H.R. 8844, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Retirement Technical Corrections Act

Bill Summary

H.R. 8844 would allow certain Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs) to retire with a more generous civil service retirement benefit.

Estimated Federal Cost

The estimated budgetary effect of H.R. 8844 is shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 600 (income security).

Basis of Estimate

For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 8844 will be enacted near the beginning of fiscal year 2027.

Background

In 2007, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, authorized an enhanced retirement benefit for CBPOs similar to the one available to federal law enforcement officers and firefighters. That change took effect on July 6, 2008, but its implementation was different for officers who already were working on that date and those whose service began after that date.

CBPOs who enter duty after July 6, 2008, and who complete 20 years of service qualify for a retirement benefit that uses a higher multiplier in the annuity calculation: 1.7 percent of an employee’s highest three consecutive years of qualifying pay (or high-3) multiplied by the required 20 years of CBPO service. (For any years of federal service beyond 20, 1 percent of the employee’s high-3 is included in the annuity calculation.) In addition, officers generally cannot begin working after age 36 and must retire by age 57. The age limit for starting employment as a CBPO ensures that they can work the 20 years needed to receive an enhanced retirement before they reach the mandatory retirement age. (In contrast, the federal retirement benefit under standard retirement generally is calculated at 1 percent of an employee’s high-3 for all years of service.)

CBPOs who already were serving on the effective date are eligible for a proportional annuity, which provides a larger benefit without the requirement to complete 20 years of covered CBPO service (covered service is that which occurs on or after July 6, 2008). Upon retirement, their annuities will be prorated, with the enhanced multiplier of 1.7 percent applying to years of CBPO service after July 6, 2008, and the standard multiplier of 1 percent applying to years of service before that date.

Some CBPOs received a tentative offer of employment before July 6, 2008, but did not begin duty until after that date. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) originally informed those officers (a group of about 1,400, based on data provided by the agency) that they would be eligible for the proportional annuity. However, in 2021, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) determined that the proportional annuity provisions would not apply because those officers had not entered duty by the effective date. As a result, those CBPOs either will need to continue working until they have completed a full 20 years of covered service to be eligible for the enhanced benefit, or they will retire with a smaller than expected annuity (the standard annuity calculation will apply to all their years of service).

H.R. 8844 would, for the purposes of retirement, consider all members of the affected group as having been in their positions on the effective date, thus making them eligible for the proportional annuity calculation.

Direct Spending

H.R. 8844 would increase direct spending relative to current law because it would allow the affected officers to receive enhanced retirement benefits for their years of service as CBPOs. In total, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by $23 million over the 2026-2036 period.

The largest budgetary effect of H.R. 8844 would stem from providing a proportional annuity to about 110 current CBPOs who are likely to retire before working the number of years required to qualify for the enhanced retirement benefit under current law. Those officers began duty at an age older than 36 (there was no maximum age before enhanced retirement coverage was implemented).CBO expects that a significant number of those older officers, who are subject to the mandatory retirement age under current law, will retire over the next two years before qualifying for enhanced coverage.

Under current law, those officers will receive a standard retirement benefit. If enacted, H.R. 8844 would allow them to retire with the proportional annuity calculation instead. CBO estimates that the proportional calculation would increase their initial annual retirement benefit by roughly 55 percent, or by about $12,000, on average. Federal retirement benefits are adjusted annually for inflation and thus generally increase over time. On that basis, CBO estimates that the larger benefits for those retirees would increase direct spending by $14 million over the 2026-2036 period.

H.R. 8844 also would direct OPM to retroactively revise the annuities of any affected officer who retires before enactment to use the proportional annuity calculation. Based on data from CBP, CBO projects that about 70 retired CBPOs would qualify for the revised benefit at the time of enactment. CBO estimates that revising pre-enactment retirement annuities would initially increase annual benefits for the group by about $9,000 each, on average. That amount would increase in future years as annual benefits are adjusted for inflation. Qualifying retirees would receive an adjustment to prior retirement benefits for the proportional annuity calculation. Together, the increase in annual benefits and the retroactive adjustment would increase direct spending by $9 million over the 2026-2036 period, CBO estimates.

Most of the remaining CBPOs who would be affected by the bill were younger than 37 when they were hired and generally would not be eligible to retire before they complete the 20 years of covered service required to qualify for the enhanced retirement. Thus, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 8844 would not lead to significant costs for that group of officers.

Spending Subject to Appropriation

H.R. 8844 would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to identify and notify anyone affected by the bill and to provide necessary information to OPM to facilitate the processing of any required annuity corrections for that group. CBO estimates that the cost would be less than $500,000 over the 2026-2031 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Uncertainty

CBO’s estimate of the budgetary effects of enacting H.R. 8844 is subject to uncertainty. Retirement decisions depend on a wide variety of individual factors. The actual budgetary effects may be larger or smaller than estimated, depending on how CBPOs respond to eligibility for a proportional annuity and other considerations such as personal savings, disability status, or alternative employment opportunities.

Pay-As-You-Go Considerations

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net changes in outlays that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Table 1.

Increase in Long-Term Net Direct Spending and Deficits

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 8844 would not increase net direct spending by more than $2.5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 8844 would not increase on‑budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.

Mandates

The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

Previous CBO Estimate

On September 23, 2025, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 727, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Retirement Technical Corrections Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on July 30, 2025. S. 727 and H.R. 8844 are identical. The estimated cost to implement H.R. 8844 is greater than for S. 727 primarily because, since CBO prepared the estimate for S. 727, actual and projected pay raises for current employees and projections of cost-of-living increases for retirees have increased.

Estimate Prepared By

Federal Costs: Breanna Browne-Pike

Mandates: Andrew Laughlin

Estimate Reviewed By

Barry Blom
Chief, Projections Unit

Kathleen FitzGerald
Chief, Public and Private Mandates Unit

Christina Hawley Anthony
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis

Estimate Approved By