Buyout, FEHB, Retirement, Other Bills Offered

Among legislation recently offered in Congress are: HR-366, sponsored by Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., to allow waivers of the general requirement that buyout recipients repay to money upon being rehired by the government within five years if the person comes back in a job directly related to fighting forest fires; HR-466, by Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., to increase the pay differentials paid to law enforcement officers; HR-508, by Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to require that when establishing wage grade pay rates for positions where the government is experiencing recruitment and retention problems, rates of pay for comparable positions in the nearest, most similar wage area must be taken into account; and HR-577 and S-319, by Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., to raise the average government contribution toward Federal Employees Health Benefits program premiums from 72 to 80 percent.