RECORDS Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3710 To direct the Archivist of the United States to address certain record request backlogs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Mr. KELLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To direct the Archivist of the United States to address certain record request backlogs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reopening to address 4 Every COmplete Record request for Devoted 5 Servicemembers Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘RECORDS Act of 6 2021’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:54 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3710.IH H3710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3710 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER BACK- 1 LOG REDUCTION. 2 (a) STAFFING LEVELS.—Not later than 30 days after 3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Archivist of the 4 United States shall take such actions as are necessary to 5 ensure— 6 (1) the number of individuals employed by the 7 National Personnel Records Center is equal to or ex- 8 ceeds the number of such individuals employed on 9 March 2, 2020; and 10 (2) the percentage of such individuals regularly 11 reporting to work in person is equal to or exceeds 12 the percentage of such individuals regularly report- 13 ing to work in person on March 2, 2020. 14 (b) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Archivist 17 of the United States shall submit to the appropriate 18 congressional committees a report that— 19 (A) provides a comprehensive plan to ad- 20 dress the record request backlog of the National 21 Personnel Records Center and improve the effi- 22 ciency and responsiveness of operations at the 23 Center; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:54 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3710.IH H3710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3710 IH (B) identifies measurable goals with re- 1 spect to the comprehensive plan and metrics for 2 tracking progress toward such goals; and 3 (C) describes strategies to prevent future 4 record request backlogs, including backlogs 5 caused by an event that prevents employees of 6 the Center from reporting to work in person. 7 (2) UPDATES.—Not later than 90 days after 8 submission of the report required under paragraph 9 (1) and quarterly thereafter, the Archivist of the 10 United States shall submit to the appropriate con- 11 gressional committees an update of such report 12 that— 13 (A) describes progress made by the Na- 14 tional Personnel Records Center during the pre- 15 ceding 90-day period with respect to record re- 16 quest backlog reduction and efficiency and re- 17 sponsiveness improvement; 18 (B) provides data on progress made to- 19 ward the goals identified in such report; and 20 (C) describes any changes made to the 21 comprehensive plan provided in such report. 22 (3) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.—In car- 23 rying out this subsection, the Archivist of the United 24 States shall consult with the Secretary of Veterans 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:54 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3710.IH H3710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3710 IH Affairs on best practices for reducing record request 1 backlogs. 2 (4) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 3 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap- 4 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 5 (A) in the House of Representatives— 6 (i) the Committee on Oversight and 7 Reform; and 8 (ii) the Committee on Veterans’ Af- 9 fairs; and 10 (B) in the Senate— 11 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu- 12 rity and Governmental Affairs; and 13 (ii) the Committee on Veterans’ Af- 14 fairs. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:54 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3710.IH H3710 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS