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October 8, 2009 – Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat, celebrated the inclusion of several key provisions in the Defense Authorization package, which passed the House 281-146 today. Among the Moran-backed initiatives are provisions to equalize federal employee pension benefits and expand protections against hate crime.
Both reforms are a long time in coming. “We’ve spent six years on the pension issue and almost two decades on hate crimes, remarked the Congressman, after the late afternoon vote. “I look forward to a rose garden ceremony in the near future.”
Major Win for Federal Employees
The bill, which institutes changes to the way the government processes employee benefits, represents a significant step forward in the Congressman’s agenda on behalf of federal employees. His district of Northern Virginia hosts one of the largest populations of federal workers in the nation, estimated over 10,000.
“This is a major victory for federal employees,” said Moran. “These revisions to the federal retirement system are long overdue.”
Last month, Congressman Moran spearheaded a letter to the Defense Authorization conference committee signed by every member of the Washington regional delegation calling for inclusion of the provisions. He is the original author of the FERS Redeposit Act (H.R. 828), the FERS Sick Leave bill (H.R. 958) and the Part-Time Federal Employees Act (H.R. 1198). The provisions, summarized below, were modeled after these bills and were included in the Defense Authorization at the Congressman’s request:
FERS Sick Leave: Allows Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees’ unused, accumulated sick leave to be used in computing their annuities upon retirement. This provision puts FERS employees on par with those in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) (which includes employees who joined the civil service prior to 1984).
CSRS Part-Time Fix: Allows CSRS workers to phase-down to part-time status at the end of their careers without reducing their final annuities/pensions (currently, part-time service occurring during the final years of CSRS service negatively impacts the high-three annuity calculation, leading to earlier full-time service being calculated as part-time).
FERS Redeposit: Allows returning FERS employees, who earlier left federal service, to repay a deposit to the civil service trust fund, with interest, in order to be able to combine their past and new federal service for future annuity credit purposes.
Hate Crimes Reform on Course for Passage after 17 Year Struggle
The bill also includes critical reform to the national hate crimes law. The provisions are designed to provide Americans greater protection against sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, and gender identity-based violence by giving state and local law enforcement the tools and resources they need to prevent and prosecute hate crimes. Passage of this reform, which is supported by more than 300 law enforcement, religious, civil rights, disability, and other organizations, would come after almost two decades of debate in Congress.
“All Americans have a fundamental right to feel safe in their communities,” said Congressman Moran, a long time proponent of national hate crimes legislation.
The Senate is expected to vote on the conference agreement later this month, after which it will go to the President for signing.
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