text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Senior Executive Service Diversity 
  Assurance Act of 2009''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds that--
              (1) according to the most recent findings from the 
          Government Accountability Office--
                      (A) minorities made up 22.5 percent of the 
                  individuals serving at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 
                  15.8 percent of the Senior Executive Service in 2007;
                      (B) women made up 34.3 percent of the individuals 
                  serving at the GS-15 and GS-14 levels and 29.1 percent 
                  of the Senior Executive Service in 2007; and
                      (C) although the number of career Senior Executive 
                  Service members increased from 6,110 in 2,000 to 6,555 
                  in 2007, the representation of African-American men in 
                  the career Senior Executive Service declined during 
                  that same period from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent; and
              (2) according to the Office of Personnel Management--
                      (A) Black employees represented 6.1 percent of 
                  employees at the Senior Pay levels and 17.9 percent of 
                  the permanent Federal workforce compared to 10 percent 
                  in the civilian labor force in 2008;
                      (B) Hispanic employees represented 4.0 percent of 
                  employees at the Senior Pay levels and 7.9 percent of 
                  the permanent Federal workforce compared to 13.2 
                  percent of the civilian labor force in 2008; and
                      (C) women represented 29.1 percent of employees at 
                  the Senior Pay levels and 44.2 percent of the permanent 
                  Federal workforce compared to 45.6 percent of the 
                  civilian labor force in 2008.
  
  SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
  
      In this Act--
              (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office 
          of Personnel Management;
              (2) the term ``Senior Executive Service'' has the meaning 
          given under section 2101a of title 5, United States Code;
              (3) the terms ``agency'', ``career appointee'', and 
          ``career reserved position'' have the meanings given under 
          section 3132 of title 5, United States Code; and
              (4) the term ``SES Resource Office'' means the Senior 
          Executive Service Resource Office established under section 4.
  
  SEC. 4. SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE RESOURCE OFFICE.
  
      (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
  enactment of this Act, the Director shall establish within the Office 
  of Personnel Management an office to be known as the Senior Executive 
  Service Resource Office.
      (b) Mission.--The mission of the SES Resource Office shall be to--
              (1) improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity 
          of the Senior Executive Service through policy formulation and 
          oversight;
              (2) advance the professionalism of the Senior Executive 
          Service; and
              (3) ensure that, in seeking to achieve a Senior Executive 
          Service reflective of the Nation's diversity, recruitment is 
          from qualified individuals from appropriate sources.
      (c) Functions.--
              (1) In general.--The functions of the SES Resource Office 
          are to--
                      (A) make recommendations to the Director with 
                  respect to regulations; and
                      (B) provide guidance to agencies, concerning the 
                  structure, management, and diverse composition of the 
                  Senior Executive Service.
              (2) Specific functions.--In order to carry out the purposes 
          of this section, the SES Resource Office shall--
                      (A) take such actions as the SES Resource Office 
                  considers necessary to manage and promote an efficient, 
                  elite, and diverse corps of senior executives by--
                              (i) creating policies for the management 
                          and improvement of the Senior Executive 
                          Service;
                              (ii) providing oversight of the 
                          performance, structure, and composition of the 
                          Senior Executive Service; and
                              (iii) providing guidance and oversight to 
                          agencies in the management of senior executives 
                          and candidates for the Senior Executive 
                          Service;
                      (B) be responsible for the policy development, 
                  management, and oversight of the Senior Executive 
                  Service pay and performance management system;
                      (C) develop standards for certification of each 
                  agency's Senior Executive Service performance 
                  management system and evaluate all agency applications 
                  for certification;
                      (D) be responsible for coordinating, promoting, and 
                  monitoring programs for the advancement and training of 
                  senior executives, including the Senior Executive 
                  Service Federal Candidate Development Program;
                      (E) provide oversight of, and guidance to, agency 
                  executive resources boards;
                      (F) be responsible for the administration of the 
                  qualifications review board;
                      (G) establish and maintain annual statistics (in a 
                  form that renders such statistics useful to appointing 
                  authorities and candidates) on--
                              (i) the total number of career reserved 
                          positions at each agency;
                              (ii) the total number of vacant career 
                          reserved positions at each agency;
                              (iii) of the positions under clause (ii), 
                          the number for which candidates are being 
                          sought;
                              (iv) the amount of time a career reserved 
                          position is vacant;
                              (v) the amount of time it takes to hire a 
                          candidate into a career reserved position;
                              (vi) the number of individuals who have 
                          been certified in accordance with section 
                          3393(c) of title 5, United States Code, and the 
                          composition of that group of individuals with 
                          regard to race, ethnicity, sex, age, and 
                          individuals with disabilities;
                              (vii) the composition of the Senior 
                          Executive Service with regard to race, 
                          ethnicity, sex, age, and individuals with 
                          disabilities;
                              (viii) the composition of executive 
                          resources boards with regard to race, 
                          ethnicity, sex, and individuals with 
                          disabilities; and
                              (ix) the composition of qualifications 
                          review boards with regard to race, ethnicity, 
                          sex, and individuals with disabilities;
                      (H) make available to the public through the 
                  official public Internet site of the Office of 
                  Personnel Management, the data collected under 
                  subparagraph (G);
                      (I) establish and promote mentoring programs for 
                  potential candidates for the Senior Executive Service, 
                  including candidates who have been certified as having 
                  the executive qualifications necessary for initial 
                  appointment as a career appointee under a program 
                  established under to section 3396(a) of title 5, United 
                  States Code;
                      (J) conduct a continuing program for the 
                  recruitment of women, members of racial and ethnic 
                  minority groups, and individuals with disabilities for 
                  Senior Executive Service positions, with special 
                  efforts directed at recruiting from educational 
                  institutions, professional associations, and other 
                  sources;
                      (K) advise agencies on the best practices for an 
                  agency in utilizing or consulting with an agency's 
                  equal employment or diversity office or official (if 
                  the agency has such an office or official) with regard 
                  to the agency's Senior Executive Service appointments 
                  process; and
                      (L) evaluate and implement strategies to ensure 
                  that agencies conduct appropriate outreach to other 
                  agencies to identify candidates for Senior Executive 
                  Service positions.
      (d) Protection of Individually Identifiable Information.--For 
  purposes of subsection (c)(2)(H), the SES Resource Office shall combine 
  data for any agency that is not named in section 901(b) of chapter 31, 
  United States Code, to protect individually identifiable information.
      (e) Cooperation of Agencies.--The head of each agency shall provide 
  the Office of Personnel Management with such information as the SES 
  Resource Office may require in order to carry out subsection (c)(2)(G).
      (f) Staffing.--The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 
  shall make such appointments as necessary to staff the SES Resource 
  Office.
  
  SEC. 5. CAREER APPOINTMENTS.
  
      (a) Promoting Diversity in the Career Appointments Process.--
  Section 3393(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
  after the first sentence the following: ``In establishing an executive 
  resources board, the head of the agency shall, to the extent 
  practicable, ensure diversity of the board and of any subgroup thereof 
  or other evaluation panel related to the merit staffing process for 
  career appointees, by including members of racial and ethnic minority 
  groups, women, and individuals with disabilities.''.
      (b) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
  enactment of this Act, the Director shall promulgate regulations to 
  implement subsection (a).
      (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
  of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 
  Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
  Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a 
  report evaluating agency efforts to improve diversity in executive 
  resources boards based on the information collected by the SES Resource 
  Office under section 4(c)(2)(G) (viii) and (ix).
  
  SEC. 6. ENCOURAGING A MORE DIVERSE SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE.
  
      (a) Senior Executive Service Diversity Plans.--
              (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
          the enactment of this Act, each agency, in consultation with 
          the Office of Personnel Management and the Chief Human Capital 
          Officers Council, shall submit to the Office of Personnel 
          Management a plan to enhance and maximize opportunities for the 
          advancement and appointment of minorities, women, and 
          individuals with disabilities in the agency to the Senior 
          Executive Service. Agency plans shall be reflected in the 
          strategic human capital plan.
              (2) Contents.--Agency plans shall address how the agency is 
          identifying and eliminating barriers that impair the ability of 
          minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to obtain 
          appointments to the Senior Executive Service and any actions 
          the agency is taking to provide advancement opportunities, 
          including--
                      (A) conducting outreach to minorities, women, and 
                  individuals within the agency and outside the agency;
                      (B) establishing and maintaining training and 
                  education programs to foster leadership development;
                      (C) identifying career enhancing opportunities for 
                  agency employees;
                      (D) assessing internal availability of candidates 
                  for Senior Executive Service positions; and
                      (E) conducting an inventory of employee skills and 
                  addressing current and potential gaps in skills and the 
                  distribution of skills.
              (3) Update of agency plans.--Agency plans shall be updated 
          at least every 2 years during the 10 years following enactment 
          of this Act. An agency plan shall be reviewed by the Office of 
          Personnel Management and, if determined to provide sufficient 
          assurances, procedures, and commitments to provide adequate 
          opportunities for the advancement and appointment of 
          minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to the 
          Senior Executive Service, shall be approved by such Office. An 
          agency may, in updating its plan, submit to the Office of 
          Personnel Management an assessment of the impacts of the plan.
      (b) Summary and Evaluation.--Not later than 180 days after the 
  deadline for the submission of any report or update under subsection 
  (a), the Director shall transmit to the Committee on Homeland Security 
  and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 
  and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a report 
  summarizing and evaluating the agency plans or updates (as the case may 
  be) so submitted.
      (c) Coordination.--The Office of Personnel Management shall, in 
  carrying out subsection (a), evaluate existing requirements under 
  section 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-16) and 
  section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791) and 
  determine how agency reporting can be performed so as to be consistent 
  with, but not duplicative of, such sections and any other similar 
  requirements.
target: Senior Executive Service Diversity Assurance Act of 2009 - Requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish within OPM the Senior Executive Service Resource Office (SES Resource Office). Makes it the mission of the SES Resource Office to: (1) improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of the Senior Executive Service (SES) through policy formulation and oversight; (2) advance the professionalism of the SES; and (3) recruit qualified individuals from appropriate sources to ensure that the SES is reflective of the nation's diversity. Sets forth the functions of the SES Resource Office with respect to the management, training, oversight, and recruitment activities of the SES.
  
  Revises the career appointments recruiting process to require agency heads to ensure diversity of executive resources boards and any subgroup or other evaluation panel related to the merit staffing process for career appointees by including members of racial and ethnic minority groups, women, and individuals with disabilities.
  
  Requires each federal agency to submit to OPM a plan to enhance and maximize opportunities for the advancement and appointment of minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to the SES.
feat_title: A bill to provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive Service.