The Congressional Budget Office weighed in recently on proposed legislation that would place limitations on paying bonuses to some federal employees.
The Stop Improper Bonuses Act (S. 2119) is being sponsored by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and would ban bonuses from being paid to federal employees with conduct violations for five years as well as require federal employees who engage in egregious misconduct to repay their bonuses. The bill recently advanced one step further in the Senate.
The CBO said in its report on the bill that it anticipates passage of the bill would make it more difficult to pay bonuses to federal employees with performance issues, but also estimates the bill “would not change the total amount of bonuses that could be awarded nor add any significant administrative costs to agencies.” Consequently, CBO concluded that implementing the bill would not have a significant budgetary impact.
