Introduction of the District of Columbia National Guard Federal Employee Leave Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia National Guard Federal Employee Leave Fairness Act, which would correct a legislative drafting error and clarify that members of the D.C. National Guard (DCNG) who are federal civilian employees are entitled to leave without loss in pay or time from their civilian employment when they are mobilized by the DCNG.

In 1899, Congress codified in the D.C. Code the original authority for entitlement to leave when federal civilian employees were mobilized by the DCNG. In 1968, that authority was moved into 5 U.S.C. 6323. In that same year, Congress authorized two additional leave entitlements in 5 U.S.C. 6323 as well as established an offset provision in 5 U.S.C. 5519 referencing those two additional leave entitlements. However, because the U.S. Code had not yet been updated to include the earlier DCNG authority, the Code contained a duplicate subsection, one referring to DCNG mobilizations and one to a more general leave entitlement for the National Guard and Reserves. My bill would restore Congress' original intent regarding DCNG mobilizations by correcting this legislative drafting error and clarifying that the pay and benefits of DCNG members who are federal civilian employees are not subject to the offset in 5 U.S.C. 5519.

The only change required to fix this leislative drafting error is to remove the erroneous reference to DCNG mobilizations in 5 U.S.C. 5519. This change would positively impact the hundreds of dedicated federal civilian employees who are also members of the DCNG, providing them the full pay and benefits they deserve.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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