[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2464 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2464

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the accountability of 
   the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Inspector General of the 
                    Department of Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 20, 2015

  Mr. Benishek (for himself and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following 
     bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the accountability of 
   the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Inspector General 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 ``Demanding Accountability for 
Veterans Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO INSPECTOR 
              GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector General
    ``(a) Submission of Reports.--(1) At the same time as the Inspector 
General of the Department submits to the Secretary a report, the 
Inspector General shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs 
of the Senate and House of Representatives a copy of such report.
    ``(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Inspector General shall 
include--
            ``(A) with respect to each report submitted, an explanation 
        of any changes to the report recommended by the Secretary 
        during the period in which the Inspector General was preparing 
        the report; and
            ``(B) with respect to each covered report, a list of the 
        names of each responsible manager.
    ``(3) The Inspector General may not make public the names of 
responsible managers submitted under paragraph (2)(B).
    ``(b) Performance of Responsible Managers.--(1) The Secretary 
shall--
            ``(A) promptly notify each responsible manager of a covered 
        issue by not later than seven days after the date on which the 
        Inspector General submits a covered report to the Secretary;
            ``(B) direct such manager to resolve such issue; and
            ``(C) provide such manager with appropriate counseling and 
        a mitigation plan with respect to resolving such issue.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any performance review of a 
responsible manager includes an evaluation of whether the manager took 
appropriate actions during the period covered by the review to respond 
to a covered issue.
    ``(3) The Secretary may not pay to a responsible manager any bonus 
or award under chapter 45 or 53 of title 5 or any other bonus or award 
authorized under such title or this title if a covered issue is 
unresolved.
    ``(c) Role of Inspector General.--Any authority of the Inspector 
General provided under this section is in addition to any 
responsibility or authority provided to the Inspector General in the 
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
    ``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `covered issue' means, with respect to a 
        responsible manager, an issue described in a covered report for 
        which the manager is or was responsible.
            ``(2) The term `covered report' means a report by the 
        Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs that 
        recommends actions to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or 
        other official or employee of the Department) to address an 
        issue in the Department with respect to public health or 
        safety.
            ``(3) The term `responsible manager' means an individual 
        who--
                    ``(A) is an employee of the Department;
                    ``(B) is or was responsible for an issue included 
                in a covered report; and
                    ``(C) in being so responsible, is or was employed 
                in a management position, regardless of whether the 
                employee is in the competitive civil service, Senior 
                Executive Service, or other type of civil service.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
711 the following new item:

``712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector General.''.
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