HR 9596

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 6, 2026

Mr. Krishnamoorthi (for himself, Mr. Mackenzie, Ms. Bynum, Mr. McGuire, Mr. Downing, Mr. Walkinshaw, Mr. Grothman, and Mr. Figures) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

A BILL

To remove educational barriers to Federal employment for workers who are skilled through alternative routes, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Federal Jobs for STARs Act of 2026”.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act—

(1) the term “employee” means an individual appointed to a position in the civil service (as defined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code) in an executive agency;

(2) the term “executive agency” means a department, agency, office, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Federal Government; and

(3) the term “STAR” means an individual who—

(A) is active in the labor force;

(B) has not obtained a bachelor’s degree or a higher degree; and

(C) has developed job-related skills through alternative routes, which may include at a community college, in an apprenticeship, through a bootcamp, through military service, through partial college completion, in other training programs, or through on- the-job experience.

SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY AND DIRECTIVES ON EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS.

To improve transparency and directives related to educational requirements for positions in executive agencies, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall—

(1) prohibit the head of an executive agency from requiring a minimum educational attainment as qualification for a position as an employee of the executive agency, unless the Director of the Office of Personnel Management determines that such educational attainment is necessary for the position based on specified skills required for the position that can only be obtained through a certain degree;

(2) prescribe regulations for hiring of employees by executive agencies regarding alternative qualifications to educational attainment that would meet the knowledge, skills, and abilities requirements for a position;

(3) review the addition of educational requirements for employees during audits of hiring actions within executive agencies; and

(4) establish a hiring path dedicated to positions for which STAR workers are eligible to apply within usajobs.gov, or any successor website, and direct executive agencies to identify job postings that are within that hiring path, so that STAR workers may search for positions based on this criterion.

SEC. 4. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR STARS.

The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, and the head of any other appropriate executive agency shall jointly—

(1) conduct a feasibility study regarding resources required to establish a program to provide STAR employees with pathways for acquiring further training and higher education, including fellowships, scholarships, apprenticeships, and tuition assistance, if the employee chooses to initiate or continue pursuit of further training or higher education while an employee; and

(2) not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, submit a report on the findings of the feasibility study to—

(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and

(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives. <all>