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Chance to Compete Act of 2024
1/14/2025, 7:03 PM
Summary of Bill S 59
The bill aims to reduce barriers to employment for individuals with criminal records, who often face discrimination in the hiring process. By delaying the inquiry into an applicant's criminal history until later in the hiring process, the Chance to Compete Act seeks to ensure that individuals are judged on their qualifications and skills rather than their past mistakes.
If passed, this legislation would apply to all employers with 15 or more employees, as well as federal contractors. Employers would be prohibited from asking about an applicant's criminal history on job applications or during interviews, and would only be allowed to conduct a background check after making a conditional job offer. Overall, the Chance to Compete Act of 2023 aims to give individuals with criminal records a fair chance to compete for jobs and reintegrate into society. It seeks to address the challenges faced by this population in finding employment and aims to promote a more inclusive and equitable workforce.
Congressional Summary of S 59
Chance to Compete Act of 2023
This bill modifies examination requirements and other components of the federal hiring process for positions in the competitive service.
Specifically, the bill provides that a qualifying examination includes a résumé review that is conducted by a subject matter expert. Additionally, beginning two years after the bill's enactment, the bill prohibits examinations from consisting solely of a self-assessment from an automated examination, a résumé review that is not conducted by a subject matter expert, or any other method of assessing an applicant's experience or education.
Agencies may use subject matter experts to develop position-specific technical assessments that allow applicants to demonstrate job-related skills, abilities, and knowledge; assessments may include structured interviews, work-related exercises, procedures to measure career-related qualifications and interests, or other similar assessments. The bill also allows agencies to establish talent teams to support and improve hiring practices.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must create online platforms through which agencies may share and customize technical assessments and share the résumés of qualifying applicants. The OPM must also create online platforms with information about the types of assessments used and hiring outcomes.
Read the Full Bill
Current Status of Bill S 59
Bipartisan Support of Bill S 59
Total Number of Sponsors
19Democrat Sponsors
0Republican Sponsors
0Unaffiliated Sponsors
19Total Number of Cosponsors
3Democrat Cosponsors
1Republican Cosponsors
2Unaffiliated Cosponsors
0Policy Area and Potential Impact of Bill S 59
Primary Policy Focus
Government Operations and PoliticsPotential Impact Areas
Alternate Title(s) of Bill S 59
Comments
Ayaan Wooten
10 months ago
I don't like this new bill, it makes it harder for people like me to get a fair chance at jobs. It's not fair. Who benefits from this? Certainly not me.
Elianna Grimes
11 months ago
This bill is a joke! It's gonna make it harder for folks like me to get a job just because of some dumb mistake we made in the past. Like seriously, who hasn't messed up before? This is just gonna hold people back and keep them from moving forward. It's like they want us to fail or something. So not cool.
Lainey Rao
11 months ago
This bill is a joke! It's gonna mess everything up for us. Who does this even help? Who's gonna be hurt by this?
