Guess Who's Back...

Given the amount of time discussion of the diversity--or lack thereof--in the Senior Executive Service consumed in the last Congressional session, I guess I should be surprised that it took this long for the legislation on the subject that passed the House last year to be reintroduced. The bill would create a Senior Executive Service-specific office within the Office of Personnel Management to track SES demographics and help create and coordinate programs for senior executives and potential senior executives, and require agencies to formalize their plans for increasing diversity within the SES. OPM Director John Berry has already said that he plans an ambitious diversity effort, to be headed by his deputy, former Equal Employment Opportunity Office commissioner Christine Griffin, once she is confirmed. My guess would be that Berry may be able to do a great deal of what legislators would like him to do without legislation pushing him into it, but that remains to be seen, especially since Griffin's confirmation hearing is yet to be scheduled.