Department of Veterans Affairs Website Accessibility Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 746 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on the accessibility of websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs to individ- uals with disabilities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2019 Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. MORAN) 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 conduct a study on the accessibility of websites of the Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs to individuals with disabilities, 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 ‘‘Department of Vet- 4 erans Affairs Website Accessibility Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S746.IS S746 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 746 IS SEC. 2. STUDY ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF WEBSITES OF 1 THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 2 TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 3 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 180 days after the date 4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 5 Affairs shall conduct a study of all websites of the Depart- 6 ment of Veterans Affairs to determine whether such 7 websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 8 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 9 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). 10 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after com- 11 pleting the study under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 12 submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen- 13 ate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House 14 of Representatives a report on such study. 15 (c) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 16 (b) shall include the following: 17 (1) A list of each website described in sub- 18 section (a) that is not accessible to individuals with 19 disabilities in accordance with section 508 of the Re- 20 habilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). 21 (2) For each website identified in the list under 22 paragraph (1)— 23 (A) the plan of the Secretary to bring the 24 website into compliance with the requirements 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S746.IS S746 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 746 IS of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 1 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 2 (B) a description of the barriers to bring- 3 ing the website into compliance with the re- 4 quirements of such section, including any bar- 5 riers relating to staffing. 6 (d) WEBSITE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 7 ‘‘website’’ includes the following: 8 (1) A file attached to a website. 9 (2) A web-based application. 10 (3) A kiosk at a medical facility of the Depart- 11 ment of Veterans Affairs, the use of which is re- 12 quired to check in for scheduled appointments. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:05 Mar 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S746.IS S746 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS