Federal Workforce Civics Competency and Accountability Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Federal Workforce Civics Competency and Accountability Act adds a new 5 U.S.C. 3330g civics-test requirement for federal career employees. Applicants who fail the naturalization citizenship test are ineligible for competitive-service positions or career appointee positions. Current career employees must take the test within one year as a condition of continued employment, and all career employees must take an annual 20-question version. A career employee who fails the annual test must take the full test, and failure to pass the full test can lead to discipline up to and including removal. Full-test passage requires at least 90 percent correct; the annual 20-question version requires 15 correct answers. OPM, in consultation with USCIS, must administer the test, build websites and electronic record systems, provide official study materials and online training, and report annually to Congress on agency compliance, test results, and disciplinary actions.
Who Benefits and How
Members of Congress seeking civics accountability, OPM workforce managers, agency oversight officials, and citizens who want federal employees to demonstrate basic civic knowledge benefit from a measurable testing regime. Applicants and employees who already know the citizenship-test material benefit from clear study materials and pass thresholds.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal career employees, competitive-service applicants, career appointee candidates, agency human resources offices, unions, OPM testing staff, USCIS subject-matter staff, and agency managers face testing, recordkeeping, training, discipline, appeals, and removal risks. Employees who fail the full retest may lose federal employment, and agencies must administer annual testing without covering confidential or policy-making excepted-service positions.
Key Provisions
- Bars appointment to competitive-service and career-appointee positions for applicants who fail the citizenship test.
- Requires current career employees to take the citizenship test within one year as a condition of continued employment.
- Requires annual 20-question citizenship testing for career employees and full-test retesting after annual failure.
- Authorizes discipline up to removal for failing the full retest.
- Requires OPM, with USCIS consultation, to administer testing, maintain electronic records, provide study materials, and report annually to Congress.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires federal competitive-service employees and career appointees to pass the naturalization citizenship test for appointment and continued employment, creates annual testing and retesting rules, authorizes discipline including removal, and assigns OPM administration and reporting duties.
Key Policy Areas
Government, Labor, Education
Primary Purpose
Requires federal competitive-service employees and career appointees to pass the naturalization citizenship test for appointment and continued employment, creates annual testing and retesting rules, authorizes discipline including removal, and assigns OPM administration and reporting duties.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- OPM workforce managers
- Agency oversight officials
- Members of Congress overseeing federal workforce
- Applicants with civics-test knowledge
Identified Costs
- Federal career employees
- Competitive-service applicants
- Career appointee candidates
- Agency human resources offices
- Federal employee unions
- OPM testing staff
- USCIS staff
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Introduced in House
Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Agency human resources offices, Agency managers, Congressional oversight committees
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight committees, Members of Congress overseeing federal workforce
Negative-direction: Agency human resources offices, Agency managers, Federal career employees, OPM testing staff, OPM workforce managers, USCIS staff
Career appointee candidates, Competitive-service applicants, Federal employee unions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology