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By: FEDweek StaffThe Congressional Budget Office has produced cost estimates on a number of bills related to federal management and benefit issues that have passed the committee level, clearing them for potential final votes in the upcoming last weeks of the current Congress. In such situations, bills often are called up and passed quickly since they otherwise would have to restart the legislative process in the new Congress. They are:
* HR-5477, to require agencies to create and maintain a plan to manage risks posed by climate change and create an interagency council to coordinate and track federal actions related to climate change preparedness, mitigation, and resilience.
* HR-6066 to clarify the qualifications and eligibility requirements of the OPM director, amend the duties of the chief management officer, and create a committee to advise the director on strategies and approaches to strengthen the skills of the federal workforce.
* HR-6104, to create an office within OPM to oversee the government’s internship and fellowship-type programs and create a central website for such programs; require each agency to have an official responsible for coordinating such programs; require that program participants are paid rather than unpaid; and provide successful participants credit in competitive hiring.
* HR-6497, to update the Federal Information Security Management Act to emphasize next generation security principles; stress continuous risk assessment; require agencies to keep inventories of all internet-accessible information systems and assets; beef up incident reporting requirements; and promote inter-agency cooperation.
* HR-7376, to require a death gratuity payment of $100,000 plus $8,800 for funeral expenses, with adjustments for inflation, for federal employees who are killed in the line of duty or die as a result of an injury sustained at work. The maximums under current law are $10,000 and $800—figures that have been in effect for many years—and are at the discretion of the employing agency.
* HR-7951, to expand telework training for managers, require agencies to develop goals for telework participation, and collect data on productivity and cost savings from teleworking, and to require OPM to publish guidance to assist agencies in performing those activities and to improve the reliability of telework data collected by the agency.
* HR-8325, to prohibit agencies from using contractors for advice on sensitive matters if they also are working for entities regulated by the agency.
* HR-8466, to require that agencies have safety plans for onsite work during the period of a public health emergency such as the current pandemic, addressing issues such as provision of personal protective equipment, testing, cleaning and occupancy limits; the bill also would require that employees be made aware of expectations, procedures, and policies that can protect them.
* S-3510, to require the OMB to provide guidance to federal agencies on incorporating natural disaster resilience into asset management and investment decisions.
The CBO said that all would have negligible costs except for the increase in the death benefits, which it projected at $43 million over five years.
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See also,
FEHB: Federal Benefits Fast Facts
FEHB Open Season Ahead – Time to Shop
Watch for ‘Significant’ FEHB Plan Changes, OPM Says
Enrollee Share of FEHB Premiums to Rise 8.7 Percent on Average for 2023
January Retirement COLA Set: 8.7 Percent for CSRS, 7.7 Percent for FERS
FERS Retirement Planning Bundle: 2022 FERS Guide & TSP Handbook
