Sponsors (9)
Introduced May 8, 2025 by Nellie Pou · Last progress May 8, 2025
The bill improves retirement security and pay clarity for many federal law‑enforcement employees (helping retention and compensation fairness) at the cost of higher federal payroll and administrative burdens, potential budgetary offsets, and uneven access for some individuals.
Law-enforcement federal employees (e.g., special agents, investigators, air marshals, probation/pretrial officers) can regain or receive credit for unpaid overtime and related premium pay toward retirement, improving retirement security and helping recruitment/retention of experienced officers.
Covered officers can increase their computed annuities by making required catch‑up payments (or electing actuarial reductions), with the bill allowing transfers from TSP balances and setting clear timelines and rules to help them plan those elections.
Certain federal law‑enforcement occupations (Postal Inspectors, GS‑1811 investigators, air marshals, Diplomatic Security special agents, probation and pretrial officers) become explicitly eligible for availability pay and are deemed 'criminal investigators' for related pay/overtime rules, clarifying pay treatment and likely increasing pay/overtime protections.
Expanding retirement credit, availability pay, and providing tax credits increases federal payroll and retirement-related costs and reduces federal revenue, which could raise taxpayer burden or force cuts/offsets in other programs.
Implementing retroactive credit, verifying unpaid hours, managing backpay, and executing transfers imposes significant administrative complexity, OPM/agency workloads, and potential delays or disputes for employees and agencies.
Individual officers may face large immediate costs (a lump‑sum payment) or permanent actuarial reductions to receive higher annuities; some lack sufficient TSP balances and thus cannot access the benefit, producing unequal outcomes.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Enables certain federal law enforcement officers to include previously capped premium pay in retirement calculations if they make catch-up payments (or accept an annuity reduction), extends availability-pay rules to specified agents, and creates a tax credit for those payments.
Allows certain federal law enforcement officers to include premium pay that was previously excluded by overtime pay caps when calculating their retirement annuities, provided the officer repays the missed employee and employer contributions as a lump-sum (or accepts an actuarial annuity reduction). It also extends availability-pay rules to several designated covered employees and creates a nonrefundable personal tax credit for those lump-sum catch-up payments. Requires the Office of Personnel Management to issue implementing rules and lets agencies provide payroll data and permit transfers (including from Thrift Savings Plan accounts) to make the required payments; the annuity change applies to annuities calculated one year after enactment and the tax credit applies in the taxable year the payments are made.