{ "id": "R44123", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44123", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 452822, "date": "2015-09-03", "retrieved": "2016-06-21T21:21:19.588819", "title": "VA Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1994) as Passed by the House ", "summary": "This report describes H.R. 1994, 114th Congress, 1st Session, the VA Accountability Act of 2015, as passed by the House on July 29, 2015, and compares its sections to current law where appropriate. Sections 1 through 10 were reported by the Committee on Veterans Affairs. Section 11 was added as a floor amendment.\nSection 1 is the short title, \u201cVA Accountability Act of 2015.\u201d Section 2 would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to expedite removing or demoting most employees for misconduct. Section 3 would require an individual appointed to a permanent position in the competitive service or as a career appointee in the Senior Executive Service (SES) to serve an 18-month probationary period before the appointment would become final. Section 4 would establish a process for handling whistleblower complaints.\nSection 5 would establish specific requirements for VA\u2019s senior executive performance appraisal system and would require the Secretary of the VA to reassign senior executives to a new position at least every five years. It would also require a review of, and a plan for improvements to, the current management training program for senior executives. Section 6 would provide authority to reduce retirement benefits under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees\u2019 Retirement System (FERS) for certain former SES employees at the VA who were removed from service (or separated from SES employment before a final removal decision was issued) and convicted of a felony that influenced performance in that position.\nSection 7 would provide that an employee of the department (1) who is subject to an investigation for purposes of determining whether he or she should be subject to any disciplinary action under Title 38 or Title 5 of the U.S.C., or (2) against whom any disciplinary action is proposed or initiated under Title 38 or Title 5 could not be placed on administrative leave, or any other type of paid non-duty status without charge to leave, for more than 14 days during any 365-day period.\nSection 8 would provide that an employee, who is testifying in an official capacity before the House of Representatives or the Senate, a House or Senate committee, or a joint or select committee of Congress, is performing official duty when engaged in such activity.\nSection 9 would limit the aggregate amount of awards and bonuses that could be paid to employees under 5 U.S.C. Chapter 45 or 5 U.S.C. Chapter 53, or any other awards or bonuses authorized under 38 U.S.C., to $300 million in each of the fiscal years FY2015 through FY2018, and $360 million in each of the fiscal years FY2019 through FY2024.\nSection 10 would require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on the amount of time department employees spent in carrying out organizing activities related to labor organizations and the amount of space in department facilities used for such activities.\nSection 11 would direct the VA Inspector General to submit a report that addresses a public health or safety issue relating to employee misconduct to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs when submitting it to the VA Secretary. It would require the Secretary to direct a responsible manager to resolve the issue; include in a manager\u2019s performance review an evaluation regarding whether the manager took appropriate actions to resolve it; and deny any bonus to a manager if the issue is not resolved.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44123", "sha1": "32119c7003cd8ea0ca04c4836d9ea1dd112905a5", "filename": "files/20150903_R44123_32119c7003cd8ea0ca04c4836d9ea1dd112905a5.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44123", "sha1": "c599bb74163d9f63f7d22bdf6883f793807b04c6", "filename": "files/20150903_R44123_c599bb74163d9f63f7d22bdf6883f793807b04c6.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc743477/", "id": "R44123_2015Jul27", "date": "2015-07-27", "retrieved": "2015-10-20T21:35:54", "title": "VA Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1994), as Reported to the House", "summary": "This report describes the VA Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1994) as reported to the House by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs on July 23 2015 and compares it to current law where appropriate.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20150727_R44123_c3d18f2f15ed3ae4daa8dea7d5418483960b74c7.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20150727_R44123_c3d18f2f15ed3ae4daa8dea7d5418483960b74c7.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Veterans", "name": "Veterans" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Veterans' hospitals", "name": "Veterans' hospitals" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Veterans' medical care", "name": "Veterans' medical care" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Veterans' benefits", "name": "Veterans' benefits" } ] } ], "topics": [ "American Law", "Domestic Social Policy", "Economic Policy", "Veterans Policy" ] }