119-s444

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 444 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 444

 To require the development of a workforce plan for the Federal 
 Emergency Management Agency.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 February 6 (legislative day, February 5), 2025

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
 and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To require the development of a workforce plan for the Federal 
 Emergency Management Agency.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Emergency Mobilization 
Accountability

    (FEMA) Workforce Planning Act''.

SEC. 2. FEMA WORKFORCE PLAN.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
 Administrator of the Agency.

    (2) Agency.--The term ``Agency'' means the Federal 
 Emergency Management Agency.

    (3) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
 Department of Homeland Security.

    (4) Surge capacity force.--The term ``Surge Capacity 
 Force'' means the Surge Capacity Force described in 

section 624 
 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 
 U.S.C. 711).

    (b) Plan Development.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once every 3 years 
thereafter, the Administrator shall develop and submit to the Committee 
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
Representatives a human capital operating plan to shape and improve the 
workforce of the Agency.
            (c) Leading Practices.--The Administrator shall develop the plan 
required under subsection

    (b) in accordance with best practices 
outlined by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the 
Comptroller General of the United States, and other sources relevant to 
the Federal workforce.
            (d) Contents.--The plan developed under subsection

    (b) shall 
include--

    (1) performance measures to monitor and evaluate progress 
 towards the human capital goals of the Agency, including 
 filling staffing gaps, closing skills gaps in mission critical 
 occupations, and implementing workforce training and, if 
 applicable, progress towards meeting those goals since the date 
 of submission of the most recent plan under subsection

    (b) , 
 including--
        (A) a process to monitor and evaluate progress 
 toward those goals;
        (B) a discussion of why the Agency has or has not 
 met those goals, including a description of specific 
 barriers; and
            (C) a discussion of the addition or deletion of any 
 specific performance measures;

    (2) details of the types of employees of the Agency, 
 including by hiring authority and cadre;

    (3) a comprehensive analysis of the projected costs 
 associated with implementing the plan;

    (4) strategies and practices designed to increase cost-
 efficiency within the workforce operations of the Agency, 
 including reducing overhead costs, improving resource 
 utilization, and avoiding unnecessary expenditures;

    (5) a detailed analysis of how the Agency determined the 
 current overall staffing goals of the Agency;

    (6) an analysis of the current workforce of the Agency and 
 possible gaps in the current staffing structure of the Agency 
 needed to fulfill the mission of the Agency, including an 
 assessment of--
        (A) the critical and emerging skills that will be 
 needed in the workforce of the Agency to support the 
 mission and responsibilities of, and effectively 
 manage, the Agency during the 3-year period following 
 the date of the submission of the plan, including 
 target staffing numbers by cadre, region, and office;
        (B) the skills of the workforce of the Agency, 
 including numbers of employees by cadre, region, and 
 office on the date of submission of the plan;
            (C) projected trends in the workforce of the Agency 
 based on expected losses due to retirement and other 
 attrition, including any known data for the causes of 
 attrition; and
            (D) the staffing levels of each category of 
 employee of the Agency, including shortages in the 
 workforce of the Agency and in the projected workforce 
 of the Agency that should be addressed to ensure that 
 the Agency has continued access to the critical and 
 emerging skills described in subparagraph
        (A) ;

    (7) a plan of action with specific recommendations for 
 developing and reshaping the workforce of the Agency to address 
 the gaps in critical and emerging skills described in paragraph

    (6)
        (A) , including--
        (A) specific recruitment and retention goals by 
 cadre and mission critical occupations, including the 
 analysis that the Agency uses to produce those numbers;
        (B) specific strategies for developing, training, 
 deploying, motivating, and retaining the workforce of 
 the Agency and the ability of the workforce of the 
 Agency to fulfill the mission and responsibilities of 
 the Agency, including the program objectives of the 
 Department and the Agency to be achieved through such 
 strategies;
            (C) specific strategies for recruiting and 
 retaining individuals needed to address workforce gaps 
 within specific cadres;
            (D) specific strategies for the development, 
 training, and coordinated and rapid deployment of the 
 Surge Capacity Force;
        (E) specific strategies for identifying, 
 addressing, preventing, and mitigating discriminatory 
 actions or decisions based on political affiliation; 
 and
        (F) any necessary legislative proposals to improve 
 recruitment and retention; and

    (8) a discussion that--
        (A) details the number of employees not employed by 
 the Agency serving in the Surge Capacity Force and the 
 qualifications or credentials and training of such 
 individuals;
        (B) includes information on annual data relating to 
 the deployment of the workforce of the Agency following 
 major disasters or emergencies declared by the 
 President under 

section 401 or 501, respectively, of 
 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170, 5191) during the 3-year 
 period preceding the date of the submission of the 
 plan;
            (C) details--
            (i) average tenure and attrition data, 
 categorized by type of attrition, for--
            (I) types of Agency employees by 
 hiring authority; and
            (II) specific offices, regions, and 
 cadres of the Agency; and
            (ii) any known reasons why some types of 
 Agency employees or specific offices, regions, 
 or cadres of the Agency may have higher levels 
 of attrition and strategies to address those 
 higher levels of attrition;
            (D) details--
            (i) efforts of the Agency to help prevent 
 and respond to discrimination and harassment; 
 and
            (ii) information on reported cases of 
 discrimination and harassment within the Agency 
 and the outcomes of those cases; and
        (E) describes, with respect to hiring information 
 of the Agency, the time between the date on which the 
 Agency validates a need to hire a new employee for a 
 position and--
            (i) the acceptance of an offer of 
 employment for the position by an applicant; 
 and
            (ii) the start date of the employee at the 
 Agency for the position.

    (e) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
submission of the plan required under subsection

    (b) , the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a 
report that--

    (1) analyzes whether the plan meets the requirements of 
 this Act; and

    (2) includes necessary recommendations to ensure subsequent 
 plans meet the requirements of this Act.

    (f) No New Funds.--No additional funds are authorized to be 
appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act.
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