Sponsors (35)
The bill strengthens protections, pay continuity, bargaining rights, and oversight for TSA and related transportation employees—boosting retention and transparency—but does so at the likely cost of higher taxpayer expenditures, greater administrative burden, and reduced managerial flexibility that could affect operational responsiveness.
TSA screening personnel, federal air marshals, and other covered TSA employees gain full Title 5 protections and explicit collective‑bargaining rights, improving job protections, grievance processes, and representation.
Covered TSA employees keep existing pay, premium pay, leave, and pay‑band service crediting so conversion to Title 5 does not cut pay or harm retirement accruals.
The bill’s reporting, morale tracking, pay protections, and training/engagement provisions are likely to improve recruitment, retention, and operational readiness for TSA and federal air marshals.
Taxpayers face material upward cost risk because the bill preserves pay/premiums, credits service for retirement, and authorizes uncapped “such sums as may be necessary,” which could raise long‑term payroll and retirement liabilities.
Transitioning TSA employees into Title 5 and complying with new reporting/consultation requirements will create substantial administrative and implementation burdens that divert staff time and impose agency costs.
Converting TSA personnel authorities into Title 5 and preserving bargaining/benefits reduces managerial flexibility and HR agility, potentially slowing staffing, scheduling, and rapid operational changes needed for security responses.
Based on analysis of 13 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 12, 2025 by Brian Emanuel Schatz · Last progress March 12, 2025
Requires the Transportation Security Administration to transition many TSA covered employees (including screening agents and Federal Air Marshals) onto Title 5 federal personnel rules and protections, while freezing existing TSA personnel systems during a defined conversion period. The law mandates reporting and briefings on workplace assaults and workforce morale, preserves pay and certain benefits during conversion, protects collective-bargaining rights, requires GAO reviews of recruitment and harassment policies, and instructs OPM and payroll systems to implement classification and pay processing changes by specified deadlines (conversion no later than December 31, 2025).