executive agency: the 
agency's telework policy and measures to carry it out and an 
analysis of the telework participation by the agency's 
employees during the preceding year. OPM's annual reports must 
also include: an assessment of each executive agency's progress 
in maximizing telework opportunities without diminishing 
performance; each agency's definition of telework; certain 
statistics on the eligibility and participation of each 
agency's employees in telework; the extent to which barriers to 
telework opportunities have been removed; and best practices in 
telework programs.

Section 8. Compliance of executive agencies

    Subsection (a). Executive Agencies. This subsection 
establishes that an executive agency will be in compliance with 
the Act if each agency employee who participates in telework 
regularly works at home or at sites convenient to the 
employee's home during at least 20 percent of each pay period.
    Subsection (b). Agency Manager Reports. This subsection 
requires each manager within an executive agency to submit an 
annual report to the agency's Telework Managing Officer 
andChief Human Capital Officer summarizing the efforts to promote 
telework opportunities and any obstacles to that manager's ability to 
promote telework opportunities.
    Subsection (c). Chief Human Capital Officer Reports. This 
subsection requires the Chief Human Capital Officer of each 
executive agency, in consultation with the agency's Telework 
Managing Officer, to submit annually to the Chair and Vice 
Chair of the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council a 
report on agency management efforts to promote telework. Then 
the Chair and Vice Chair are required to include relevant 
information from those reports in OPM's annual telework report 
to Congress.
    Subsection (d). Compliance Reports. This subsection 
requires OMB to submit a report to Congress annually, within 90 
days after submission of OPM's annual telework report. The 
report from OMB must identify executive agencies that OMB 
determines are non-compliant with the Act, describe progress 
towards compliance and justifications of any continuing non-
compliance, and recommend corrective action plans to eliminate 
non-compliance.

Section 9. Congress and legislative branch agencies

    Subsection (a). Definition. This subsection defines the 
term ``legislative branch agencies'' to mean GAO, the Library 
of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Capitol Guide 
Service, the Capitol Police, the Congressional Budget Office, 
the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the Office of the 
Attending Physician, and the Office of Compliance.
    Subsection (b). Application to Legislative Branch 
Employees.
    Paragraphs (1)-(2). Senate, House of Representatives. These 
paragraphs require that, not later than 180 days after 
enactment, telework policy guidelines be established for the 
Senate and for the House of Representatives. Guidelines for the 
Senate will be established by the Committee on Rules and 
Administration, in consultation with the Majority Leader and 
Minority Leader, and guidelines for the House of 
Representatives will be established by the Committee on House 
Administration, in consultation with the Speaker and the 
Minority Leader. Not later than 180 days after the telework 
policy guidelines for the Senate or for the House of 
Representatives are established, each employing authority 
included under the guidelines will submit to the Senate Rules 
Committee or to the House Administration Committee a telework 
policy under which covered employees may be authorized to 
telework.
    Paragraph (3). Legislative branch agencies. This paragraph 
requires that, not later than 180 days after enactment, each 
legislative branch agency must establish a telework policy 
under which covered employees may be authorized to telework.
    Paragraph (4). Training. This paragraph requires training 
of all legislative-branch employees and managers involved in 
telework.
    Paragraph (5). Similar policies. This paragraph provides 
that the telework policies established in the legislative 
branch may be similar to the policies developed by executive 
branch agencies, but the requirements applicable to the 
executive branch are not applicable to telework policies in the 
legislative branch.

Section 10. Extension of Travel Expenses Test Programs

    This section reauthorizes and modifies the travel expenses 
test program under 5 U.S.C. 5710, which has expired. 
Specifically, the section extends the authority to conduct 
travel expenses tests until 16 years after the authority was 
originally enacted (i.e., until October 19, 2014), and repeals 
a provision in the existing statute that limits each travel 
expenses test to a period of only 24 months.
    After reauthorization, 5 U.S.C. 5710 will allow a federal 
agency to seek GSA's approval of a test program under which the 
agency may pay its employees' necessary travel expenses, 
instead of paying the amounts of travel expenses ordinarily 
specified in statute. This would include the authority to seek 
GSA's approval of a test program under which the agency could 
pay certain travel expenses of teleworkers at the agency.

                    V. Estimated Cost of Legislation

                                                  January 28, 2007.
Hon. Joseph I. Lieberman,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. 
        Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1000, the Telework 
Enhancement Act of 2007.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew 
Pickford.
            Sincerely,
                                                  Peter R. Orszag. 
    Enclosure.

S. 1000--Telework Enhancement Act of 2007

    S. 1000 would require the executive and legislative 
branches of the federal government to establish policies to 
determine which federal employees are eligible to participate 
in federal telework programs (programs that enable employees to 
work part time from places other than their official duty 
station for one day per 40-hour workweek). In addition, S. 1000 
would reauthorize a travel expenses test program for an 
additional nine years.
    CBO estimates that implementing S. 1000 would increase 
administrative costs across federal agencies by $5 million in 
2008 and much smaller amounts in subsequent years for executive 
and legislative agencies to notify employees of their 
eligibility to participate in telework programs and to satisfy 
the reporting requirements specified in the bill. S. 1000 could 
also affect direct spending, but CBO estimates that any amounts 
would not be significant in any year. Enacting the bill would 
not affect revenues.
    Under current law, executive branch agencies are required 
to establish policies for employees to participate in telework 
programs to the maximum extent possible without diminishing 
employees' performance. The General Services Administration 
(GSA) and the Office of Personnel Management provide guidance 
and resources to federal agencies to support telework policies 
governmentwide. (Although not required, some legislative branch 
agencies currently offer some telework programs that are 
similar to those of the executive branch.) This bill would 
require agencies to establish and implement policies to enable 
eligible employees to participate in telework programs, adding 
to annual administrative costs.
    For most agencies, any such impact on spending would be 
subject to the availability of appropriated funds; however, the 
bill could affect direct spending by agencies not funded 
through annual appropriations, such as the Tennessee Valley 
Authority and the Bonneville Power Administration. CBO 
estimates, however, that any increase in spending for telework 
programs by those agencies would not be significant.
    By reauthorizing the travel expenses test program, the bill 
also would allow agencies with the approval of GSA to test new 
and innovative methods of reimbursing employees' travel 
expenses (this authority expired in 2005). Based on information 
from GSA and the experience of similar programs, CBO estimates 
that enacting this provision would have no significant impact 
on the federal budget.
    S. 1000 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. This estimate was approved by Theresa M. Gullo, 
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                  VI. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill.

                      VII. Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic and existing law, in which no 
change is proposed, is shown in roman):

   TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE: GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES

                          PART III--EMPLOYEES

          CHAPTER 57--TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND SUBSISTENCE 


Sec. 5710. Authority for travel expenses test programs

    (a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
subchapter, under a test program which the Administrator of 
General Services determines to be in the interest of the 
Government and approves, an agency may pay through the proper 
disbursing official [for a period not to exceed 24 months] any 
necessary travel expenses in lieu of any payment otherwise 
authorized or required under this subchapter.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    (e) The authority to conduct test programs under this 
section shall expire [7 years] 16 years after the date of the 
enactment of the Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998.

                                  
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