[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5881 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5881

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain employees of 
    Members of Congress and certain employees of local governmental 
agencies with access to case-tracking information of the Department of 
                           Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 31, 2012

   Mr. Runyan (for himself and Mr. Walz of Minnesota) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain employees of 
    Members of Congress and certain employees of local governmental 
agencies with access to case-tracking information of 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Access to Veterans Benefits 
Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 59 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 5906. Provision of access to case-tracking information
    ``(a) In General.--(1) The Secretary shall provide a covered 
employee with access to the case-tracking system to provide a veteran 
with information regarding the status of a claim submitted by such 
veteran, regardless of whether such employee is acting under a power of 
attorney executed by such veteran.
    ``(2) In providing a covered employee with access to the case-
tracking system under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure that 
such access--
            ``(A) is provided in a manner that does not allow such 
        employee to modify the data contained in such system; and
            ``(B) does not include access to medical records.
    ``(b) Treatment of Disclosure.--The access to information by a 
covered employee pursuant to subsection (a) shall be deemed to be--
            ``(1) a covered disclosure under section 552a(b) of title 
        5; and
            ``(2) a permitted disclosure under regulations promulgated 
        under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and 
        Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d-2 note).
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `case-tracking system' means the system of 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs that provides information 
        regarding the status of a claim submitted by a veteran.
            ``(2) The term `covered employee' means an employee of a 
        Member of Congress or an employee of a State or local 
        governmental agency (including a veterans service officer) who, 
        in the course of carrying out the responsibilities of such 
        employment, assists veterans with claims for any benefit under 
        the laws administered by the Secretary.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``5906. Provision of access to case-tracking information.''.
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