After consultation with the Office of Personnel Management, the Secretary shall establish an excepted service appointment authority, under which any individual who, by reason of having lived or worked in or near public lands, has special knowledge or expertise concerning the natural or cultural resources of public lands and the management thereof (as determined by the Secretary) shall be considered for selection for any position within public lands without regard to—

(1) any provision of the civil service laws or regulations thereunder which require minimum periods of formal training or experience,

(2) any such provision which provides an employment preference to any other class of applicant is such selection, and

(3) any numerical limitation on personnel otherwise applicable.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), any individual who is eligible to be selected for a position under the provisions of subsection (a) and is a preference eligible as defined in section 2108(3) of title 5 shall be given an employment preference, consistent with the preference in the excepted service as defined in section 2103 of such title.

If an employee appointed under the program established by subsection (a) dies in the performance of any assigned duties on or after October 1, 2002, the Secretary may—

(1) Definition of immediate family member In this subsection, the term “immediate family member” means a person related to a deceased employee that was a member of the household of the deceased employee at the time of death.

If an employee appointed under the program established by subsection (a) dies in the performance of any assigned duties on or after October 1, 2002, the Secretary may—

(A) pay or reimburse reasonable expenses, regardless of when those expenses are incurred, for the preparation and transportation of the remains of the deceased employee to a location in the State of Alaska which is selected by the surviving head of household of the deceased employee;

(B) pay or reimburse reasonable expenses, regardless of when those expenses are incurred, for transporting immediate family members and the baggage and household goods of the deceased employee and immediate family members to a community in the State of Alaska which is selected by the surviving head of household of the deceased employee.

The Secretary shall from time to time prepare and submit to the Congress reports indicating the actions taken in carrying out the provisions of subsection (a) of this section together with any recommendations for legislation in furtherance of the purposes of this section.

With respect to any person who was hired pursuant to the program established under subsection (a) that is no longer serving in that position as of March 30, 2009—

(1) In general Nothing in subsection (a) provides that any person hired pursuant to the program established under that subsection is not eligible for competitive status in the same manner as any other employee hired as part of the competitive service.

(2) Conversion to competitive service Employees who satisfactorily complete two years of continuous service in a permanent appointment made under subsection (a) and who meet satisfactory performance and competitive service qualification requirements shall have their appointment converted to competitive service career-conditional or career employment as appropriate. This paragraph applies to individuals appointed on or after March 30, 2009. An employee who does not meet competitive service qualification requirements after two years of continuous service in an appointment made under subsection (a) shall be converted upon meeting such qualification requirements. Temporary and time-limited appointments will be made in the excepted service. There is no provision for conversion to competitive service when appointments are time-limited.

With respect to any person who was hired pursuant to the program established under subsection (a) that is no longer serving in that position as of March 30, 2009—

(A) Persons serving in original positions Not later than 60 days after March 30, 2009, with respect to any person hired into a permanent position pursuant to the program established under subsection (a) who is serving in that position as of March 30, 2009, the Secretary shall redesignate that position and the person serving in that position as having been part of the competitive service as of the date that the person was hired into that position.

(B) Persons no longer serving in original positionsWith respect to any person who was hired pursuant to the program established under subsection (a) that is no longer serving in that position as of March 30, 2009— (i) the person may provide to the Secretary a request for redesignation of the service as part of the competitive service that includes evidence of the employment; and (ii) not later than 90 days of the submission of a request under clause (i), the Secretary shall redesignate the service of the person as being part of the competitive service.

(Pub. L. 96–487, title XIII, § 1308, Dec. 2, 1980, 94 Stat. 2480; Pub. L. 100–689, title IV, § 401, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4177; Pub. L. 102–415, § 16, Oct. 14, 1992, 106 Stat. 2124; Pub. L. 108–199, div. H, § 147, Jan. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 445; Pub. L. 111–11, title VI, § 6101, Mar. 30, 2009, 123 Stat. 1170; Pub. L. 112–74, div. E, title I, § 121(b), Dec. 23, 2011, 125 Stat. 1012.)