[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2302 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2302

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs to notify Congress of conferences sponsored by the 
                    Department of Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2011

 Mr. Stutzman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs to notify Congress of conferences sponsored by the 
                    Department of Veterans Affairs.

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

SECTION 1. NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS OF CONFERENCES SPONSORED BY THE 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 5 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 517. Notification to Congress of conferences sponsored by the 
              Department
    ``(a) Notification.--Not later than 180 days before the date on 
which a covered conference begins, the Secretary shall notify the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate of such conference, 
including the estimated costs to the Department.
    ``(b) Report on Costs.--Not later than 60 days after the date on 
which a covered conference ends, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate a report that includes an 
accounting of the final costs of the conference to the Department.
    ``(c) Covered Conference Defined.--In this section, the term 
`covered conference' means a conference, meeting, or other similar 
forum that is sponsored or co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs and is--
            ``(1) held for a period of three or more days, beginning at 
        the time of initial on-site registration and ending at the time 
        the final event is completed;
            ``(2) attended by 20 or more individuals, including one or 
        more employees of the Department; or
            ``(3) estimated to cost the Department at least $5,000, 
        including costs related to--
                    ``(A) transportation and parking;
                    ``(B) per diem payments;
                    ``(C) lodging;
                    ``(D) rental of halls, auditoriums, or other 
                spaces;
                    ``(E) rental of equipment;
                    ``(F) refreshments;
                    ``(G) entertainment;
                    ``(H) contractors; and
                    ``(I) brochures or other printed media.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by adding after the item relating to section 
516 the following:

``517. Notification to Congress of conferences sponsored by the 
                            Department.''.
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