[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1687 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1687

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that special pay paid 
       to certain physicians and dentists of the Veterans Health 
 Administration who retire before October 1, 1999, shall be considered 
                to be basic pay for retirement purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 1997

  Mr. Stump (for himself, Mr. Evans, Mr. Stearns, and Mr. Gutierrez) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that special pay paid 
       to certain physicians and dentists of the Veterans Health 
 Administration who retire before October 1, 1999, shall be considered 
                to be basic pay for retirement purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. TREATMENT FOR RETIREMENT PURPOSES OF SPECIAL PAY PAID TO 
              PHYSICIANS AND DENTISTS OF THE VETERANS HEALTH 
              ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Crediting of Special Pay for Retirement Purposes.--Section 7438 
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(d)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), special pay paid to a 
physician or dentist described in paragraph (2) who retires from 
Federal service during the period beginning on July 1, 1997, or the 
date of the enactment of this subsection, whichever is later, and 
ending on September 30, 1999, shall be considered to be basic pay for 
the purposes of chapter 83 or 84 of title 5, as appropriate.
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) applies in the case of a physician or dentist 
employed by the Veterans Health Administration--
            ``(A) who is in receipt of special pay under chapter 74 of 
        title 38;
            ``(B) who is eligible to retire from Federal Government 
        service; and
            ``(C) with respect to whom the director of the Department 
        health care facility at which the physician or dentist is 
        employed has determined, and certified to the Under Secretary 
        for Health, that--
                    ``(i) the physician or dentist holds a position 
                which, because of changes in staffing patterns or 
                staffing levels at such facility, is no longer required 
                to be maintained at such facility; and
                    ``(ii) there exists no available position at such 
                facility appropriate to the training and experience of 
                the physician or dentist.
    ``(3) The Secretary shall, for each fiscal year during which 
paragraph (1) is applicable, deposit in the appropriate Federal 
retirement system fund such amount as is necessary to cover the present 
value of the unfunded liability (as estimated by the Office of 
Personnel Management) for costs payable from that fund by reason of 
increases in retirement and survivor annuities due to paragraph (1) 
that are attributable to retirements during that fiscal year. A deposit 
under this paragraph for any fiscal year shall be made from funds 
available to the Secretary for that fiscal year from amounts 
appropriated or otherwise available for the Department of Veterans 
Affairs medical care account.''.
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