COMMISSION PROFESSIONAL ECONOMISTS.

SEC. 203. COMMISSION PROFESSIONAL ECONOMISTS. Section 4(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78d(b)) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following: “(2) Economists.— “(A) Commission authority.—Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 51 of title 5, United States Code, the Commission is authorized— “(i) to establish its own criteria for the selection of such professional economists as the Commission deems necessary to carry out the work of the Commission; “(ii) to appoint directly such professional economists as the Commission deems qualified; and “(iii) to fix and adjust the compensation of any professional economist appointed under this paragraph, without regard to the provisions of chapter 54 of title 5, United States Code, or subchapters II, III, or VIII of chapter 53, of title 5, United States Code. “(B) Limitation on compensation.—No base compensation fixed for an economist under this paragraph may exceed the pay for Level IV of the Executive Schedule, and no payments to an economist appointed under this paragraph shall exceed the limitation on certain payments in section 5307 of title 5, United States Code. 112 STAT. 3235 “(C) Other benefits.—All professional economists appointed under this paragraph shall remain within the existing civil service system with respect to employee benefits.”.