[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5166 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5166

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2016

   Mr. Yoho (for himself, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Rodney Davis of 
 Illinois, Mr. Weber of Texas, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Collins of Georgia, Mr. 
 Nugent, Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mr. Rothfus, Mrs. 
Kirkpatrick, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Babin, Mr. Heck of Nevada, Mr. Sablan, Mr. 
   Thompson of California, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Harper, Mr. 
  Curbelo of Florida, Mrs. Wagner, Mr. Williams, Mr. Jody B. Hice of 
Georgia, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Costa, Mr. 
 Brat, Mr. Rooney of Florida, and Mr. Rangel) 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 State or 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 ``Working to Integrate Networks 
Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act'' or the ``WINGMAN 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) Beginning not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and in accordance with subsection 
(b), the Secretary shall provide an accredited, permanent Congressional 
employee with read-only remote access to the electronic Veterans 
Benefits Administration (VBA) claims records of the veteran they 
represent, regardless of whether such employee is acting under a power 
of attorney executed by such veteran.
    ``(2) In providing an accredited, permanent Congressional employee 
with access to the electronic VBA claims records system under paragraph 
(1), the Secretary shall ensure that such access is provided in a 
manner that does not allow such employee to modify the data contained 
in such system.
    ``(b) Certification Required.--(1) The Secretary may not provide a 
permanent Congressional employee with access to the case-tracking 
system under subsection (a)(1) unless the accredited, permanent 
Congressional employee has successfully completed the certification 
process described in paragraph (2).
    ``(2) The certification process described in this paragraph is the 
certification process that the Secretary requires an agent or attorney 
under this chapter to complete before the agent or attorney may access 
the case-tracking system.
    ``(3) Each Member of Congress who elects to have an accredited, 
permanent Congressional employee of the Member participate in the case-
tracking system under subsection (a)(1) shall bear the cost of the 
certification process described in paragraph (2), to be paid from the 
Member's Representational Allowance.
    ``(c) Treatment of Disclosure.--The access to information by an 
accredited, permanent Congressional employee pursuant to subsection 
(a)(1) 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).
    ``(d) Nonrecognition.--The Secretary may not recognize an 
accredited, permanent Congressional employee for the preparation, 
presentation, and prosecution of claims under laws administered by the 
Secretary by reason of the Secretary providing the accredited, 
permanent Congressional employee with access to the electronic VBA 
claims records system pursuant to subsection (a). An accredited, 
permanent Congressional employee who is provided such access may not 
use such access to act as such a recognized individual.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `electronic VBA claims records system' means 
        the system of the Department of Veterans Affairs that provides 
        information regarding the status of a claim submitted by a 
        veteran, including information regarding medical records, 
        compensation and pension exams records, rating decisions, 
        statement of the case (SOC), supplementary statement of the 
        case (SSOC), notice of disagreement (NOD), and Form-9.
            ``(2) The term `accredited, permanent Congressional 
        employee' means an employee of a Member of Congress who assists 
        the constituents of the Member with issues regarding 
        departments or agencies of the Federal Government.
            ``(3) The term `Member of Congress' means a Representative, 
        a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner 
        of Puerto Rico.''.
    (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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