Enacted by | the 105th United States Congress |
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Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L. 105–277 (text) (PDF) |
Legislative history | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
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Administrative law of the United States |
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The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (commonly called the Vacancies Act) (5 U.S.C. § 3345 et seq.[1]) is a United States federal statute establishing the procedure for filling vacancies in an appointed office of an executive agency of the government before the appointment of a permanent replacement.
The Act allows an incoming President 300 days in which to temporarily and unilaterally fill positions with "acting" officers. After this initial extended period, the offices officially become vacant and the President has 210 days to fill the vacancies. However, provisions in the Act, described as a loophole, allow the president after these periods to assign the "nonexclusive duties" of a vacant position to a person to perform, provided they are not described as "acting". The de facto acting officers can be described as “performing the duties of...”, or similar description.[2]