IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2429 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 16, 2021 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

staffing, transparency, and accountability of the law enforcement operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Police Improve3 ment and Accountability Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO TRANSPARENCY OF LAW EN5 FORCEMENT OPERATIONS OF DEPARTMENT 

6 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

7 (a) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Section 902 of 

8 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall publish on the internet 

11 website of each facility of the Department the following 

12 information with respect to the facility: 

13 ‘‘(A) Summaries and statistics covering the pre14 vious five-year period regarding— 

15 ‘‘(i) arrests made by and tickets issued by 

16 Department police officers; 

17 ‘‘(ii) prosecutions, ticketing, and other ac18 tions relating to such arrests; 

19 ‘‘(iii) the use of force and weapons dis20 charge by Department police officers; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) complaints, investigations, and dis22 ciplinary actions regarding Department police 

23 officers. 

24 ‘‘(B) Contact information for employees of the 

25 Department and the public to directly contact the 

26 police force of the facility, including for an indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429

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1 vidual (or the representative, attorney, or authorized 

2 agent of the individual) to request information re3 garding the arrest, ticketing, detainment, use of 

4 force, or other police matters pertaining to that indi5 vidual. 

6 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that each police force 

7 of a facility of the Department is able to provide to an 

8 individual who contacts the police force pursuant to para9 graph (1)(B) the information described in such para10 graph.’’. 

11 (b) USE OF BODY WORN CAMERAS BY DEPARTMENT

12 POLICE OFFICERS.— 

13 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Subsection (a) of such 

14 section 902 is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(3) Beginning not later than 180 days after the date 

17 of the enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall 

18 require Department police officers to use cameras worn 

19 on the individual police officer’s person that record and 

20 store audio and video (commonly known as ‘body worn 

21 cameras’).’’. 

22 (2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than one year after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

24 shall issue, and make publicly available, guidance on 

25 the use of body worn cameras by Department police 


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1 officers pursuant to section 902(a)(3) of title 38, 

2 United States Code, as amended by paragraph (1). 

3 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall issue 

4 the guidance under paragraph (2) in consultation 

5 with veterans service organizations, civil rights orga6 nizations, law enforcement organizations, law en7 forcement accreditation organizations, privacy rights 

8 organizations, and other relevant organizations or 

9 experts. 

10 (c) DATA AND REPORTING ON POLICE INCIDENTS.— 

11 Section 902 of title 38, United States Code, as amended 

12 by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(f) POLICE INCIDENTS.—(1)(A) The Secretary shall 

15 track and analyze the following information regarding the 

16 police force of the Department: 

17 ‘‘(i) Arrests made by and tickets 

18 issued by Department police officers. 

19 ‘‘(ii) Prosecutions, ticketing, and 

20 other actions relating to such arrests. 

21 ‘‘(iii) The use of force and weapons 

22 discharge. 

23 ‘‘(iv) Complaints, investigations, and 

24 disciplinary actions. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall carry out subparagraph (A) 

2 by implementing one or more Department-wide data sys3 tems. 

4 ‘‘(2)(A) Beginning not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 

6 shall ensure that each incident described in subparagraph 

7 (C) is promptly reported to the Assistant Secretary with 

8 responsibility for operations, preparedness, security, and 

9 law enforcement functions. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Assistant Secretary shall, in a timely man11 ner— 

12 ‘‘(i) review each incident described in subpara13 graph (C)(i) that is reported under subparagraph 

14 (A); and 

15 ‘‘(ii) investigate each incident described in sub16 paragraph (C)(ii) that is reported under subpara17 graph (A). 

18 ‘‘(C) An incident described in this subparagraph is 

19 either of the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) An incident, including an allegation, of the 

21 use of force by a Department police officer. 

22 ‘‘(ii) An incident, including an allegation, of the 

23 use of force by a Department police officer that re24 sults in any person receiving medical attention.’’. 


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1 (d) PLAN ON POLICE STAFFING.—The Secretary 

2 shall develop a plan that establishes minimum standards 

3 for police staffing at each facility of the Department, in4 cluding with respect to— 

5 (1) the number of Department police officers 

6 assigned to each facility; and 

7 (2) the pay grades for such officers. 

8 (e) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 

9 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

10 Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af11 fairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 

12 report on the implementation of this section and the 

13 amendments made by this section. The report shall include 

14 the following: 

15 (1) With respect to the staffing needs of the 

16 Department police force— 

17 (A) identification of the amount of turn18 over among Department police officers; 

19 (B) how the compensation for Department 

20 police officers affects such turnover; 

21 (C) a comparison of such compensation 

22 with the compensation provided to specialty po23 lice units, such as police units at medical facili24 ties and other police units in the same locality 

25 pay area; and 


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1 (D) the plan developed under subsection 

2 (d), including— 

3 (i) estimates on the costs to carry out 

4 the plan; and 

5 (ii) any recommendations for legisla6 tive actions required to carry out the plan. 

7 (2) With respect to body worn cameras, a re8 view of the implementation and use of body worn 

9 cameras by Department police officers, including 

10 under pilot programs carried out by the Secretary 

11 during the five-year period preceding the date of the 

12 report. 

13 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 (1) The term ‘‘body worn camera’’ means a 

15 camera worn on an individual police officer’s person 

16 that records and stores audio and video. 

17 (2) The term ‘‘Department police officer’’ 

18 means an employee of the Department of Veterans 

19 Affairs described in section 902(a) of title 38, 

20 United States Code. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 15, 2021. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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