3. Central Personnel Agencies · Notable · Needs Congress
Return the Office of Special Counsel's investigatory functions to OPM
Printed page 76 3. Central Personnel Agencies
“The EEOC's federal employee section should be transferred to the MSPB, and many of the OCS's investigatory functions should be returned to the OPM.”
What has happened
- Not started
The Office of Special Counsel's investigatory functions are where they were. Searched every bill of the 119th Congress and every public law in the window; the only OSC bill is H.R. 5998, which would fund the Hatch Act Unit through an appropriations lapse and was referred to committee. Nothing returns investigatory functions to OPM, and the statutory authorities in 5 U.S.C. chapter 12 are untouched. The office went through two withdrawn nominations before a Special Counsel was confirmed on 2026-08-07, which is churn at the top rather than a change in what the office does.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Researched 2026-08-27.
Requires Congress. A search of bills in Congress (from congress.gov, retrieved 2026-08-28): a title and action search for “Office of Special Counsel” returns one bill, H.R. 5998 (2025-11-10), which would keep the OSC’s Hatch Act Unit running during a lapse in appropriations and was referred to committee — not a transfer of investigatory functions, and a bill that has only been referred does not count as progress in any case. No public law touches OSC’s functions.
The office itself has been unsettled: two nominations for Special Counsel were withdrawn (Charlton Allen, withdrawn 2025-05-12; Paul Ingrassia, withdrawn 2025-10-22) before Charles Baldis was confirmed on 2026-08-07. Leadership churn is not a transfer of functions, and the OSC’s investigatory authorities under 5 U.S.C. chapter 12 are unchanged.
- Action
- transfer
- Object
- Office of Special Counsel investigatory functions
- ID
- 116