[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4613 Engrossed in House (EH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4613

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and maintain a 
 website of the Department that allows the public to obtain electronic 
copies of certain legislatively requested reports 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 ``VA Reporting Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
              WEBSITE TO LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORTS OF THE 
              DEPARTMENT.

    (a) Requirement To Allow Access Online.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and 
        maintain a website of the Department that allows the public to 
        obtain electronic copies of all legislatively requested reports 
        required to be submitted after the date of the enactment of 
        this Act.
            (2) Existing resources.--To the extent possible, the 
        Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) by using existing 
        online resources administered by the Secretary.
    (b) Content and Function.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
website includes the following:
            (1) With respect to each legislatively requested report, 
        each of the following:
                    (A) A citation to the statute requiring the report.
                    (B) An electronic copy of the report, including any 
                transmittal letter associated with the report, that is 
                platform independent and available to the public 
                without restrictions, including restrictions that would 
                impede the reuse of the information in the report. 
                Where practicable, the report shall be in an open 
                format.
                    (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the extent 
                practicable, through searches based on each, and any 
                combination, of the following:
                            (i) The title of the report.
                            (ii) The date of publication.
                            (iii) Any congressional committee or 
                        subcommittee receiving the report.
                            (iv) The Act of Congress or conference 
                        report that requests the report.
                            (v) Subject tags.
                            (vi) A unique alphanumeric identifier for 
                        the report that is consistent across report 
                        editions.
                            (vii) Any serial number, Superintendent of 
                        Documents number, or other identification 
                        number for the report.
                            (viii) Key words.
                            (ix) Full text search.
                            (x) Any other information the Secretary 
                        determines appropriate.
                    (D) The date on which the report was required to be 
                submitted to the website.
                    (E) The date on which the report was submitted to 
                the website.
                    (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent means of 
                accessing the report electronically.
            (2) A means for bulk download of all legislatively 
        requested reports.
            (3) A means for downloading individual reports as the 
        result of a search.
            (4) In tabular form, a list of all legislatively requested 
        reports that can be searched, sorted, and downloaded by--
                    (A) reports submitted within the required time;
                    (B) reports submitted after the date on which such 
                reports were required to be submitted; and
                    (C) reports not submitted.
    (c) Deadline.--The Secretary shall ensure that information required 
to be published on the website under this Act with respect to a 
legislatively requested report submitted after the period under 
subsection (a)(1) is published not earlier than 30 days after the 
report is submitted and not later than 45 days after the report is 
submitted.
    (d) Notice on Website of Withheld Reports.--If, at the time a 
requirement or request for a legislatively requested report is made 
pursuant to an Act of Congress or a conference report, Congress 
includes in such Act or conference report, as the case may be, specific 
language exempting the report from publication on a website under this 
section, the Secretary shall publish on such website the title of the 
report and notice that Congress exempted the report from publication.
    (e) Free Access.--The Secretary may not charge a fee, require 
registration, or impose any other limitation in exchange for access to 
the website.

SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

    (a) In General.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to--
            (1) require the disclosure of information, records, or 
        reports that are exempt from public disclosure under section 
        552 of title 5, United States Code; or
            (2) impose any affirmative duty on the Secretary to review 
        legislatively requested reports submitted for publication to 
        the website for the purpose of identifying and redacting such 
        information or records.
    (b) Redaction of Information.--The Secretary may redact information 
required to be disclosed under this Act if the information would be 
properly withheld from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 
States Code, and shall--
            (1) redact information required to be disclosed under this 
        Act if disclosure of such information is prohibited by law;
            (2) redact only such information properly withheld under 
        this subsection from the submission of information or from any 
        legislatively requested report submitted under this Act;
            (3) identify where any such redaction is made in the 
        submission or report; and
            (4) identify the exemption under which each such redaction 
        is made.

SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED.

    (a) Recurring Reports That the Secretary Recommends 
Discontinuing.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
regarding recurring legislatively requested reports that the Secretary 
recommends discontinuing not later than--
            (1) 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act; 
        and
            (2) 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Compliance of VA Website With Federal Statutes, Regulations, 
Rules, and Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
regarding the compliance of the website of the Department with Federal 
statutes, regulations, rules, and guidance regarding transparency for 
and access by the public and Congress, including requirements for links 
and information subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 
and the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-452).

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Legislatively requested report.--The term 
        ``legislatively requested report'' means a report to be 
        submitted by the Secretary to either house of Congress or any 
        committee of Congress or subcommittee thereof pursuant to--
                    (A) an Act of Congress enacted not more than 8 
                years before the date of the enactment of this Act; or
                    (B) a conference report adopted not more than 8 
                years before the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Open format.--The term ``open format'' means a file 
        format for storing digital data based on an underlying open 
        standard that--
                    (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions that 
                would impede reuse; and
                    (B) is based on an underlying open data standard 
                that is maintained by a standards organization.
            (3) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Veterans Affairs.

            Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 2020.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.
116th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 4613

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and maintain a 
 website of the Department that allows the public to obtain electronic 
copies of certain legislatively requested reports of the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.