H.R. 6016 (112th): Government Employee Accountability Act

Introduced:
Jun 21, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Mike Kelly [R-PA3]
Status:
Died (Passed House)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on December 19, 2012 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Jun 21, 2012
Referred to Committee Jun 21, 2012
Reported by Committee Jun 27, 2012
Passed House Dec 19, 2012
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Dec 19, 2012 5:13 p.m.
Passed 402/2

Cosponsors
13 cosponsors (13R) (show)
Committees

House Oversight and Government Reform

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for investigative leave requirements with respect to Senior Executive Service employees, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Dec 20, 2012.
8 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

12/19/2012--Passed House amended.
Government Employee Accountability Act - Sets forth investigative leave requirements for federal employees in the competitive service and Senior Executive Service (SES) career employees.
Defines "investigative leave" as a temporary absence without duty for disciplinary reasons, for up to 90 days.
Authorizes a federal agency to place an employee on investigative leave:
(1) without loss of pay and without charge to annual or sick leave only for misconduct, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or misappropriation of funds; or
(2) without pay if such employee's conduct is determined to be serious or flagrant.
Requires an agency head to:
(1) review the investigation into an employee's misconduct, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or misappropriation of funds at the end of each 45-day investigative period;
(2) report on such review to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs not later than 5 business days after the end of each 45-day period; and
(3) remove, suspend without pay, or reinstate or restore such employee to duty at the end of the investigative leave period.
Allows an agency to extend a period of investigative leave for an additional period not to exceed 90 days.
Entitles an employee, before being placed on investigative leave, to:
(1) at least 30-days' advance written notice, stating specific reasons for the proposed action, unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment can be imposed or unless the agency head determines that the employee's conduct is serious or flagrant;
(2) a reasonable time, but not less than 7 days, to answer orally and in writing and to furnish affidavits and other evidence in support of the answer;
(3) be represented by an attorney or other representative; and
(4) a written decision with specific reasons at the earliest practicable date.
Entitles an employee who is placed on administrative leave to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Includes misappropriation of funds as a ground in suspending or reinstating an SES employee or placing such employee in another civil service position.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr6016.

Background

According to Committee Report 112-686, in April 2012, the Committee held a hearing concerning the excessive, wasteful, and in some cases impermissible spending that occurred during the preparation for and implementation of GSA's 2010 Western Regional Conference.  The GSA spent more than $820,000 on a conference originally budgeted at $250,000.  The GSA had no triggers or controls in place to stop the flagrant spending.

GSA employees, including Mr. Jeff Neely, Regional Commissioner, Public Buildings Service Pacific Rim Region, failed to follow GSA policy and Federal procurement law.  In May 2011, GSA Inspector General Brian Miller personally briefed then-GSA Administrator Martha Johnson and then-Senior Counselor to the Administrator Steve Leeds on an investigation into the Western Regional Conference.  The Office of Inspector General (OIG) subsequently presented GSA leadership with the final management deficiency report concerning the conference on February 17, 2012.

The agency typically has 30 days to review and respond.  In this case, GSA requested an additional 30 days. Despite having 60 days to consider taking action from receipt of the final management deficiency report, then-Administrator Johnson took no action.

The Washington Post broke the news of then-Administrator Johnson's resignation on April 2, 2012, the same day the OIG released the report.

On April 20, 2012, GSA provided notice of its intent to terminate Mr. Jeff Neely for misconduct.  Mr. Neely was placed on paid administrative leave.  Rather than attempting to contest the charges, Mr. Neely retired.

Summary

The legislation would allow an Senior Executive Service (SES) employee to be fired for misappropriation of funds and would give agencies discretion to place SES employees on unpaid leave, while maintaining existing due process rights.

The legislation is intended to respond to the Committee's review of the planning and execution of the General Services Administration's (GSA) 2010 Western Regional Conference, including GSA's response to employee misconduct.  H.R. 6016 would provide agencies with an additional tool to hold SES employees accountable for their actions. 

Cost

CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 6016 would not have a significant impact on federal spending.  Enacting the bill could affect revenues.  However, CB0 estimates that any effects would be insignificant for each year.

Implementing this bill would lead to lower discretionary spending for salaries and expenses for those placed on unpaid administrative leave, but CBO estimates that such reductions would be small.  Because affected employees would not receive a salary for a period of time, they also would not make scheduled retirement contributions, resulting in a reduction in revenues.  CBO estimates that those reductions would not be significant.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)

Other Citations

  • 5 U.S.C. Chapter 75