A bill to make certain technical and clerical amendments to title 5, United States Code.
Public Law 96-54 · H.R. 4616 · 96th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Aug 14, 1979 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Rep. James Hanley (D-NY-32)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Makes technical and clerical changes to provisions of title 5 (Government Organization and Employees) of the United States Code to reflect changes in the structure of various Government organizations.
Amends the definitions, for purposes of title 5, of: (1) "preference eligible" to exclude any applicant to or member of the Senior Executive Service; and (2) "retired member of the armed forces" to eliminate the exclusion of any applicant to or member of the Senior Executive Service.
Requires any agency which: (1) receives a function transferred from another agency; or (2) replaces another agency, to hire all competing persons who were employed in such function or replaced agency before hiring any other person.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Post Office and Civil Service Committee · House · discharged from, referred to
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 12 actions.
- Aug 14, 1979Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 96-54.
- Aug 3, 1979PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Aug 2, 1979FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate.
- Jul 31, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jul 12, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jul 10, 1979FloorFloor · Measure passed House.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
- Jun 26, 1979CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Post Office and Civil Service Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.