Federal health officers gain military-level leave benefits under new parity law
S. 1440 — Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act · Filed by Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Apr 10, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill extends military leave benefits to commissioned officers of the Public Health Service (PHS) and their beneficiaries by incorporating the leave provisions that apply to Army officers under federal law. It repeals a separate PHS leave statute to avoid duplication, creating parity between the two uniformed services.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is extending existing military leave benefits to a parallel federal uniformed service, eliminating a disparity in statutory entitlements between two groups of federal officers performing similar public-service functions.
What the text implies
- Incorporation of Chapter 40 (10 U.S.C.) by reference means PHS officers' leave entitlements will track any future amendments to military leave law without requiring separate PHS legislation, creating automatic parity going forward.
- Repeal of Section 219 (PHS Act) eliminates a potentially outdated or less generous leave regime; the net effect depends on whether Chapter 40 is more or less generous than the repealed provision — the bill does not state this comparison.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
PHS commissioned officers (who serve in public health emergencies, disease control, and federal health missions) gain parity with military officers in leave entitlements, improving their working conditions and family support. The repeal of the separate PHS leave statute eliminates redundancy without removing protections.
Named in the bill
Public Health Service (PHS), Department of Defense, Army, Public Health Service Act, Title 10 United States Code, Chapter 40 Leave
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Apr 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Apr 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
- Jul 30, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
- Oct 9, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (446 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal health officers gain military-level leave benefits under new parity law” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1440 Report an error
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