(a) About 92 percent technicians are presently covered under social security (under a 1954 provision recognizing technicians as a separate group for State coverage).

(b) The technicians not covered under social security are all covered under some State retirement system.

(c) About 20,000 of the technicians have completed the 40 quarters of coverage and therefore have vested social security rights.

(d) Through fiscal year 1968 the Federal Government since 1955 has paid $58,348,000 to the social security fund as the employer contribution for the present technicians.

Coverage under State retirement systems

The following aspects should be noted with respect to present coverage of technicians under State retirement systems.

(a) Since 1961 congressional legislation has authorized the use of Federal funds for the payment to State retirement systems as the employer share for technicians subject to a maximum of 6%1⁄2 percent which also includes any amounts used as the employer share to the social security system. Many of these States couple the social security as a part of the State system.

(b) About 16,000, or 40 percent, of the technicians are presently covered under State retirement systems in 19 States and Puerto Rico. (c) Federal contributions to the State retirement system exclusive of social security payments from fiscal year 1962 through 1968 total $19,606,000 for the present technicians.

(d) All but 4,483 would necessarily lose their State coverage if they came under the Federal civil service system.

PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF BILL

BROADENED STATUTORY SCOPE OF THE TECHNICIAN EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

Existing permanent law (title 32, sec. 709) defines technicians as "caretakers and clerks" with their duties generally limited to the care of supplies and equipment of the National Guard. Various appropriation acts have suspended the permanent law limitations on the numbers and grades of technicians who may be employed.

Technician duties presently extend beyond the concept of the permanent law regarding the maintenance of equipment and involve such Guard functions as training, employment in State headquarters, air defense, military support of civil defense, and aircraft operations. The bill eliminates all previous limitations on grades, numbers, and terminology and contains broad language authorizing the employment of technicians in two broad categories:

(1) Administration and training of the National Guard.

(2) Maintenance and repair of supplies of the National Guard or the Armed Forces.

However, a new ceiling on numbers is established.

PERMANENT STATUTORY CEILING OF 42,500 ON THE NUMBER OF

TECHNICIANS

In the bill the committee recommends a numerical ceiling in the form of permanent statutory authority which would limit to 42,500 the number of technicians who might be employed at any one time. The committee also considered, but did not adopt, a provision which

would have provided for the number of technicians to be authorized on an annual basis.

The committee was of the firm opinion that a permanent statutory ceiling is desirable. The committee recognizes that the technician program is an essential element of the National Guard in connection with its training, administration, and equipment. In any employment program, however, there is always the tendency for expansion. There should always be a goal, or a numerical limit, within which personnel programs should be expected to operate. If firm plans are made to remain within the permanent ceiling greater economies and efficiency in terms of personnel should be accomplished. The committee would observe that in 1955, when the total strength of the National Guard was about 420,000, there were only 25,000 technicians. For fiscal year 1967, however, with a total Guard strength of approximately 500,000 the technicians' strength had risen to slightly over 40,000.

In the budget for fiscal year 1969, the end strength for June 30, 1969, is 42,173. The ceiling of 42,500, therefore, will not result in any hardship with respect to present technicians.

NONCOMPETITIVE CIVIL SERVICE STATUS AND MEMBERSHIP IN

THE NATIONAL GUARD AS A CONDITION FOR EMPLOYMENT Unless the Secretaries make an exception, the bill provides that the technicians as a condition of civilian employment will be required to be members of the National Guard and hold a military grade required for that position. In addition, such civil service positions would be noncompetitive.

About 95 percent of the technicians would hold noncompetitive positions and would be required to be members of the Guard as a part of their civilian employment. About 5 percent, or 2,000, would be in a competitive Federal status and would constitute principally female employees, clerk-typists, 'and security guards.

The noncompetitive status is necessary for the technicians in view of (a) requirement for holding a concurrent military Guard status as a condition for employment and (b) the fact that civilian employment is terminated where the concurrent military status ceases to exist. STATUTORY FEDERAL EMPLOYEE STATUS FOR TECHNICIANS ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE ACT

Basic provision.-Under the bill all technicians on the effective date of the Act and those to be employed in the future will become Federal employees as a matter of law. As hereafter explained in detail, technicians will receive Federal salary and certain fringe benefits together with Federal job designations. In addition, however, they will be subject to certain supervisory controls at the State level which would not apply in the case of the typical civil service employee.

Salaries and positions.-Under the bill all technician positions will be converted as a matter of law into comparable Federal general schedule or wage board positions. The technicians will receive Federal salaries based on the positions designated for them.

It might be observed that under present arrangements technicians. are paid salaries from Federal funds comparable to GS grades, ranging from GS-1 through GS-14 which, as of July 1, 1968, encompassed a salary range of $3,889 to $22,031 with the average salary for all techni

Federal fringe benefits.-As Federal employees the technicians would be covered under the laws providing for the various fringe benefits for Federal employees including group, health and life insurance, leave, Federal employees death and injury compensation, severance pay,

tenure and status.

Additionally, they will also receive coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to accidents which might occur within the scope of their employment.

RECOGNITION OF PAST TECHNICIAN SERVICE

CREDIT FOR CERTAIN FEDERAL FRINGE BENEFIT PURPOSES

The bill provides that past technician service will be recognized in full for the purpose of computing length of service with respect to enumerated fringe benefits. The significance for this purpose is as follows:

Group health and life insurance.-A retired Federal employee, other than those retired for physical disability, must have completed 12 years of Federal service in order to be covered under the Federal group health and life insurance programs. Recognition of past service will enable the technician to combine his past State service with his future Federal service in order to be covered for these programs in a retired status without being required to complete at least 12 years of Federal service subsequent to the enactment of this bill.

Leave. The Federal system provides for a sliding scale ranging from 10 to 26 days of leave annually based on length of Federal service. Since technicians presently have a leave arrangement similar to Federal employees, they will be permitted to carry over into their Federal status the annual or sick leave with which they were credited prior to the conversion of their positions to a Federal designation.

Severance pay-Present provisions recognize length of service as well as basic salary in awarding these payments. Severance pay is authorized in instances where a Federal employee is involuntarily separated without cause from his Federal position due to a reduction in force or for other reasons. If no past technician service were to be recognized and the technician were to receive credit only for his service after the effective date of this act, severance payments would be nominal for any technicians separated within the next few years. The committee was of the opinion therefore that recognition of past service for this purpose is justified.

FEDERAL COMPENSATION FOR INJURY AND DEATH

As a result of an administrative ruling, technicians in their State. status have been covered under the Federal Employees Compensation Act for injury and death benefits since 1938. The recognition of past technician service for the purposes of this act is therefore more in the nature of a statutory clarification than the granting of a new right. In order to leave no doubt on the matter, however, the past service is recognized for this purpose.

As Federal employees, technicians would also receive coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to accidents which might occur within the scope of their employment involving third party claims against the Federal Government.

TENURE

Recognition of past technician service for the purpose of tenure as a Federal employee will have very limited significance with respect to the technicians. About 95 percent of the technicians will be required to hold military National Guard membership as a concurrent condition for civilian technician employment. Moreover, they will be subject to a number of other supervisory controls at the State level as set forth in the bill. Tenure would be significant mainly in the event of a reduction in force or reorganization resulting in the separation of technicians from Federal employment. If there were two technicians equal in all respects (military grade, job classification, etc.) and the necessity arose for separating one of the technicians, tenure or length of service would be significant. The technician with the greatest length of service or tenure would be retained if all other circumstances were equal.

STATUS

Recognition of past technician service for the purpose of status is significant in the following manner:

For 95 percent of the technciains, who will be required to hold military membership in the Guard and who will be in the noncompetitive category, past service is relevent for the purpose of completing the 1-year probationary period of Federal employment which is generally required prior to entering a career status.

For 5 percent of the technicians who will be in the competitive category, past service is significant not only for the 1-year probationary period but for credit in order to complete the 3-year period of career conditional employment prior to becoming a career employee.

RECOGNITION OF PAST SERVICE IN FULL FOR CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITY AND CERTAIN OTHER PURPOSES

The bill recognizes past technician service in full for the purposes of retirement eligibility. For instance if a technician on the effective date of the act has completed 20 years of past service, this period would be recognized for the purpose of years of service required for retirement eligibility. This period would count as 20 years toward the 30 years required for voluntary retirement at age 55. Moreover, the past technician service would be recognized for all the other elements relating to civil service retirement except for the creditable service as discussed below which will be limited to 55 percent. For instance, the technicians' past service will be recognized in full for the purpose of the high-5-year salary average should these past years be a part of the computation.

Moreover, past active military service will be recognized in full for all civil service retirement purposes. This latter credit is recognized under existing law which would not be amended by this bill.

In other words, the committee would emphasize that the full recognition would be extended for past technician service for the purpose of title eligibility, and average salary computation. Moreover, the existing law with respect to unpaid deposits is not affected except to reduce the amount of required unpaid deposit to conform to the 55 percent credit formula.

RECOGNITION OF PAST TECHNICIAN SERVICE TO THE EXTENT OF

55 PERCENT FOR CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT COMPUTATION The bill in effect provides that each year or fraction thereof of past technician service will be recognized to the extent of 55 percent as creditable service for retirement computation purposes. The 55 percent provision would operate in the following manner. Under existing provisions creditable service for civil service retirement is based on the high-5-year average salary with the years of creditable service computed at the rate of 1.5 percent for the first 5 years, 1.75 percent for the second 5 years, and 2 percent for each year thereafter. On the basis of full credit for 20 years of service, a total percentage multiplier of 36.25 percent would result. This sum is based on 7.5 percent for the first 5 years at the rate of 1.5 percent for each year, 8.75 percent at the rate of 1.75 percent for the second 5 years, and 20 percent at the rate of 2 percent for each year after the first 10 years.

Under the 55-percent formula a technician with 20 years of past service would receive a retirement multiplier of 19.94 percent. This sum would result by applying 55 percent to each past technician year or fraction thereof. As an example, for the first 5 years based on the 1.5-percent formula, there would be a total percentage of 4.13 percent for the next 5 years, a sum of 4.81 percent and for the next 10 years based on 2 percent for each year, a sum of 11 percent.

Alternatively, the percentage of 19.94 could be obtained by taking 55 percent of 36.25.

DISCUSSION OF PAST SERVICE CREDIT FOR

RETIREMENT COMPUTATION PURPOSES

The committee had a wide range of choices in considering the degree to which past technician service (which is considered State service except for the District of Columbia) should be creditable for future civil service retirement. It could have recommended no credit for past service on the premise that the technicians were similar to any other non-Federal employee and as such would accrue retirement credit only from the period in which he was a statutory Federal employee covered under the civil service retirement system. The other extreme would have been to recognize past technician service to the extent of 100 percent for civil service retirement purposes. The committee, after long and careful examination of all aspects of this matter, has unanimously concluded that the 55-percent credit represents a fair, equitable, and generous treatment of this matter.

AMOUNTS ALREADY CONTRIBUTED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS THE EMPLOYER'S SHARE ON BEHALF OF TECHNICIANS TO RETIREMENT SYSTEMS

The committee would observe that since fiscal year 1955 the Federal Government has contributed as the employers' share $58,348,000 to the social security fund and $19,606,000 to State retirement funds (fiscal years 1962 through 1968) totaling $77,954,000. If these same technicians had been under the civil service retirement system during this same period of time the Federal Government would have contributed to the civil service retirement fund as the employers' share $142,805,000. In terms of past Government investment, therefore, it could be stated that the Federal Government has already contributed