Dual Hatting Limitation Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill amends several federal personnel and ethics statutes to limit dual-hatting. The OPM Director, Special Counsel, Office of Government Ethics Director, Archivist, level I Executive Schedule officials, and anyone temporarily performing those duties in an acting capacity may not occupy or carry out any other federal position. It also amends the Vacancies Act so the President may not direct an individual to serve in a vacant office temporarily if that person is already performing another office's functions and duties in an acting capacity.
Who Benefits and How
Congressional oversight committees, Inspectors General, civil-service employees, ethics watchdogs, and the public benefit from clearer separation between powerful federal offices and fewer overlapping acting assignments. Independent offices such as OPM, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of Government Ethics, and the National Archives benefit from leadership that cannot simultaneously perform another federal role. The rule reduces conflicts of interest and concentration of authority.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The President, White House personnel offices, OPM, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of Government Ethics, the National Archives, level I Executive Schedule officials, and acting officials must avoid dual assignments and update succession planning. Agencies may need separate acting officials for vacancies that previously could have been filled by one person. Federal appointment planning becomes more constrained when multiple vacancies occur at once.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits specified Senate-confirmed or acting officials from occupying or performing duties of another federal position.
- Covers OPM, the Office of Special Counsel, the Office of Government Ethics, the Archivist, and level I Executive Schedule offices.
- Bars the President from assigning an already acting official to perform another vacant office's duties.
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
Bars the OPM Director, Special Counsel, Office of Government Ethics Director, Archivist, level I Executive Schedule officials, and acting officeholders from simultaneously occupying or performing duties of another federal position, and prevents the President from assigning an acting official to a second acting role.
Key Policy Areas
government_ethics, federal_workforce, appointments
Primary Purpose
Bars the OPM Director, Special Counsel, Office of Government Ethics Director, Archivist, level I Executive Schedule officials, and acting officeholders from simultaneously occupying or performing duties of another federal position, and prevents the President from assigning an acting official to a second acting role.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Congressional oversight committees
- Civil-service employees
- Ethics watchdogs
- Public oversight users
Identified Costs
- President
- White House personnel offices
- OPM
- Office of Special Counsel
- Office of Government Ethics
- National Archives
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Introduced in House
Ms. Ansari (for herself and Mr. Garcia of California) introduced …
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "agencies"
- → ['OPM', 'Office of Special Counsel', 'Office of Government Ethics', 'National Archives']
- "beneficiaries"
- → ['Congressional oversight committees', 'Civil-service employees']
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
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