Title 5Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§7325 Political activity permitted; employees residing in certain municipalities

Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart F— - Labor-Management and Employee Relations › Chapter CHAPTER 73— - SUITABILITY, SECURITY, AND CONDUCT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - POLITICAL ACTIVITIES › § 7325

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

OPM (Office of Personnel Management) can let federal employees take active roles in political campaigns or campaign leadership in the town where they live, even if other rules would normally stop them. That can only happen if the place is the District of Columbia, nearby Maryland or Virginia, or a town where most voters work for the federal government, and only when OPM decides special local circumstances make it in the employees’ personal interest.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §7325

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations permitting employees, without regard to the prohibitions in paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 7323(a) and paragraph (2) of section 7323(b) of this title, to take an active part in political management and political campaigns involving the municipality or other political subdivision in which they reside, to the extent the Office considers it to be in their domestic interest, when—
(1)the municipality or political subdivision is—
(A)the District of Columbia;
(B)in Maryland or Virginia and in the immediate vicinity of the District of Columbia; or
(C)a municipality in which the majority of voters are employed by the Government of the United States; and
(2)the Office determines that because of special or unusual circumstances which exist in the municipality or political subdivision it is in the domestic interest of the employees and individuals to permit that political participation.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 7325, Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 526; Pub. L. 96–54, § 2(a)(44), Aug. 14, 1979, 93 Stat. 384, related to penalties, prior to the general revision of this subchapter by Pub. L. 103–94.

Amendments

2012—Par. (1). Pub. L. 112–230 amended par. (1) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows: “the municipality or political subdivision is in Maryland or Virginia and in the immediate vicinity of the District of Columbia, or is a municipality in which the majority of voters are employed by the Government of the United States; and”. 1996—Pub. L. 104–93 inserted “and paragraph (2) of section 7323(b)” after “section 7323(a)”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2012 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 112–230 effective 30 days after Dec. 28, 2012, see section 5(a) of Pub. L. 112–230, set out as a note under section 1501 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 7325

Title 5Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73