VA Reporting Transparency Act

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 4613 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 27, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 4613 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Reporting Trans- 2 parency Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH DEPART- 4 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WEBSITE TO 5 LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORTS OF 6 THE DEPARTMENT. 7 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW ACCESS ONLINE.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 10 shall establish and maintain a website of the Depart- 11 ment that allows the public to obtain electronic cop- 12 ies of all legislatively requested reports required to 13 be submitted after the date of the enactment of this 14 Act. 15 (2) EXISTING RESOURCES.—To the extent pos- 16 sible, the Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) by 17 using existing online resources administered by the 18 Secretary. 19 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Secretary shall 20 ensure that the website includes the following: 21 (1) With respect to each legislatively requested 22 report, each of the following: 23 (A) A citation to the statute requiring the 24 report. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 4613 RFS (B) An electronic copy of the report, in- 1 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 2 the report, that is platform independent and 3 available to the public without restrictions, in- 4 cluding restrictions that would impede the reuse 5 of the information in the report. Where prac- 6 ticable, the report shall be in an open format. 7 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 8 extent practicable, through searches based on 9 each, and any combination, of the following: 10 (i) The title of the report. 11 (ii) The date of publication. 12 (iii) Any congressional committee or 13 subcommittee receiving the report. 14 (iv) The Act of Congress or confer- 15 ence report that requests the report. 16 (v) Subject tags. 17 (vi) A unique alphanumeric identifier 18 for the report that is consistent across re- 19 port editions. 20 (vii) Any serial number, Superinten- 21 dent of Documents number, or other iden- 22 tification number for the report. 23 (viii) Key words. 24 (ix) Full text search. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 4613 RFS (x) Any other information the Sec- 1 retary determines appropriate. 2 (D) The date on which the report was re- 3 quired to be submitted to the website. 4 (E) The date on which the report was sub- 5 mitted to the website. 6 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 7 means of accessing the report electronically. 8 (2) A means for bulk download of all legisla- 9 tively requested reports. 10 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 11 as the result of a search. 12 (4) In tabular form, a list of all legislatively re- 13 quested reports that can be searched, sorted, and 14 downloaded by— 15 (A) reports submitted within the required 16 time; 17 (B) reports submitted after the date on 18 which such reports were required to be sub- 19 mitted; and 20 (C) reports not submitted. 21 (c) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall ensure that in- 22 formation required to be published on the website under 23 this Act with respect to a legislatively requested report 24 submitted after the period under subsection (a)(1) is pub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 4613 RFS lished not earlier than 30 days after the report is sub- 1 mitted and not later than 45 days after the report is sub- 2 mitted. 3 (d) NOTICE ON WEBSITE OF WITHHELD REPORTS.— 4 If, at the time a requirement or request for a legislatively 5 requested report is made pursuant to an Act of Congress 6 or a conference report, Congress includes in such Act or 7 conference report, as the case may be, specific language 8 exempting the report from publication on a website under 9 this section, the Secretary shall publish on such website 10 the title of the report and notice that Congress exempted 11 the report from publication. 12 (e) FREE ACCESS.—The Secretary may not charge 13 a fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 14 in exchange for access to the website. 15 SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA- 16 TION ACT. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con- 18 strued to— 19 (1) require the disclosure of information, 20 records, or reports that are exempt from public dis- 21 closure under section 552 of title 5, United States 22 Code; or 23 (2) impose any affirmative duty on the Sec- 24 retary to review legislatively requested reports sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 4613 RFS mitted for publication to the website for the purpose 1 of identifying and redacting such information or 2 records. 3 (b) REDACTION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 4 may redact information required to be disclosed under this 5 Act if the information would be properly withheld from 6 disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States 7 Code, and shall— 8 (1) redact information required to be disclosed 9 under this Act if disclosure of such information is 10 prohibited by law; 11 (2) redact only such information properly with- 12 held under this subsection from the submission of 13 information or from any legislatively requested re- 14 port submitted under this Act; 15 (3) identify where any such redaction is made 16 in the submission or report; and 17 (4) identify the exemption under which each 18 such redaction is made. 19 SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED. 20 (a) RECURRING REPORTS THAT THE SECRETARY 21 RECOMMENDS DISCONTINUING.—The Secretary shall 22 submit to Congress a report regarding recurring legisla- 23 tively requested reports that the Secretary recommends 24 discontinuing not later than— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 4613 RFS (1) 180 days after the date of the enactment of 1 this Act; and 2 (2) 2 years after the date of the enactment of 3 this Act. 4 (b) COMPLIANCE OF VA WEBSITE WITH FEDERAL 5 STATUTES, REGULATIONS, RULES, AND GUIDANCE.—Not 6 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 7 this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 8 regarding the compliance of the website of the Department 9 with Federal statutes, regulations, rules, and guidance re- 10 garding transparency for and access by the public and 11 Congress, including requirements for links and informa- 12 tion subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 13 and the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95– 14 452). 15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 16 In this Act: 17 (1) LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORT.—The 18 term ‘‘legislatively requested report’’ means a report 19 to be submitted by the Secretary to either house of 20 Congress or any committee of Congress or sub- 21 committee thereof pursuant to— 22 (A) an Act of Congress enacted not more 23 than 8 years before the date of the enactment 24 of this Act; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 4613 RFS (B) a conference report adopted not more 1 than 8 years before the date of the enactment 2 of this Act. 3 (2) OPEN FORMAT.—The term ‘‘open format’’ 4 means a file format for storing digital data based on 5 an underlying open standard that— 6 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 7 that would impede reuse; and 8 (B) is based on an underlying open data 9 standard that is maintained by a standards or- 10 ganization. 11 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 12 means the Department of Veterans Affairs. 13 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 14 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 15 Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS