[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5981 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5981

 To amend title 44, United States Code, to prohibit the Archivist from 
charging certain fees to veterans for destroyed records regarding such 
                   veterans, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 2018

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 44, United States Code, to prohibit the Archivist from 
charging certain fees to veterans for destroyed records regarding such 
                   veterans, 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.

SECTION 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Due to a disastrous fire at the National Personnel 
        Records Center in 1973, approximately 16-18 million documents 
        regarding veterans were lost due to no fault of the veterans.
            (2) The fee for restoring a document from this disaster 
        that is more than 62 years old and more than five pages long is 
        $70. For documents over 62 years old and shorter than five 
        pages, the fee is $25.
            (3) In 2017, the National Archives and Records 
        Administration--
                    (A) received over 1.2 million requests for military 
                records; and
                    (B) charged fees to approximately 60,000 veterans 
                for records.
            (4) The Director of the National Personnel Record Center 
        has not formally issued policy guidance pertaining to fees for 
        destroyed records regarding veterans.
            (5) Veterans have sacrificed their lives to preserve our 
        freedom and liberty.
            (6) Congress recognizes the sacrifices made by veterans and 
        reaffirms the strong commitment of the United States to its 
        veterans.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN FEES FOR DESTROYED RECORDS OF THE 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 21 of title 44, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 2121. Prohibition on certain fees for destroyed records of the 
              Department of Veterans Affairs
    ``(a) In General.--The Archivist may not charge a fee to a veteran 
who requests a record regarding that veteran if the record was 
destroyed--
            ``(1) by an individual other than that veteran; and
            ``(2) in a manner not in accord with chapter 3.
    ``(b) Veteran Defined.--The term `veteran' has the meaning given 
that term in section 101 of title 38.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 21 of title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new item:

        ``2121. Prohibition on certain fees for destroyed records of 
                            the Department of Veterans Affairs.''.
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