[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 16, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49948-49949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20793]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
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 

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 16, 2000 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 49948]]



OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Part 531

RIN 3206-AJ07


Pay Under the General Schedule; Locality-Based Comparability 
Payments

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Proposed rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed 
regulations to change the boundaries of two locality pay areas for 2001 
by adding an area of application to the Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-
NH-ME-CT, locality pay area and the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA, 
locality pay area. We propose to add the State of Rhode Island as an 
area of application to the Boston locality pay area and Monterey 
County, CA, as an area of application to the San Francisco locality pay 
area. This proposal is based on changes in the criteria for defining 
areas of application that were recommended by the Federal Salary 
Council, a body composed of experts in the fields of labor relations or 
pay setting and representatives of Federal employee organizations.

DATES: We must receive comments on or before October 16, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allan Hearne, (202) 606-2838; FAX: 
(202) 606-4264; EMAIL: [email protected].

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver comments to Donald J. Winstead, Assistant 
Director for Compensation Administration, Workforce Compensation and 
Performance Service, Office of Personnel Management, Room 7H31, 1900 E 
Street NW., Washington, DC 20415-8200, FAX: (202) 606-0824, or email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 5304(f) of title 5, United States 
Code, authorizes the President's Pay Agent (the Secretary of Labor, the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Director 
of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)) to provide for such pay 
localities as the Pay Agent considers appropriate. In so doing, the Pay 
Agent must give thorough consideration to the views and recommendations 
of the Federal Salary Council, a body composed of experts in the fields 
of labor relations or pay setting and representatives of Federal 
employee organizations. The President appoints the members of the 
Federal Salary Council, who submit annual recommendations about the 
locality pay program for General Schedule employees. The establishment 
or modification of pay area boundaries must conform with the notice and 
comment provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553).
    Based on the Council's recommendations in 1993, the Pay 
Agent approved using Metropolitan Statistical Area 
definitions as the basis for pay areas. OMB defines Metropolitan 
Statistical Areas based on population size, population density, and 
commuting patterns. The Council also recommended and the Pay Agent 
approved criteria for adding certain adjacent counties as ``areas of 
application.''
    In its letter of October 22, 1999, to the Pay Agent, the Federal 
Salary Council recommended making two changes to the area of 
application criteria for 2001. The first change would create a new set 
of ``Full State'' criteria to treat a State smaller than 115 percent of 
the average county size as a single county for application of the 
existing county criteria. This change would make the State of Rhode 
Island an area of application to the Boston locality pay area. The 
Council recommended this change because nearby higher-paying locality 
pay areas virtually surround Rhode Island, agencies in Rhode Island 
have reported difficulties in filling positions because of higher 
locality rates in Boston and Hartford, and counties in Rhode Island are 
so small that no single county passes the existing criteria.
    The second change would reduce the percent of population living in 
urbanized areas criterion from 90 percent to 80 percent. This change 
would qualify Monterey County, CA, as an area of application to the San 
Francisco locality pay area. The Council recommended this change 
because a significant portion of Monterey County is devoted to Federal 
parkland and military installations, making it difficult to pass the 
population density criterion even though there is a significant level 
of commuting between Monterey and San Francisco.
    In its 1999 report to the President, the Pay Agent tentatively 
agreed to make the changes recommended by the Federal Salary Council. 
This notice solicits public comment on the proposal to add the State of 
Rhode Island as an area of application to the Boston locality pay area 
and Monterey County, CA, as an area of application to the San Francisco 
locality pay area.
    The new criteria for adding an adjacent area as an area of 
application are:
    A. County-wide areas of application. To be included in the pay 
area, the affected county must:
    1. Currently be in the Rest of U.S. pay area and be contiguous to a 
pay locality (exclusive of any other areas of application);
    2. Contain at least 2,000 General Schedule (GS) employees;
    3. Have a significant level of urbanization based on 1990 Census 
data, defined as a population density of more than 200 persons per 
square mile or at least 80 percent of the population in urbanized 
areas; and
    4. Demonstrate some economic linkage with the pay locality, defined 
as commuting at a level of 5 percent or more into or from the county 
under consideration and the central core of the metropolitan area as 
identified by the Census Bureau.
    B. Partial-county areas of application in New England. To be in the 
pay area, the partial county must:
    1. Currently be in the Rest of U.S. pay area and be contiguous to 
the pay locality (exclusive of any other areas of application);
    2. Contain at least 2,000 GS employees;
    3. Be part of an entire county that has a population density of 
more than 200 persons per square mile or at least 80 percent of the 
population in urbanized areas; and
    4. Be part of an entire county that demonstrates some economic 
linkage with the pay locality, defined as commuting at a level of 5 
percent or

[[Page 49949]]

more into or from the county under consideration and the central core 
of the metropolitan area as identified by the Census Bureau.
    C. Federal facilities crossing pay locality boundaries. To be in 
the pay locality, the portion of a Federal facility which crosses pay 
locality boundaries and which is not in the pay locality must:
    1. Contain at least 1,000 GS employees;
    2. Have the duty stations of the majority of GS employees within 10 
miles of the locality; and
    3. Have a significant number of its employees commuting from the 
pay locality.
    D. Full-State areas of application. In order to be evaluated for 
area of application status, an entire State may be considered as one 
county for purposes of applying the county-wide area-of-application 
criteria if:
    1. No part of the State is already in a separate metropolitan pay 
area;
    2. The State is adjacent to the pay area (exclusive of any other 
areas of application); and
    3. The State is smaller than 115 percent of the average county size 
in square miles in the lower 48 States plus Washington, DC, as 
determined by OPM using land area data published by the Census Bureau 
and the number of counties in the United States as determined by the 
Census Bureau.
    After application of the above criteria, the entire State must 
still pass the county-wide area-of-application criteria before it can 
become an area of application.
    Go to http://www.opm.gov/oca/2000tbls/GSannual/html/locdef.htm for 
a full listing of locality pay areas. The proposed changes would go 
into effect on January 1, 2001, and would apply to locality payments 
for pay periods beginning on or after January 1, 2001.

E.O. 12866, Regulatory Review

    The Office of Management and Budget has reviewed this rule in 
accordance with E.O. 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that these regulations would not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they 
would apply only to Federal agencies and employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 531

    Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Wages.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Janice R. Lachance,
Director.
    Accordingly, OPM is proposing to amend part 531 of title 5, Code of 
Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 531--PAY UNDER THE GENERAL SCHEDULE

    1. The authority citation for part 531 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5115, 5307, and 5338; sec. 4 of Pub. L. 103-
89, 107 Stat. 981; and E.O. 12748, 56 FR 4521, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 
316;
    Subpart B also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5303(g), 5333, 5334(a), and 
7701(b)(2);
    Subpart C also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, and 5553; 
sections 302 and 404 of FEPCA, Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 1462 and 
1466; and section 3(7) of Pub. L. 102-378, 106 Stat. 1356;
    Subpart D also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5335(g) and 7701(b)(2);
    Subpart E also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5336;
    Subpart F also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305(g)(1), and 5553; 
and E.O. 12883, 58 FR 63281, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 682;
    Subpart G also issued under 5 U.S.C. 5304, 5305, and 5553; 
section 302 of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 
(FEPCA), Pub. L. 101-509, 104 Stat. 1462; and E.O. 12786, 56 FR 
67453, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 376.

Subpart F--Locality-Based Comparability Payments

    2. In Sec. 531.603, paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(29) are revised to 
read as follows:


Sec. 531.603  Locality pay areas.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT--consisting of the 
Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA, plus the State of Rhode 
Island;
* * * * *
    (29) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA--consisting of the San 
Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA, plus Monterey County, CA;
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-20793 Filed 8-15-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-01-P