DHS MORALE Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Department of Homeland Security Morale, Recognition, Learning and Engagement Act of 2019 or the DHS MORALE Act
This bill addresses workforce morale at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The bill expands the duties of the Chief Human Capital Officer to address morale, including through
leader development and employee engagement,
maintaining a catalogue of available employee development opportunities, and
issuing a DHS-wide employee engagement action plan.
DHS (1) must establish an employee engagement steering committee, and (2) may establish an annual employee award program.
DHS shall report to the congressional homeland security committees regarding the impacts of the lapse in appropriations between December 22, 2018, and January 25, 2019, on (1) DHS human resources operations; (2) DHS's ability to meet hiring benchmarks; and (3) retention, attrition, and morale of DHS personnel.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House" stage on April 1, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 2, 2019: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS) introduced it on February 28, 2019, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 5 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 28, 2019, 2751 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2718 days ago, on April 2, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers