Sponsors
The bill would increase pay and potentially improve retention and punctuality for TSA employees by recognizing certain commute time as on-duty and studying tracking options, but it would raise federal labor costs and benefits liabilities and create employee privacy risks that require careful safeguards and budget planning.
TSA employees would be paid for walking between duty stations and airport parking or transit stops, increasing take-home pay and reducing out-of-pocket commuting costs.
TSA employees and airport operations would likely see improved punctuality, morale, and retention, which could reduce staffing disruptions at airports.
A required feasibility study could identify low-cost technological methods (e.g., mobile/location data) to track arrivals and departures, enabling a more efficient implementation if adopted.
Taxpayers could face higher costs because treating commute-related travel as on-duty would increase TSA labor costs.
Federal employees and taxpayers could incur higher retirement and overtime liabilities and face more complex payroll and benefits administration.
TSA employees' privacy could be compromised if mobile phones or location data are used for tracking without strong safeguards.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Tammy Duckworth · Last progress April 10, 2025
Requires the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator to produce a feasibility study, within 270 days of enactment, on whether time TSA employees spend traveling between their regular duty locations at airports and airport parking lots or bus/transit stops can be treated as on-duty hours. The study must estimate travel times by airport size, consider commute time separately, evaluate potential benefits to employees and TSA, analyze feasibility of using phone/location data or other arrival/departure reporting methods, estimate costs (including effects on retirement-eligible pay), and address other relevant issues. No funding or immediate changes to pay or work rules are created by this requirement.