II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 899 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the requirements 

that new Federal employees who are veterans with service-connected 

disabilities are provided leave for purposes of undergoing medical treatment for such disabilities apply to certain employees of the Veterans 

Health Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7, 2017 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the 

requirements that new Federal employees who are veterans with service-connected disabilities are provided 

leave for purposes of undergoing medical treatment for 

such disabilities apply to certain employees of the Veterans Health Administration, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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•S 899 IS

1 SECTION 1. APPLICATION OF FEDERAL LEAVE POLICY FOR 

2 DISABLED VETERANS TO EMPLOYEES OF 

3 VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION AND 

4 RESTATEMENT OF EXISTING LEAVE TRANS5 FER PROGRAM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 74 of 

7 title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

8 section 7423 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 7423A. Personnel administration: leave 

10 ‘‘(a) LEAVE TRANSFER PROGRAM.—(1) The Sec11 retary shall establish a leave transfer program for the ben12 efit of health-care professionals in positions listed in sec13 tion 7401(1) of this title. The Secretary may also establish 

14 a leave bank program for the benefit of such health-care 

15 professionals. 

16 ‘‘(2) To the maximum extent feasible— 

17 ‘‘(A) the leave transfer program shall provide 

18 the same or similar requirements and conditions as 

19 are provided for the program established by the Di20 rector of the Office of Personnel Management under 

21 subchapter III of chapter 63 of title 5; and 

22 ‘‘(B) any leave bank program established pur23 suant to paragraph (1) shall be consistent with the 

24 requirements and conditions provided for agency 

25 leave bank programs in subchapter IV of such chap26 ter. 


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•S 899 IS

1 ‘‘(3) Participation by a health-care professional in the 

2 leave transfer program established pursuant to paragraph 

3 (1), and in any leave bank program established pursuant 

4 to such paragraph, shall be voluntary. The Secretary may 

5 not require any health-care professional to participate in 

6 such a program. 

7 ‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary and the Director of the Office 

8 of Personnel Management may enter into an agreement 

9 that permits health-care professionals referred to in para10 graph (1) to participate in the leave transfer program es11 tablished by the Director of the Office of Personnel Man12 agement under subchapter III of chapter 63 of title 5 or 

13 in any leave bank program established for other employees 

14 of the Department pursuant to subchapter IV of chapter 

15 63 of title 5, or both. 

16 ‘‘(B) Participation of such health-care professionals 

17 in a leave transfer program or a leave bank program pur18 suant to an agreement entered into under subparagraph 

19 (A) shall be subject to such requirements and conditions 

20 as may be prescribed in such agreement. 

21 ‘‘(5) The Secretary is not required to establish a leave 

22 transfer program for any personnel permitted to partici23 pate in a leave transfer program pursuant to an agree24 ment referred to in paragraph (4). 


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•S 899 IS

1 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION OF FEDERAL LEAVE POLICY FOR

2 DISABLED VETERANS.—Section 6329 of title 5 shall apply 

3 to all health-care professionals in positions listed in section 

4 7401(1) of this title.’’. 

5 (b) REPEAL OF TRANSFERRED AUTHORITY.—Sec6 tion 7423 of such title is amended— 

7 (1) by striking subsection (e); and 

8 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub9 section (e). 

10 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

11 at the beginning of chapter 74 of such title is amended 

12 by inserting after the item relating to section 7423 the 

13 following new item: 

‘‘7423A. Personnel administration: leave.’’. 

Æ 


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