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116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 6353
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for the availability
of prompts and services of certain Department of Veterans Affairs toll-
free telephone numbers and business lines in Spanish, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 23, 2020
Mr. KHANNA (for himself, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. COOK, and Mr. HURD 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 provide for
the availability of prompts and services of certain De-
partment of Veterans Affairs toll-free telephone numbers
and business lines in Spanish, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Increasing Access for
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Veterans and Their Survivors Act of 2020’’.
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SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF PROMPTS AND SERVICES OF DE-
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PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TOLL-
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FREE TELEPHONE NUMBERS IN SPANISH.
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(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the
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date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans
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Affairs shall ensure that the covered toll-free telephone
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number of the Department of Veterans Affairs includes—
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(1) a Spanish prompt; and
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(2) the functionality of directing callers who are
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connected to each business telephone line of the De-
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partment to a Department employee who is able to
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speak Spanish fluently or to a translation service to
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provide assistance.
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(b) SPANISH PROMPT.—The Spanish prompt re-
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quired by subsection (a) shall include—
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(1) the option to hear routing options in Span-
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ish, including descriptions of the business telephone
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lines of the Department to which callers may be
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transferred to in order to obtain information or as-
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sistance; and
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(2) the option to speak to an employee who
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speaks Spanish and who will provide the same qual-
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ity of assistance as that available to callers in
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English.
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(c) TRANSLATION SERVICE PROTOCOL.—If the Sec-
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retary provides assistance through a translation service
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•HR 6353 IH
under subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall establish a
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fact sheet and protocol outlining the appropriate protocol
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to use the translation service.
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(d) COVERED TOLL-FREE NUMBER.—For purposes
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of this section, the covered toll-free telephone number of
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the Department is (800) 827-1000 or any telephone num-
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ber that is used to provide the same or similar functions.
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(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 days
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after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
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shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of
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the Senate and House of Representatives a report on the
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status of implementing this section. Such report shall in-
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clude—
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(1) the status of the implementation of the re-
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quirements of this section;
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(2) the date on which the implementation of the
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requirements of this section is expected to be com-
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pleted; and
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(3) a description of any additional support or
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resources needed to implement such requirements.
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Æ
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