[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 114 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 114

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide the public with 
access to research of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 7, 2015

  Mr. Heller introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide the public with 
access to research of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Affairs Research 
Transparency Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC ACCESS TO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS RESEARCH AND 
              DATA SHARING BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.

    (a) Establishment of Internet Website.--The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall make available on an Internet website of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs available to the public the following:
            (1) Data files that contain information on research of the 
        Department.
            (2) A data dictionary on each data file.
            (3) Instructions for how to obtain access to each data file 
        for use in research.
    (b) Public Access to Manuscripts on Department Funded Research.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 540 days after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
        require, as a condition on the use of any data gathered or 
        formulated from research funded by the Department, that any 
        final, peer-reviewed manuscript prepared for publication that 
        uses such data be submitted to the Secretary for--
                    (A) deposit in the digital archive established 
                under paragraph (2); and
                    (B) publication under paragraph (3).
            (2) Establishment of digital archive.--Not later than 540 
        days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
        shall establish a digital archive consisting of manuscripts 
        described in paragraph (1).
            (3) Public availability.--
                    (A) Availability of archive.--The Secretary shall 
                make the digital archive established under paragraph 
                (2) and the contents of such archive available to the 
                public via a publicly accessible Internet website at no 
                cost to the public.
                    (B) Availability of manuscripts.--The Secretary 
                shall ensure that each manuscript submitted to the 
                Secretary under paragraph (1) is available to the 
                public under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph not 
                later than one year after the official date on which 
                the manuscript is otherwise published.
            (4) Consistent with copyright law.--The Secretary shall 
        carry out this subsection in a manner consistent with 
        applicable copyright law.
            (5) Annual report.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than one year after the 
                date the Secretary begins making manuscripts available 
                to the public under this subsection and not less 
                frequently than once each year thereafter, the 
                Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans' 
                Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' 
                Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the 
                implementation of this subsection during the most 
                recent one-year period.
                    (B) Contents.--Each report submitted under 
                subparagraph (A) shall include for the period of the 
                report:
                            (i) The number of manuscripts submitted 
                        under paragraph (1).
                            (ii) The titles of such manuscripts.
                            (iii) The names of the authors of such 
                        manuscripts.
                            (iv) For each such manuscript, the name and 
                        issue number or volume number, as the case may 
                        be, of the journal or other publication in 
                        which such manuscript was published.
    (c) Recommendations for Data Sharing Between Department of Veterans 
Affairs and Department of Defense.--Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs-
Department of Defense Joint Executive Committee established by section 
320(a) of title 38, United States Code, shall submit to the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense options and 
recommendations for establishment of a program for long-term 
cooperation and data sharing between and within the Department of 
Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to facilitate research 
on outcomes of military service, readjustment after combat deployment, 
and other topics of importance to the following:
            (1) Veterans.
            (2) Members of the Armed Forces.
            (3) Family members of veterans.
            (4) Family members of members of the Armed Forces.
            (5) Members of communities that have a significant 
        population of veterans or members of the Armed Forces.
                                 <all>