[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 232 (Friday, December 1, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 75153-75154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30790]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 75153]]



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: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final 
regulations to change the boundaries of two locality pay areas for 2001 
by adding areas 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 are adding 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. These 
changes are based on 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. Based on 
comments received on the proposed regulations, we are also adding to 
the Boston locality pay area the portion of Bristol County, MA, not 
already included in the Boston area.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The regulations are effective on January 1, 2001, and 
are applicable on the first day of the first pay period beginning on or 
after January 1, 2001.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 16, 2000, the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) published proposed regulations to add two locations as 
areas of application to existing locality pay areas. 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. 
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, and they submit 
annual recommendations to the Pay Agent 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 (MSA) boundaries as the 
basis for defining locality pay areas. OMB establishes MSAs based on 
population size, population density, and commuting patterns. The 
Council also recommended and the Pay Agent approved criteria for adding 
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 in 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 amend the population density portion of the 
current criteria by reducing 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. 
The revised 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 more into or from the county under

[[Page 75154]]

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.
    We received more than 800 comments on the proposed regulations. 
Virtually all of the comments were in support of the proposed changes. 
A few comments focused on issues outside the scope of the proposed 
rule, such as when other areas might become separate locality pay 
areas.
    We also received a number of comments about a portion of Bristol 
County, MA, that lies between the Boston Consolidated Metropolitan 
Statistical Area (CMSA) and the State of Rhode Island. There are eight 
cities/townships in this small strip, which is about 10 miles wide 
(east to west) at it widest and about 30 miles long (north to south). 
Although there is a significant amount of commuting to and from both 
Providence and Boston from this area, all of the cities/townships in 
this area are part of the Providence MSA because there is a greater 
level of commuting to and from Providence.
    Commenters, including affected employees, Members of Congress, an 
employing agency, and the Greater Boston Federal Executive Board, 
concluded that Federal agencies in these areas will not be able to 
recruit and retain an adequate workforce if employees can drive 10 
miles or less in virtually any direction and receive the higher Boston 
locality pay rate. After reviewing the comments and other pertinent 
data on this small area, including commuting patterns and population 
density, we have concluded that all of Bristol County, MA, should be 
included in the Boston locality pay area. The Pay Agent believes that 
excluding these eight cities/townships would create an egregious 
situation, unique under the locality pay program. This small area, 
which has significant ties to both Providence and Boston, is virtually 
surrounded by the Boston locality pay area and the new Rhode Island 
area of application. In addition, the entire area is within easy 
commuting distance of the rest of the Boston locality pay area. There 
are no other similarly situated areas.
    Therefore, the final regulations include both the State of Rhode 
Island and all of Bristol County, MA, in the Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, 
MA-NH-ME-CT, locality pay area. In addition, as originally recommended 
by the Federal Salary Council and proposed by the Pay Agent, the final 
regulations include Monterey County, CA, in the San Francisco-Oakland-
San Jose, CA, locality pay area.

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 will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they 
will apply only to Federal agencies and employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 531

    Government employees, Law enforcement officers, Wages.

Office of Personnel Management.
Janice R. Lachance,
Director.

    Accordingly, OPM is amending 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. 2786, 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-RI--consisting of the 
Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA, plus the State of Rhode 
Island and all of Bristol County, MA;
* * * * *
    (29) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA--consisting of the San 
Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA, plus Monterey County, CA;
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-30790 Filed 11-29-00; 2:33 pm]
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