The Hatch Act: The Current Movement for Reform
Author | Philip L. Martin |
DOI | 10.1177/009102607400300301 |
Published date | 01 May 1974 |
Date | 01 May 1974 |
Hopes for reform now lie with Congress and new legislation.
In 1939, in an effort to complete the civil
service reform which had begun with the
Pendleton Act of 1883, Congress passed the
Hatch Act which prohibited political activ-
ity on the
part
of most federal employees.
The
exceptions were those employed in the
legislative and judicial branches and the
policy-makers appointed by the president
with the advice and consent of the Senate.
One year later the law was amended to
include state and local government person-
nel working in federally funded programs.
In 1966, another amendment to the act
applied the prohibition against political
activity to employees of private groups who
work with community action programs
funded by the Economic Opportunity Act.
During the past several years, however,
amovement has begun in Congress to
modify the Hatch Act. The basic reason for
the proposed change is
that
there are cur-
rently over five million federal and fed-
erally-related employees who,
if
not legally
barred from political participation beyond
voting in elections, are certainly discour-
aged. This fact is especially deplored be-
cause these employees constitute approxi-
mately 2Jipercent of
the
nation's population
and about 7percent of the voting popula-
tion of 73 million.' Moreover, it has been
180
PUBLIC
PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT,
MAY-JUNE,
1974
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