The "Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act" mandates the TVA to disclose the names, salaries, and duties of high-level employees earning above a certain threshold, while protecting this information from public disclosure under certain freedom of information provisions.
Marsha Blackburn
Senator
TN
The Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act requires the TVA to disclose the name, salary, and duties of employees at the management level or above who receive compensation equal to or greater than the maximum rate of basic pay for grade GS15 of the General Schedule. This information will be included in a report produced by the TVA. The bill also updates references to audits and reports, replacing mentions of "he" with "the Comptroller General" and updating references to the General Accounting Office to the Government Accountability Office.
TVA Mandated to Report Top Salaries, But New Bill Shields Data from Public Disclosure Laws
The Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act requires the TVA—the federally-owned utility corporation serving much of the Southeast—to compile a specific report detailing its highest-paid employees. According to Section 2, this report must list the name, salary, and duties for every management-level employee earning compensation at or above the maximum rate for a GS-15 federal pay grade, which typically signifies senior executive roles. The stated goal appears to be shedding light on compensation at the top levels of the TVA.
Shining a Light... Or Closing the Curtains?
While the bill mandates the creation of this salary report, it simultaneously takes a significant step to limit who gets to see it. Section 2 explicitly exempts the salary information within these reports from disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as FOIA Exemption 3), as well as the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act (ACRA).
What does this mean in practice? FOIA Exemption 3 allows government information to be withheld if another federal law specifically shields it from public release. By invoking this exemption and also blocking access via ACRA, the bill essentially says, "TVA, you have to write down these salaries, but the usual ways the public or press might request this specific information don't apply here." So, while the report gets created, accessing the granular salary details might prove difficult for the average citizen or journalist relying on standard transparency laws.
Housekeeping and Power Costs
Beyond the salary reporting and exemption, the Act performs some legislative maintenance. It updates outdated references in the original Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, swapping mentions of the General Accounting Office for the current Government Accountability Office (GAO) and updating citations to align with modern U.S. Code (Section 2).
Additionally, the bill amends Section 14 of the original Act by removing language related to a specific statement on the 'cost of power'. While TVA undoubtedly reports financial and operational data through various channels, this particular requirement is being struck from the original law. This change tidies up the older legislation but removes one specific mandate related to power cost reporting.