United States HR 2429: ALJ Competitive Service Restoration Act

Bill Text

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116TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 2429
To restore administrative law judges to the competitive service, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 1, 2019
Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. NEAL, Mr. RODNEY
DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr.
SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. COLE, and Mr.
SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
A BILL
To restore administrative law judges to the competitive
service, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ALJ Competitive Serv-4
ice Restoration Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES. 6
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3105 of title 5, United 7
States Code is amended to read as follows: 8
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‘‘§ 3105. Appointment of administrative law judges 1
‘‘(a) APPOINTMENT.— 2
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The head of each Executive 3
department and agency shall appoint as many ad-4
ministrative law judges as are necessary for pro-5
ceedings required to be conducted in accordance with 6
sections 556 and 557. 7
‘‘(2) SELECTION; EXAMINATION.—Administra-8
tive law judges shall be appointed by the head of an 9
Executive department or an agency from a list of eli-10
gible candidates provided by the Office of Personnel 11
Management based upon successful examination and 12
approval of the qualifications of the individual by the 13
Office. 14
‘‘(b) MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND CONDITIONS 15
OF EMPLOYMENT.— 16
‘‘(1) LICENSURE.—At the time of application 17
for a position and while serving as an administrative 18
law judge, the individual must possess a professional 19
license to practice law under the laws of a State, the 20
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 21
Rico, or any territorial court. 22
‘‘(2) QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE.—To be eligible 23
to serve as an administrative law judge, an indi-24
vidual shall have not less than 7 years of experience 25
as a licensed attorney litigating or adjudicating for-26
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mal hearings or trials involving civil, criminal, or ad-1
ministrative law at the Federal, State, or local level. 2
‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE SERVICE.—Administrative law 3
judge positions shall be positions in the competitive serv-4
ice. 5
‘‘(d) ASSIGNMENT.—Administrative law judges shall 6
be assigned to cases in rotation as far as practicable, and 7
may not perform duties inconsistent with their duties and 8
responsibilities as administrative law judges. 9
‘‘(e) AUTHORITY AND ROLE OF ADMINISTRATIVE 10
LAW JUDGES IN RELATION TO EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 11
OR AGENCY HEADS.— 12
‘‘(1) CHIEF ALJ.—A chief administrative law 13
judge shall report directly to the head of the Execu-14
tive department or agency at which the chief is ap-15
pointed. 16
‘‘(2) ALJ.—An administrative law judge (in 17
this paragraph referred to as an ‘ALJ’) shall report 18
directly to the chief administrative law judge (if any) 19
of the Executive department or agency at which the 20
ALJ is appointed. If there is no chief administrative 21
law judge, the ALJ shall report directly to the head 22
of such Executive department or agency. 23
‘‘(3) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this sub-24
section shall be construed to limit or otherwise miti-25
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gate the ability or independence of an administrative 1
law judge in carrying out his or her duties and re-2
sponsibilities as an administrative law judge.’’. 3
(b) EXEMPTION FROM PROBATIONARY PERIOD.— 4
Section 3321(c) of title 5, United States Code, is amended 5
to read as follows: 6
‘‘(c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not 7
apply with respect to appointments in the Senior Execu-8
tive Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 9
Drug Enforcement Administration Senior Executive Serv-10
ice, any individual covered by section 1599e of title 10, 11
or any individual appointed to an administrative law judge 12
position.’’. 13
(c) CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION OF DISCIPLI-14
NARY PROCEDURES.—Notwithstanding the amendments 15
made by this Act that classify administrative law judges 16
within the competitive service, an administrative law judge 17
shall not be subject to subchapter I or II of chapter 75 18
of title 5, United States Code, and shall be subject to the 19
requirements of subchapter III of such chapter. 20
(d) CONVERSION OF POSITIONS.—With respect to 21
any individual serving on the date of the en