FederalDaily - December 9, 2005

Organization Sues for Personnel Information

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has alleged that the federal government is unlawfully withholding information it normally provides the public about approximately 900,000 of its civilian employees, including employees working for such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. TRAC filed a suit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, charging that OPM violated the Freedom of Information Act by failing to provide requested information. TRAC said it has a pattern of requesting such information, and this is the first time the organization was denied.

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Record Number of Servicemembers Voted

The Department of Defense (DoD) released a new report focusing on the November 2004 election. The total voting participation rate among uniformed servicemembers was 79 percent in 2004 compared to 64 percent of the general public, according to DoD. Participation included 53 percent voting absentee, 20 percent voting in person and 6 percent attempting to vote. The 79 percent overall participation rate is an increase of 10 percentage points from 2000. The same report included information on voting rates for federal employees overseas and other U.S. citizens overseas. “Interest in the election was very high among all groups,” the report stated. The executive summary for the report can be found at: www.fvap.gov/services/survey.html.

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Mileage Reimbursement Reduction

An IRS decision to reduce the gas mileage reimbursement rate to 44.5 cents per mile could force some employees to spend money out of pocket to cover work travel, according to National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley. For a majority of 2005, the rate was 40.5 cents, but increased to 48.5 cents in response to soaring energy prices after Hurricane Katrina. Kelley worries that energy prices remain volatile, and stated, “This decrease in the mileage reimbursement rate will harm federal employees, thousands of whom use their private cars in the course of their federal duties.” Kelley said NTEU will continue to lobby Congress to increase the rate.

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Congressman Commends Air Marshal Shooter

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., recently praised the action of the federal air marshal who recently shot and killed a passenger aboard a plane at Miami International Airport. The air marshal said the passenger claimed to have a bomb. “Thanks to the efforts of an alert air marshal, an individual was prevented from causing a potentially dangerous situation,” Markey said. Markey used the situation to illustrate his reasons for disagreeing with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) decision to rescind the ban on knives and other sharp objects aboard planes. Market called on the Bush administration to keep the current restrictions. He noted that air marshals oppose the loosened restrictions, and that he and Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., were introducing the Leave All Blades Behind Act to try to reverse the TSA’s decision.

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