Washington Weekly – July 2, 2015

July 2, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week.

FY16 Appropriations

Status of FY16 Appropriations Bills

Department of Labor Proposed Overtime Rule

The Department of Labor released a proposed rule this week that would update the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA guarantees a minimum wage and overtime pay rate of not less than one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. While these protections extend to most workers, the FLSA does provide a number of exemptions. This rulemaking proposes updating and revising the regulations issued under the FLSA implementing the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. This exemption is referred to as the FLSA’s “EAP” or “white collar” exemption. To be considered exempt, employees must meet certain minimum tests related to their primary job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than a specified minimum amount. The standard salary level required for exemption is currently $455 a week ($23,660 for a full-year worker) and was last updated in 2004. The Department projects that the wage in the final rule would likely be $970, or $50,440 for a full-year worker. The Department also proposes automatically updating the salary and compensation thresholds on an annual basis using either a fixed percentile of wages or the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Comments on the proposed rule are due in 60 days.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015/OT-NPRM.pdf

Political Updates

The fourteenth Republican candidate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, threw his hat into the ring this week for the 2016 Presidential race. He joins the already crowded Republican field that includes Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former NY Governor George Pataki, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, businessman Donald Trump, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Ohio Governor John Kasich said that he would announce his candidacy on July 21, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is expected to announce his candidacy soon. On the Democrat side, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Governor and Senator (and former Republican) Lincoln Chaffee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have all announced their candidacies.

President Obama will nominate Marine Lt. Gen. Bob Neller to replace Gen. Joseph Dunford as the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Neller now serves as Commander of Marine Corps Forces Command in Norfolk, VA. He also commands Marine Corps Forces Europe.

Cathy Conrad, the Deputy Associate Administrator in the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, is leaving government. Conrad plans to pursue new challenges and her last day will be July 24.

The Acting Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Richard Griffin, announced his plans to step down from the post after criticism from a group of whistleblowers that he’s done little to uncover fraud and abuse in the VA. Griffin was appointed Deputy Inspector General in 2008, and has served in the Acting IG position since Georg Opfer stepped down from the job 18 months ago. Linda Halliday will replace Griffin as Deputy Inspector General. Halliday is the current Assistant Inspector for Audits and Evaluations.

Next Week

The House and Senate return from recess next week. The House will resume consideration of the FY16 Interior Appropriations bill and the Senate will take up the No Child Left Behind reauthorization bill (S 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015).