OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

The Office of Compliance is respectfully requesting to be authorized to offer employees benefits allowed for executive branch, and virtually all legislative branch employees The benefits provisions requested are to establish a student loan repayment program, and for authority to provide incentive awards. The Office is also requesting authority for a small allowance for representation and reception expenses.

Student Loan Repayment Program

A study performed by the Congressional Research Service at the request of Congress, used the Legislative Branch Financial Managers Council to help compile data on the student loan repayment program in the legislative branch. The study, updated on September 23, 2003, found that:

In the legislative branch, the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Government
Printing Office (GPO), and the Library of Congress also have authority under P.L.
101-510 and P.L.106-398 to establish student loan repayment programs. Enacted
in the 107th Congress, P.L. 107-68 authorized the Senate and the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) to institute student loan repayment programs, and P.L.
107-117 authorized the U.S. Capitol Police to establish a repayment program.
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (P.L.108-7), enacted in
the 108th Congress, the House of Representatives has authority to establish a
repayment program for its employees, and it has begun its program. Also, the
U.S. Capitol Police were granted additional authority to establish a student loan
repayment program and to provide tuition reimbursement for ongoing career
development education to their employees. To date, the Senate, the House of
Representatives, the GAO, the GPO, and the Library of Congress have
implemented repayment programs. The CBO established a policy for a program
in February 2003. The Congressional Research Service plans to implement a
program if requested funds are granted.

The Office of Compliance is a small agency with a very large mission, and its employees are expected to perform multiple functions. It is crucial that this Office be able to recruit and retain highly skilled employees. The language that is requested to be able to do so is as follows:

SEC. 102. (a) The Executive Director of the Office of Compliance may, in order to recruit or retain qualified personnel, establish and maintain a program under which the Office may agree to repay (by direct payments on behalf of the

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employee) all or a portion of any student loan previously taken out by such
employee.

(b) The Executive Director may, by regulation, make applicable such
provisions of section 5379 of title 5, United States Code as the Executive Director
determines necessary to provide for such program.

(c) The regulations shall provide the amount paid by the Office may not exceed

(1) $6,000 for any employee in any calendar year; or

(2) a total of $40,000 in the case of any employee.

(d) The Office may not reimburse an employee for any repayments made by such employee prior to the Office entering into an agreement under this section with such employee.

(e) Any amount repaid by, or recovered from, an individual under this section and its implementing regulations shall be credited to the appropriation account available for salaries and expenses of the Office at the time of repayment or recovery.

thereafter.

This section shall apply to fiscal year 2004 and each fiscal year

Incentive awards

The Office does not currently have authority to reward exceptional performance by an incentive award. In the words of a U.S. Army HR department website,

"Recognizing employees with incentive awards is probably the most flexible
management tool you have as a manager. Public recognition of superior ideas and
outstanding individual and group performance helps build morale. It can also help
you as a manager to build and maintain a highly motivated and productive
organization. Your employees will perceive that you welcome new ideas and
reward high performance." (http://cpol.army.mil/permiss/53.html)

Particularly in light of the current paradigm shift the agency is undergoing, it is imperative that we keep our employees engaged and motivated. We are expecting them to do a lot more with the same resources. We are requesting the following language for this purpose:

SEC. 103. (a) The Executive Director of the Office of Compliance shall have the authority to make lump-sum payments to reward exceptional performance by an employee or a group of employees.

(b) Subsection (a) shall apply with respect to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2005.

Representation and reception expenses

The Office is requesting a small allowance ($1,500) for representation and reception expenses. Of the two occasions recently when we needed such authority, one was when a

delegation from China visited this Office, and the other was when our Board of Directors conducted a small reception to meet informally with Members of Congress. On the first occasion, the delegation was served water and home-made cookies provided by a staff member, and on the other, the Board provided light refreshments with their own personal funds. We are requesting the following language for this purpose:

Provided further, That not more than $1,500 may be expended on the

certification of the Executive Director of the Office of Compliance in connection
with official representation and reception expenses.