[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5464 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5464

 To improve information security for veterans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2006

Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Simmons, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, Mr. 
    McCotter, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Carter, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. 
 Boustany, Mr. Souder, Mr. Foley, Mr. Mack, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Wilson 
of South Carolina, Mr. Chocola, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Ms. Harris, Mrs. 
 Bono, Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Goode, 
Mr. Price of Georgia, Mr. Shays, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Poe, 
and Mr. Issa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve information security for veterans, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Identity Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRED AVAILABILITY OF FREE CREDIT REPORTS AND CREDIT 
              MONITORING TO VETERANS.

    (a) Required Notification.--Not later than 60 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
provide to each veteran described in subsection (b) a notice in 
writing. The notice shall--
            (1) inform the veteran that information about the veteran 
        was included in the data of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
        that was stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans 
        Affairs employee around May 22, 2006;
            (2) inform the veteran of the nature of the breach of 
        confidentiality of personal records that are held by the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, as required by section 5901 of 
        title 38, United States Code; and
            (3) inform the veteran that the veteran (using the form 
        provided pursuant to subsection (c)) may request a free credit 
        report once every three months for the next year and free 
        monitoring of the veteran's credit report for the next year.
    (b) Covered Veterans.--Veterans described in this subsection are 
the veterans whose names or other personal identifying information were 
part in the data of the Department of Veterans Affairs that was stolen 
from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee around May 
22, 2006.
    (c) Election Form for Free Credit Reports and Credit Monitoring.--
The Secretary shall include with each notification under subsection (a) 
a form (with a postage-paid return envelope) by which the veteran 
receiving the notification may request a free credit report once every 
three months for the next year and free monitoring of the veteran's 
credit report for the next year.
    (d) Agreements With Credit Reporting Agencies.--The Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall enter into discussions with the three principal 
credit reporting agencies and conclude such agreements as necessary in 
order to implement elections made by veterans pursuant to subsection 
(c). Any such agreement may include provisions for the Secretary to pay 
the expenses of such a credit reporting agency for compliance with such 
elections.

SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION SECURITY IMPROVEMENT 
              RECOMMENDATIONS.

    (a) Requirement.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, as 
rapidly as feasible, fully implement each of the 16 Information 
Security improvements recommended to the Secretary by the Inspector 
General of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Inspector 
General's report on the March 2005 audit of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs Information Security Program.
    (b) Penalty for Failure to Implement.--
            (1) Fiscal year 2007.--If as of January 1, 2007, each of 
        the Information Security improvements referred to in subsection 
        (a) is not fully implemented, then effective as of that date, 
        the amount of funds that may be obligated during fiscal year 
        2007 for activities of the Office of the Secretary, within 
        funds available for that fiscal year for General Operating 
        Expenses for the Department of Veterans Affairs, may not exceed 
        90 percent of the amount otherwise specified as available for 
        such activities.
            (2) Subsequent fiscal years.--In any fiscal year after 
        fiscal year 2007 for which, as of January 1 of that fiscal 
        year, each of the Information Security improvements referred to 
        in subsection (a) is not fully implemented, then effective as 
        of that date, the amount of funds that may be obligated during 
        that fiscal year for activities of the Office of the Secretary, 
        within funds available for that fiscal year for General 
        Operating Expenses for the Department of Veterans Affairs, may 
        not exceed the percentage of the amount otherwise specified as 
        available for such activities that is the percentage applicable 
        under this subsection for the preceding fiscal year reduced by 
        10 percentage points.
                                 <all>