Reading Room Document

Application of 18 U.S.C. §§ 203 and 205 to Federal Employees Detailed to State and Local Governments

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correct in its view that detailing its employees to important positions in state agencies, the duties of which may require them to represent the state before the EPA, is integral to the substantive environmental programs that EPA administers. Sections 203 and 205 of Title 18 were not intended to limit substantively the uses federal agencies may make of their employees, and a federal employee is performing "official duties," within the meaning of those provisions, when involved in a task that is integral to a substantive federal program. Sections 203 and 205 do not prohibit EPA employees, detailed to a state agency pursuant to the Intergovernmental Personnel Act, from representing that agency before the EPA in the course of their assigned duties. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22531/download.

March 17, 1980