United States Code/Title 2/Chapter 11

by the United States Government

§ 351. Establishment

There is hereby established a commission to be known as the Citizens’ Commission on Public Service and Compensation (hereinafter referred to as the “Commission”).

§ 352. Membership

(1) The Commission shall be composed of 11 members, who shall be appointed from private life as follows:

(A) 2 appointed by the President of the United States;

(B) 1 appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate, upon the recommendation of the majority and minority leaders of the Senate;

(C) 1 appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

(D) 2 appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States; and

(E) 5 appointed by the Administrator of General Services in accordance with paragraph (4).

(2) No person shall serve as a member of the Commission who is—

(A) an officer or employee of the Federal Government;

(B) registered (or required to register) under the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act; [1] or

(C) a parent, sibling, spouse, child, or dependent relative, of anyone under subparagraph (A) or (B).

(3) The persons appointed under subparagraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1) shall be selected without regard to political affiliation, and should be selected from among persons who have experience or expertise in such areas as government, personnel management, or public administration.

(4) The Administrator of General Services shall by regulation establish procedures under which persons shall be selected for appointment under paragraph (1)(E). Such procedures—

(A) shall be designed in such a way so as to provide for the maximum degree of geographic diversity practicable among members under paragraph (1)(E);

(B) shall include provisions under which those members shall be chosen by lot from among names randomly selected from voter registration lists; and

(C) shall otherwise comply with applicable provisions of this section.

(5) The chairperson shall be designated by the President.

(6) A vacancy in the membership of the Commission shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made.

(7) Each member of the Commission shall be paid at the rate of $100 for each day such member is engaged upon the work of the Commission and shall be allowed travel expenses, including a per diem allowance, in accordance with section 5703 of title 5, when engaged in the performance of services for the Commission.

(8)

(A) The terms of office of persons first appointed as members of the Commission shall be for the period of the 1993 fiscal year of the Federal Government, and shall begin not later than February 14, 1993.

(B) After the close of the 1993 fiscal year of the Federal Government, persons shall be appointed as members of the Commission with respect to every fourth fiscal year following the 1993 fiscal year. The terms of office of persons so appointed shall be for the period of the fiscal year with respect to which the appointment is made, except that, if any appointment is made after the beginning and before the close of any such fiscal year, the term of office based on such appointment shall be for the remainder of such fiscal year.

(C)

(i) Notwithstanding any provision of subparagraph (A) or (B), members of the Commission may continue to serve after the close of a fiscal year, if the date designated by the President under section 357 of this title (relating to the date by which the Commission is to submit its report to the President) is subsequent to the close of such fiscal year, and only if or to the extent necessary to allow the Commission to submit such report.

(ii) Notwithstanding any provision of section 353 of this title, authority under such section shall remain available, after the close of a fiscal year, so long as members of the Commission continue to serve.

§ 353. Executive Director; additional personnel; detail of personnel of other agencies

(1) Without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service, and the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title, relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates, and on a temporary basis for periods covering all or part of any fiscal year referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 352 (8) of this title—

(A) the Commission is authorized to appoint an Executive Director and fix his basic pay at the rate provided for level V of the Executive Schedule by section 5316 of title 5; and

(B) with the approval of the Commission, the Executive Director is authorized to appoint and fix the basic pay (at respective rates not in excess of the maximum rate of the General Schedule in section 5332 of title 5) of such additional personnel as may be necessary to carry out the function of the Commission.

(2) Upon the request of the Commission, the head of any department, agency, or establishment of any branch of the Federal Government is authorized to detail, on a reimbursable basis, for periods covering all or part of any fiscal year referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 352 (8) of this title, any of the personnel of such department, agency, or establishment to assist the Commission in carrying out its function.

§ 354. Use of United States mails

The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and upon the same conditions as other departments and agencies of the United States.

§ 355. Administrative support services

The Administrator of General Services shall provide administrative support services for the Commission on a reimbursable basis.

§ 356. Functions

The Commission shall conduct, in each of the respective fiscal years referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 352 (8) of this title, a review of the rates of pay of—

(A) the Vice President of the United States, Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(B) offices and positions in the legislative branch referred to in subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of section 203 of the Federal Legislative Salary Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 415; Public Law 88–426);

(C) justices, judges, and other personnel in the judicial branch referred to in section 403 of the Federal Judicial Salary Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 434; Public Law 88–426) except bankruptcy judges, but including the judges of the United States Court of Federal Claims;

(D) offices and positions under the Executive Schedule in subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 5; and

(E) the Governors of the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service appointed under section 202 of title 39.

Such review by the Commission shall be made for the purpose of determining and providing—

(i) the appropriate pay levels and relationships between and among the respective offices and positions covered by such review, and

(ii) the appropriate pay relationships between such offices and positions and the offices and positions subject to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates.

In reviewing the rates of pay of the offices or positions referred to in subparagraph (D) of this section, the Commission shall determine and consider the appropriateness of the executive levels of such offices and positions.

§ 357. Report by Commission to President with respect to pay

The Commission shall submit to the President a report of the results of each review conducted by the Commission with respect to rates of pay for the offices and positions within the purview of subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 356 of this title, together with its recommendations. Each such report shall be submitted on such date as the President may designate but not later than December 15 next following the close of the fiscal year in which the review is conducted by the Commission.

§ 358. Recommendations of President with respect to pay

(1) After considering the report and recommendations of the Commission submitted under section 357 of this title, the President shall transmit to Congress his recommendations with respect to the exact rates of pay, for offices and positions within the purview of subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 356 of this title, which the President considers to be fair and reasonable in light of the Commission’s report and recommendations, the prevailing market value of the services rendered in the offices and positions involved, the overall economic condition of the country, and the fiscal condition of the Federal Government.

(2) The President shall transmit his recommendations under this section to Congress on the first Monday after January 3 of the first calendar year beginning after the date on which the Commission submits its report and recommendations to the President under section 357 of this title.

§ 359. Effective date of recommendations of President

(1) None of the President’s recommendations under section 358 of this title shall take effect unless approved under paragraph (2).

(2)

(A) The recommendations of the President under section 358 of this title shall be considered approved under this paragraph if there is enacted into law a bill or joint resolution approving such recommendations in their entirety. This bill or joint resolution shall be passed by recorded vote to reflect the vote of each Member of Congress thereon.

(B)

(i) The provisions of this subparagraph are enacted by the Congress—

(I) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and the House of Representatives and as such shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, and shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

(II) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as they relate to the procedures of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House.

(ii) During the 60-calendar-day period beginning on the date that the President transmits his recommendations to the Congress under section 358 of this title, it shall be in order as a matter of highest privilege in each House of Congress to consider a bill or joint resolution, if offered by the majority leader of such House (or a designee), approving such recommendations in their entirety.

(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), any recommended pay adjustment approved under paragraph (2) shall take effect as of the date proposed by the President under section 358 of this title with respect to such adjustment.

(4)

(A) Notwithstanding the approval of the President’s pay recommendations in accordance with paragraph (2), none of those recommendations shall take effect unless, between the date on which the bill or resolution approving those recommendations is signed by the President (or otherwise becomes law) and the earliest date as of which the President proposes (under section 358 of this title) that any of those recommendations take effect, an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

(B) For purposes of this paragraph, the term “election of Representatives” means an election held on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November in any even-numbered calendar year.

§ 360. Effect of recommendations on existing law and prior recommendations

The recommendations of the President taking effect as provided in section 359 of this title shall be held and considered to modify, supersede, or render inapplicable, as the case may be, to the extent inconsistent therewith—

(A) all provisions of law enacted prior to the effective date or dates of all or part (as the case may be) of such recommendations (other than any provision of law enacted with respect to such recommendations in the period beginning on the date the President transmits his recommendations to the Congress under section 358 of this title and ending on the date of their approval under section 359 (2) of this title), and

(B) any prior recommendations of the President which take effect under this chapter.

§ 361. Publication of recommendations

The recommendations of the President which take effect shall be printed in the Statutes at Large in the same volume as public laws and shall be printed in the Federal Register and included in the Code of Federal Regulations.

§ 362. Requirements applicable to recommendations

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the recommendations submitted by the Commission to the President under section 357 of this title, and the recommendations transmitted by the President to the Congress under section 358 of this title, shall be in conformance with the following:

(1) Any recommended pay adjustment shall specify the date as of which it is proposed that such adjustment take effect.

(2) The proposed effective date of a pay adjustment may occur no earlier than January 1 of the second fiscal year, and no later than December 31 next following the close of the fifth fiscal year, beginning after the fiscal year in which the Commission conducts its review under section 356 of this title.

(3)

(A)

(i) The rates of pay recommended for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Vice President of the United States, and the Chief Justice of the United States, respectively, shall be equal.

(ii) The rates of pay recommended for the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and each office or position under section 5312 of title 5 (relating to level I of the Executive Schedule), respectively, shall be equal.

(iii) The rates of pay recommended for a Senator, a Member of the House of Representatives, the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, a Delegate to the House of Representatives, a judge of a district court of the United States, a judge of the United States Court of International Trade, and each office or position under section 5313 of title 5 (relating to level II of the Executive Schedule), respectively, shall be equal.

(B) Nothing in this section shall be considered to require that the rate recommended for any office or position by the President under section 358 of this title be the same as the rate recommended for such office or position by the Commission under section 357 of this title.

§ 363. Additional function

The Commission shall, whenever it conducts a review under section 356 of this title, also conduct a review under this section relating to any recruitment or retention problems, and any public policy issues involved in maintaining appropriate ethical standards, with respect to any offices or positions within the Federal public service. Any findings or recommendations under this section shall be included by the Commission as part of its report to the President under section 357 of this title.

§ 364. Provision relating to certain other pay adjustments

(1) A provision of law increasing the rate of pay payable for an office or position within the purview of subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of section 356 of this title shall not take effect before the beginning of the Congress following the Congress during which such provision is enacted.

(2) For purposes of this section, a provision of law enacted during the period beginning on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November of an even-numbered year of any Congress and ending at noon on the following January 3 shall be considered to have been enacted during the first session of the following Congress.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be considered to apply with respect to any pay increase—

(A) which takes effect under the preceding sections of this chapter;

(B) which is based on a change in the Employment Cost Index (as determined under section 704(a)(1) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989) or which is in lieu of any pay adjustment which might otherwise be made in a year based on a change in such index (as so determined); or

(C) which takes effect under section 702 or 703 of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989.