This bill, titled the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 Technical Corrections Act of 2026, amends existing retirement laws to clarify benefits for survivors of District of Columbia police officers, firefighters, and teachers. It extends survivor benefits to domestic partners by applying current partnership protections retroactively to the date the original retirement program was established, while maintaining specific exclusions for certain 2018 amendments. The legislation also adjusts rules regarding the termination of survivor benefits upon remarriage, ensuring that benefits do not end if the survivor remarries after age 55, unless they were married for at least 30 years. Additionally, the bill allows individuals and their survivors to make deposits into the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund to count specific District of Columbia service toward their retirement calculations.
This resolution acknowledges and apologizes on behalf of the United States for the decades of discrimination and wrongful termination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who served in the military, Foreign Service, and federal civil service. It condemns historical policies that excluded or fired these individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity while reaffirming a commitment to treat all federal employees and veterans with equal respect and fairness. The bill functions as a formal statement of regret and does not create any legal claims, financial settlements, or new laws.
This Senate resolution formally acknowledges and apologizes for the decades of discrimination and wrongful termination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who served in the U.S. military, Foreign Service, and federal civil service. The measure highlights historical policies, such as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule and the "Lavender Scare," which forced hundreds of thousands of service members to leave their jobs or hide their identities, while also noting recent executive actions that have rescinded protections for gender identity. While the resolution reaffirms a commitment to equal rights and respect for all LGBT government employees, it explicitly states that it does not create any legal claims or settlements for affected individuals.
The Public Lands Workforce Stability Act prevents the Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service from firing employees or cutting jobs between now and September 30, 2030, unless specific conditions are met. Under this law, agencies cannot reduce staff numbers or separate employees for reasons like poor performance or misconduct without first getting approval from the chairs and ranking members of both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. This restriction applies to all federal funds used for these actions and aims to maintain workforce stability within these agencies for the next several years.
This bill expands family leave protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act to include time off for employees when their son or daughter dies. It allows eligible workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within 12 months of the death, with provisions for using paid leave balances and requiring advance notice when the loss is foreseeable. The legislation also updates rules for civil service employees and establishes certification requirements that employers may request to verify the need for leave.
HR 7480, the FAIR Act, sets pay adjustments for federal employees in 2027. It increases base pay by 3.1% for most federal workers under standard pay systems and for employees paid according to local civilian wages in high-cost areas. Additionally, it raises locality pay adjustments by 1% for 2027. The bill directly affects all federal employees covered by these pay systems through concrete, formula-based adjustments.
Saving the Civil Service Act This bill generally prohibits changes to the classification of positions in the competitive service and excepted service unless certain conditions are met. (Competitive service positions are subject to competitive examination while excepted service positions are appointed under one of five schedules. Competitive service positions have notice and appeal requirements for adverse actions that are not applicable to most excepted positions, including those of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character under Schedule C.) On October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that placed executive agency positions that are of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character, and that are not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition, under a new Schedule F in the excepted service. The order was subsequently revoked by President Joe Biden. The bill prohibits executive agency positions in the competitive service from being placed in the excepted service, unless such positions are placed in a schedule in the excepted service as in effect on September 30, 2020. The bill also prohibits positions in the excepted service from being placed in any schedule other than the aforementioned schedules. Additionally, agencies may not (1) transfer occupied positions from the competitive or excepted service into Schedule C without the consent of the Office of Personnel Management, or (2) transfer employees in the excepted service to another schedule or transfer employees in the competitive service to the excepted service without employee consent.
The Special Government Employees Transparency Act of 2025 limits how long individuals can serve as special government employees (SGEs) in the executive branch to 130 days within any 365-day period. If an SGE exceeds this limit, their agency must reclassify them as a regular civil service employee within 30 days and provide written notice about their new status and appeal rights. The bill also creates a public database listing key details - including name, pay, agency, and dates - of "covered" SGEs (those with duties comparable to GS-11 level or higher, not on advisory committees, and not full-time students). Additionally, agencies must publicly post financial disclosure reports for these covered SGEs, excluding certain reports or national defense information, through existing federal disclosure procedures.
The LEO Fair Retirement Act of 2025 allows federal law enforcement officers to include unpaid overtime hours in their retirement benefit calculations. Currently, pay caps prevent officers from being compensated for all overtime worked, meaning they miss out on retirement credit for those hours. To qualify, officers must make a lump-sum payment (or choose a reduced monthly annuity) to cover the retirement contributions they would have made if paid, based on their actual overtime hours. This applies to officers covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), and the bill also provides a tax credit for the lump-sum payment.
HR 3171, the Reduction in Force Review Act, requires federal agencies to provide detailed justifications before implementing workforce reductions. It directly affects agencies conducting reductions in force under specific federal workforce rules (subchapter I of chapter 35), mandating they include five specific elements: the specific reasons for the reduction, its impact on employees and operations, alternatives considered and rejected, summaries of consultations with affected employees and their representatives, and how veterans will be impacted. The bill adds these requirements to the existing Congressional review process for agency workforce actions under Title 5 of the U.S. Code. This creates a standardized transparency framework for agency decisions affecting federal workers.
