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Press Release Published: Mar 1, 2016

Committee Advances Good Government Legislation

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a markup to consider eight pieces of legislation along with three postal naming bills. The following actions were taken by the Committee:

H.R. 4359, the Administrative Leave Reform Act (Rep. Chaffetz, R-UT);

  • The bill, as reported, caps the use of administrative leave at 14 days per calendar year for cases related to misconduct or performance and includes additional due process protections.

 H.R. 4361, the Federal Information Systems Safeguards Act of 2016 (Rep. Palmer, R-AL);

  • Gary Palmer (R-AL) offered an ANS which was agreed to by voice vote.
  • The bill, as amended, passed by recorded vote (21-16) and was reported favorably to the House.
  • The bill, as reported, clarifies agencies’ authority under the Federal Information Security Management Act by stating the heads of federal agencies have “sole and exclusive authority” to take action to secure their information technology networks – without being required to first provide unions with the opportunity to bargain.

H.R. 4392, to amend title 5, United States Code, to require the Office of Personnel Management submit an annual report to Congress relating to the use of official time by Federal employees (Rep. Ross, R-FL);

  • Jody Hice (R-GA) offered an ANS which was agreed to by voice vote and the bill, as amended, was reported favorably to the House.
  • The bill, as reported, requires the Office of Personnel Management to submit a detailed report to Congress on the use of official time.

H.R. 4612, the Midnight Rule Relief Act of 2016 (Rep. Walberg, R-MI);

  • Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) each offered amendments.
  • The Norton Amendment was withdrawn and in a recorded vote (16-20), the Cummings amendment was not agreed to.
  • The bill passed by recorded vote (20-17) and was reported favorably to the House.
  • The bill prohibits federal agencies from proposing or finalizing major midnight rules during the moratorium period that lasts from the day after a presidential election until inauguration day.

H.R. 4639, the Thoroughly Investigating Retaliation Against Whistleblowers Act (Rep. Blum, R-IA);

  • Mark Meadows (R-NC) offered an amendment which was agreed to by voice vote and the bill, as amended, was reported favorably to the House.
  • The bill, as amended, reauthorizes the Office of Special Counsel and makes changes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of OSC operations.

The Committee approved the following bills by Unanimous Consent:

H.R. 2615, the Virgin Islands of the United States Centennial Commission Act (Rep. Plaskett, D-VI);

  • Creates a federal commemorative commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Virgin Islands becoming an unincorporated territory of the United States.

 H.R. 2908, the National Bison Legacy Act (Rep. Clay, D-MO);

  • Adopts the bison as the national mammal of the United States.
  1. 1109, the Truth in Settlements Act of 2015 (Sen. Warren, D-MA);
  • Requires agencies to publish information on their websites about settlements entered into regarding alleged violations of criminal or civil law, and settlements entered into to settle allegations of federal agencies violating laws requiring the promulgation of regulations.

 H.R. 3866, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1265 Hurffville Road in Deptford Township, New Jersey, as the “First Lieutenant Salvatore S. Corma II Post Office Building” (Rep. Norcross, D-NJ);

H.R. 4605, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 615 6th Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as the “Sgt. 1st Class Terryl L. Pasker Post Office Building” (Rep. Blum, R-IA); and

H.R. 4372, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 15 Rochester Street, Bergen, New York, as the “Barry G. Miller Post Office” (Rep. Collins, R-NY).