Sponsors
The bill aims to decentralize and shrink federal headquarters to save facility costs, distribute jobs, and standardize rules and reporting, but it does so at the cost of significant disruption for employees (relocations, reduced telework and bargaining protections), added implementation and transition costs, privacy and disability‑related risks, and reduced judicial review to challenge agency actions.
Taxpayers and the public: the bill reduces the federal headquarters office footprint (targeting at least a ~30% reduction) and is likely to lower federal real estate and facility costs paid by taxpayers.
Regional residents and federal employees: shifting headquarters roles outside the Washington area can create federal jobs in non‑Washington regions and improve in‑person customer service by distributing the federal workforce more geographically.
Small Business Administration staff and federal employees: adopting a clear, uniform statutory definition of who counts as a 'headquarters employee' aligns SBA terms with existing federal definitions and reduces disputes over pay locality and work‑location classification.
Federal employees (especially those designated as headquarters staff): many will face forced relocations, loss of full‑time telework status, moving disruption, and potential reductions in locality pay or relocation incentives, increasing personal costs and upheaval.
Individuals and organizations: the Act bars private lawsuits to challenge agency selections or actions under the law, removing a common avenue for oversight and remedies and reducing accountability of implementing agencies.
Employees with disabilities: narrowing reasonable‑accommodation pathways (e.g., limiting accommodations to narrow telework exemptions) combined with reporting ADA telework counts risks creating burdens, reduced access to needed accommodations, and potential stigmatization.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires the SBA to relocate at least 30% of headquarters staff and cut 30% of headquarters office space, limit full‑time telework, and report workforce location and telework data to Congress.
Introduced March 11, 2025 by Mark Alford · Last progress March 11, 2025
Requires the Small Business Administration to move at least 30% of its headquarters staff and reduce headquarters office space by at least 30%, shifting those employees to duty stations outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan pay locality if doing so would lower federal costs. It limits full‑time telework for relocated employees (with a specified ADA accommodation exemption), changes affected employees’ pay to the locality of the new duty station, bans relocation incentive payments in certain cases, and requires regular reporting of workforce location and telework data to Congress. The Act also preempts inconsistent laws and collective bargaining terms and bars private lawsuits challenging agency decisions under the law.