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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2072 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2072

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the accountability of 
   the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Inspector General of the 
                    Department of Veterans Affairs.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2013

 Mr. Benishek introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the accountability of 
   the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Inspector General of the 
                    Department of Veterans Affairs.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Demanding Accountability for 
Veterans Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO INSPECTOR 
              GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector General.
    ``(a) List of Managers.--(1) If the Inspector General of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs determines that the Secretary has not 
appropriately responded with significant progress to a covered report 
by the date specified in the action plan of the Secretary developed in 
response to such covered report--
            ``(A) the Inspector General shall notify the Committees on 
        Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives 
        and the Secretary of such failure to appropriately respond; and
            ``(B) not later than 15 days after such notification, the 
        Secretary shall submit to the Inspector General a list of the 
        names of each responsible manager and the matter in the action 
        plan for which the manager is responsible.
    ``(2) The Inspector General may not make public the names of 
responsible managers submitted under paragraph (1)(B).
    ``(b) Performance of Responsible Managers.--(1) The Secretary 
shall--
            ``(A) promptly notify each responsible manager of a covered 
        issue by not later than seven days after the date on which the 
        Secretary submits to the Inspector General the name of the 
        manager under subsection (a)(2);
            ``(B) direct such manager to resolve such issue; and
            ``(C) provide such manager with appropriate counseling and 
        a mitigation plan with respect to resolving such issue.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any performance review of a 
responsible manager includes an evaluation of whether the manager took 
appropriate actions during the period covered by the review to respond 
to the covered issue for which a request was made under subsection (a).
    ``(3) The Secretary may not pay to a responsible manager any bonus 
or award, including a performance award under section 5384 of title 5, 
United States Code, if the covered issue for which a request was made 
under subsection (a) is unresolved.
    ``(c) Role of Inspector General.--Any authority of the Inspector 
General provided under this section is in addition to any 
responsibility or authority provided to the Inspector General in the 
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App).
    ``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `covered issue' means, with respect to a 
        responsible manager, an issue described in a covered report for 
        which the manager is or was responsible.
            ``(2) The term `covered report' means a report by the 
        Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs that 
        recommends actions to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or 
        other official or employee of the Department) to address an 
        issue in the Department with respect to public health or 
        safety.
            ``(3) The term `responsible manager' means an individual 
        who--
                    ``(A) is an employee of the Department;
                    ``(B) is or was responsible for an issue included 
                in a covered report; and
                    ``(C) in being so responsible, is or was employed 
                in a management position, regardless of whether the 
                employee is in the competitive civil service, Senior 
                Executive Service, or other type of civil service.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
711 the following new item:

``712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector General.''.
                                 <all>
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