[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6874 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6874

 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a system or 
     process to actively monitor the veteran self-service and data 
 transmission functions of the main internet website of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs for certain adverse events, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 19, 2023

 Mr. Rosendale (for himself and Mr. Williams of Texas) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a system or 
     process to actively monitor the veteran self-service and data 
 transmission functions of the main internet website of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs for certain adverse events, 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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Watching over Electronic Benefits Act'' or the ``VA WEB Act''.

SEC. 2. SYSTEM OR PROCESS TO ACTIVELY MONITOR CERTAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE 
              COVERED WEBSITE FOR ADVERSE EVENTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall develop 
and implement a system or process to actively monitor certain functions 
of the covered website, including covered features and any underlying 
interface or system, for adverse events. The Secretary may use the 
authority under section 701(a) of the Sergeant First Class Heath 
Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 
2022 (Public Law 117-168; 38 U.S.C. 324 note) to carry out this 
subsection.
    (b) System or Process Requirements.--The Secretary shall ensure 
that the system or process developed under subsection (a) is designed 
to monitor, and log and store data, with respect to--
            (1) the volume of traffic to the covered website;
            (2) the number of submissions made using a covered feature;
            (3) software updates or other modifications to a covered 
        feature or underlying interface or system;
            (4) needs, deficiencies, or obsolescence of a covered 
        feature or underlying interface or system;
            (5) adverse events, including--
                    (A) the date and time of any such adverse event;
                    (B) the number of users of the covered website who 
                were affected by the adverse event;
                    (C) the number of submissions affected by the 
                adverse event; and
                    (D) any factor related to an underlying interface 
                or system that caused or contributed to the adverse 
                event; and
            (6) any other factors, as determined by the Secretary.
    (c) Notice and Report Regarding Certain Adverse Events.--
            (1) Notice.--In the case of any significant adverse event 
        affecting the covered website, not later than 30 days after the 
        date of such event, the Secretary shall submit to the 
        Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of 
        Representatives notice of the event, including a description of 
        the event.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 30 days after receiving a 
        request from the Chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of 
        the Senate or the Chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
        of the House of Representatives for a report about an adverse 
        event, including a significant adverse event, the Secretary 
        shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the 
        Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the adverse 
        event covered by the request. Each such report shall include--
                    (A) a description of the adverse event;
                    (B) the date and time when the adverse event began 
                and ended;
                    (C) the number of users of the covered website who 
                were affected;
                    (D) the number of submissions made using a covered 
                feature that were affected; and
                    (E) a description of any underlying interface or 
                system that was affected.
            (3) Sunset.--The requirements under this subsection shall 
        expire on the date that is seven years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
    (d) Report Regarding Exercise of Certain Authority.--If the 
Secretary exercises authority under section 701(a) of the Sergeant 
First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address 
Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-168; 38 U.S.C. 324 
note) to carry out subsection (a), not later than 30 days after the 
date on which the Secretary first exercises such authority for such 
purpose, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' 
Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives and the 
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives a report about the exercise of such authority. Such 
report shall include--
            (1) the cost of implementing the system or process 
        developed under subsection (a);
            (2) a description of any modernization or replacement of an 
        underlying interface or system necessary to implement the 
        system or process;
            (3) an identification of any ways in which the covered 
        website and any underlying interface or system is susceptible 
        to any adverse event; and
            (4) a description of how the Secretary plans to eliminate 
        or mitigate, to the extent possible, any such susceptibility.
    (e) Testing Strategy.--Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary for Information and 
Technology of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the 
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives a strategy to reduce the occurrence of adverse events 
by improving testing for each modification or software update to a 
covered feature or underlying system or interface.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``adverse event'' means, with respect to the 
        covered website, including covered features--
                    (A) a failure to properly receive or process a 
                submission;
                    (B) a system outage;
                    (C) an error in an underlying interface or system 
                that prevents the transmission of data;
                    (D) a deficiency in information storage capacity;
                    (E) a loss of data;
                    (F) a presentation of incorrect information;
                    (G) an error regarding a status notification; or
                    (H) any similar event that affects a function of 
                the covered website, as determined by the Secretary.
            (2) The term ``covered feature'' means any feature or 
        function of the covered website for use in the facilitation of 
        the application, maintenance, or receipt of benefits under the 
        laws administered by the Secretary.
            (3) The term ``covered website'' means the main internet 
        website of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (4) The term ``significant adverse event'', with respect to 
        the covered website, including covered features, means an 
        adverse event that affects 1,000 or more users of, or 
        submissions to, the covered website.
            (5) The term ``underlying interface or system'' means--
                    (A) any information technology system that 
                transmits data through, or accepts data from, a covered 
                feature; or
                    (B) any mechanism through which any such 
                information technology system connects and interacts 
                with the covered website.
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