Sponsors (2)
The bill shifts federal work toward cost savings, centralized rules, and more regional in‑person staffing—improving clarity and reducing some costs—at the expense of worker flexibility, collective‑bargaining protections, privacy and judicial oversight, and causing potential income, relocation, and local economic harms.
Federal employees and agencies get clearer, consistent definitions (e.g., headquarters, full‑time teleworker) and a single regulatory standard, reducing ambiguity for implementation and pay decisions.
Taxpayers and the federal government will likely see reduced costs through lower real estate and operating expenses (co‑locating or selling buildings, occupying less costly space) and reduced relocation and litigation payments.
Non‑metro and regional communities gain more in‑person federal jobs and services as agencies expand regional offices and staffing outside Washington, improving local customer service.
Unionized federal workers and state/local governments could lose existing contract protections and locally established standards because the Act overrides collective bargaining and conflicting state/local laws.
Large numbers of federal employees face forced relocations, possible reductions in locality pay, loss of full‑time telework, increased commuting costs, and removal of relocation incentives, causing income loss and family disruption for affected workers.
Individuals and private parties lose the ability to sue under the Act, reducing judicial oversight and remedies for people harmed by agency errors or arbitrary decisions.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Directs Executive agencies to move a significant share of their headquarters staff and shrink federal headquarters real estate outside the Washington metropolitan area. Agencies must relocate at least 30% of headquarters employees within one year, reassign pay to the new locality, limit full-time telework for affected Washington-area employees, and reduce federally owned or leased headquarters property by at least 30% within two years. Requires new reporting in agency budget justifications, bans certain relocation incentives, and overrides conflicting statutes, labor agreements, and private lawsuits challenging actions taken under the law. The Act preserves ADA reasonable accommodations for employees who are qualified individuals but counts them toward relocation quotas and restricts private suits to contest agency decisions under the law.
Mandates moving at least 30% of agency headquarters staff out of the Washington area, cuts HQ real property by 30%, changes pay locality, restricts full‑time telework, and preempts labor rules.
Introduced January 7, 2025 by Joni Ernst · Last progress January 7, 2025