Sponsors (9)
The bill increases transparency and accountability for short-term federal advisors and ensures formal employment classification when service becomes prolonged, but it raises privacy risks, administrative costs, potential staffing gaps, and may deter experts from serving.
Federal advisors (special government employees, SGEs) who work beyond the cap will be reclassified and granted formal employment status and associated rights within 30 days, and SGE service is limited to 130 days per 365-day period to reduce prolonged informal arrangements.
Taxpayers, researchers, watchdogs, journalists, and the public gain searchable, accessible SGE data (names, titles, pay, agency, appointment dates), an API for analysis, and public financial disclosures (with specified exceptions), improving transparency and the ability to detect conflicts of interest.
Executive agencies must report personnel actions quickly (within 30 days), periodically review entries, and OPM must audit submission procedures and report to Congress, improving data currency, oversight, and accountability.
Government agencies, taxpayers, and programs may lose access to outside expertise because the combination of public disclosure requirements and stricter time/classification rules could chill qualified experts from serving as SGEs.
Covered SGEs face increased privacy and security risks from public posting of names, titles, pay rates, and financial disclosures, which could lead to targeted harassment or exposure of sensitive personal information.
Agencies and OPM will incur administrative costs and added workload to reclassify SGEs, submit, review, audit, and publish data; these costs and staffing burdens may fall on taxpayers and could create operational strain.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Limits SGE service to 130 days per 365-day period, requires reclassification after the limit, and creates a public, searchable SGE database with financial disclosure publication.
Official title: Require Executive agencies to limit the use of special Government employees to 130 days, to require the maintenance of a public database of certain special Government employees, to require the release of financial disclosures filed by certain special Government employees, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress March 27, 2025
Creates a 130-day annual limit on service as a special Government employee (SGE) and requires agencies to reclassify anyone who exceeds that limit within 30 days. Directs OPM, working with the Office of Government Ethics, to build a public, searchable database of covered SGEs with name, title, pay, agency, appointment/termination dates, API access, and links to post‑enactment financial disclosure reports, plus agency reporting, audits, and a compliance report to Congress within 3 years.