Sponsors (25)
The bill increases protections and transparency to limit politicized reclassification of competitive-service positions, but does so by adding approval, consent, and reporting requirements that reduce agencies' staffing flexibility and create administrative burdens—especially for small agencies.
Federal employees will face fewer forced conversions out of the competitive service because agencies must obtain OPM approval before moving positions to the excepted service, increasing job stability.
Taxpayers and Congress get greater transparency because OPM must report every competitive-to-excepted transfer and justify each one annually.
Federal employees and the public face reduced risk of politicized hiring because conversions to the excepted service are capped (1% or 5 employees per agency per presidential term), limiting opportunities for patronage.
Agencies and their employees may lose flexibility to hire or reassign specialized staff, which could slow operations or delay program responses.
Small agencies could be disproportionately constrained by the 1%/5-employee cap, preventing needed reclassifications and potentially impairing mission-critical staffing.
Agencies and taxpayers will incur additional administrative burdens and delays from required OPM approvals and annual reporting requirements.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress January 16, 2025
Prohibits most moves of federal jobs from the competitive service into excepted-service categories unless strict conditions are met. Requires OPM approval for certain political schedule transfers, caps the number of conversions during a presidential term, requires employee consent for many transfers, and mandates annual reporting to Congress and prompt OPM regulations.