II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2761 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs to maintain demographic information regarding veterans and 

publish such information on a website of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 

Ms. HIRONO 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 direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to maintain demographic information regarding veterans and publish such information on a website of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Every Veteran Counts 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs is re2 sponsible for providing a variety of benefits and 

3 services to more than 19,000,000 living veterans. 

4 (2) Pursuant to section 527 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has 

6 conducted the National Survey of Veterans to assess 

7 the needs and sentiments of a statistically valid sam8 ple of all veterans. 

9 (3) The Secretary has conducted this National 

10 Survey of Veterans in the late 1970s, 1987, 1993, 

11 2001, and 2010. 

12 (4) The last survey conducted in 2010 included 

13 veterans and other beneficiary groups, such as mem14 bers of the Armed Forces serving on active duty, 

15 members of the reserve components of the Armed 

16 Forces, military spouses, and surviving spouses of 

17 such veterans and members. 

18 (5) The 2010 survey included information on 

19 demographics, awareness and utilization of benefits, 

20 health status, military service, and employment. 

21 (6) These surveys provide valuable information 

22 on the veteran population to the Secretary, Con23 gress, Federal, State, and local governments, aca24 demic institutions, and various non-governmental or25 ganizations that serve veterans. 


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1 (7) This information is used to inform policy2 making efforts and to ensure the needs of the ever3 changing veteran population are met. 

4 (8) However, since 2010, the statutory frame5 work for data collection has substantially evolved, 

6 notably with the Foundations for Evidence-Based 

7 Policymaking Act (Public Law 115–435), the Data 

8 Act (Public Law 113–139), and the Geospatial Data 

9 Act (subtitle F of title VII of Public Law 115–254), 

10 known collectively as the ‘‘Evidence Act’’, building 

11 on previously enacted laws. 

12 (9) Further, the Department, through the Na13 tional Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, 

14 has leveraged the vast amount of data generated 

15 within the Department and collected by other Fed16 eral partners to improve population-based descrip17 tive, statistical, and predictive analytic products to 

18 support the Secretary and in evidence-based policy19 making, facilitate innovative and collaborative re20 search, and empower modern business intelligence 

21 applications. 

22 (10) The Department has been a consistent 

23 leader in the Federal Open Data program and offers 

24 a platform for scaling access to useful data and in25 sight to external stakeholders. 


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1 (11) Notwithstanding these recent advances, 

2 opportunities exist to strengthen the capability of 

3 the Department to develop and disseminate action4 able insights into the veteran population through— 

5 (A) developing enterprise-focused manage6 ment and improvements in the quality of ad7 ministrative data collected by the Department 

8 through its delivery of benefits and services; 

9 (B) increased access to data collected by 

10 other Federal entities through more flexible and 

11 efficient information sharing policies; 

12 (C) increased use of publicly available and 

13 commercially generated data; and 

14 (D) maturing data management of the De15 partment. 

16 (12) In line with the Evidence Act, it is incum17 bent upon the Secretary to regularly engage with 

18 key stakeholders, including Congress, veterans serv19 ice organizations, advocacy groups, and open govern20 ment groups to— 

21 (A) enhance the open data program of the 

22 Department; and 

23 (B) improve development and dissemina24 tion of relevant data assets and analytic prodVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Sep 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2761.IS S2761

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1 ucts to provide more current, accurate, and use2 ful insights on veterans and their families. 

3 (13) It is necessary for the Department to col4 lect, collate, and analyze all available data on vet5 eran demographics, and to share this data with Con6 gress and other stakeholders on an ongoing basis, in 

7 an easily digestible format, to direct outreach and 

8 align policy with the needs of the changing veteran 

9 population. 

10 SEC. 3. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF VETERANS: COLLECTION; 

11 RETENTION; PUBLICATION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 

13 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec14 tion 527, the following new section: 

15 ‘‘§ 528. Demographic data of veterans: collection; re16 tention; publication. 

17 ‘‘(a) DATABASE.—(1) The Secretary shall collect de18 mographic data of veterans (from any source of such data 

19 available to the Secretary, including the National Center 

20 for Veterans Analysis and Statistics of the Department, 

21 the Bureau of the Census, and the Social Security Admin22 istration) and maintain a database of such data. 

23 ‘‘(2) Data collected and maintained under paragraph 

24 (1) shall include the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) Sex. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Gender identity, disaggregated by— 

2 ‘‘(i) male; 

3 ‘‘(ii) female; 

4 ‘‘(iii) cisgender; 

5 ‘‘(iv) transgender; 

6 ‘‘(v) gender diverse; 

7 ‘‘(vi) nonbinary; and 

8 ‘‘(vii) combinations of clauses (i) through 

9 (vi). 

10 ‘‘(C) Age. 

11 ‘‘(D) Educational level. 

12 ‘‘(E) Race and ethnicity, disaggregated by— 

13 ‘‘(i) membership in an Indian tribe (as de14 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determina15 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

16 5304)); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the same major race groups as the de18 cennial censuses. 

19 ‘‘(F) Sexual orientation, disaggregated by— 

20 ‘‘(i) heterosexual; 

21 ‘‘(ii) lesbian; 

22 ‘‘(iii) gay; 

23 ‘‘(iv) bisexual; and 

24 ‘‘(v) queer. 


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1 ‘‘(G) Household makeup, including marital sta2 tus and number of dependents. 

3 ‘‘(H) Gross income and sources of income. 

4 ‘‘(I) Housing status, disaggregated by— 

5 ‘‘(i) renter; 

6 ‘‘(ii) homeowner; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) residing in a home owned or rented 

8 by another person. 

9 ‘‘(J) Employment status, disaggregated by— 

10 ‘‘(i) employed; 

11 ‘‘(ii) seeking employment; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) self-employed. 

13 ‘‘(K) History of service in the Armed Forces, 

14 disaggregated by— 

15 ‘‘(i) Armed Force; 

16 ‘‘(ii) regular or reserve component; 

17 ‘‘(iii) service in a combat theater of oper18 ations or war zone; 

19 ‘‘(iv) service during a period of war; 

20 ‘‘(v) whether a veteran is a former prisoner 

21 of war; 

22 ‘‘(vi) whether the veteran was exposed to 

23 dead, dying, or wounded people during active 

24 military, naval, air, or space service; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) whether the veteran was exposed to 

2 environmental hazards during active military, 

3 naval, air, or space service; and 

4 ‘‘(viii) whether the veteran experienced 

5 military sexual trauma (as that term is defined 

6 in section 1166 of this title). 

7 ‘‘(L) Whether the veteran is enrolled in the pa8 tient enrollment system under section 1705 of this 

9 title. 

10 ‘‘(M) Whether the veteran has received a dis11 ability rating from under section 1155 of this title. 

12 ‘‘(N) Location of the veteran’s residence, 

13 disaggregated by— 

14 ‘‘(i) rural or urban setting; 

15 ‘‘(ii) distance to a facility of the Depart16 ment; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) whether the veteran has access to 

18 broadband service. 

19 ‘‘(O) Any other information the Secretary de20 termines appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(b) DATA RETENTION STANDARDS.—Demographic 

22 data in the database under subsection (a) shall be— 

23 ‘‘(1) anonymized to prevent the release of sen24 sitive personal information (as that term is defined 

25 in section 5727 of this title); and 


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1 ‘‘(2) machine readable. 

2 ‘‘(c) WEBSITE.—The Secretary shall maintain a pub3 licly accessible website of the Department that provides 

4 access to the database under subsection (a). The Secretary 

5 shall update such website not less frequently than once 

6 each year.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

8 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting, 

9 after the item relating to section 527, the following new 

10 item: 

‘‘528. Demographic data of veterans: collection; retention; publication.’’. 

11 (c) IMPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of Vet12 erans Affairs shall carry out section 528 of such title, as 

13 added by this section, not later than 180 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act. 

15 SEC. 4. REPORT ON DATA STRATEGY OF THE DEPARTMENT 

16 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

17 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

19 of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report de20 scribing the progress, challenges, performance, and oppor21 tunities of implementing the data strategy of the Depart22 ment of Veterans Affairs. 

23 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report under this section shall 

24 include the following: 


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1 (1) Qualitative and quantitative progress to2 wards strengthening data management of the De3 partment, including business and mission impact en4 abled by management of data as a strategic asset. 

5 (2) Recommendations of the Secretary regard6 ing legislation that may accelerate data management 

7 maturity of the Department. 

8 (3) Progress and results in cataloging and 

9 inventorying data assets of the Department and 

10 using such assets to support— 

11 (A) internal evidence-based policymaking; 

12 and 

13 (B) ethical and appropriate dissemination 

14 of statistical aggregates, data-driven analysis, 

15 and open data. 

16 (4) Progress in implementing requirements 

17 under chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

18 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

19 Act’’), and related data quality efforts to support 

20 strategic management of data collected by the De21 partment. 

22 (5) Efforts to move towards a rules-based, 

23 transparent, Department-wide approach to manage24 ment, integration, and sharing of, and access to, 

25 data. 


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1 (6) Recommendations of the Secretary regard2 ing adjustments to data requirements of the Depart3 ment. 

4 (7) Information sharing agreements and out5 standing requirements with other Federal entities, 

6 including gaps best addressed by the addition of sur7 vey questions to an existing Federal survey instru8 ment. 

9 (8) Progress on recently enacted public laws, 

10 Executive orders, Presidential memoranda, and out11 standing recommendations of the Comptroller Gen12 eral of the United States or an inspector general as 

13 it pertains to veteran population-based data collec14 tion, quality, integration, sharing, interoperability, 

15 and analytics within the scope of improving and en16 suring equity in services to veterans, their families, 

17 and other beneficiaries. 

18 (9) A discussion of current risk assessments re19 garding data breaches and information security (as 

20 those terms are defined in section 5727 of title 38, 

21 United States Code) of the Department. 

22 (10) Priority data requirements of the Depart23 ment, identified through consultation with the fol24 lowing entities: 


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1 (A) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

2 the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af3 fairs of the House of Representatives. 

4 (B) The Congressional Budget Office. 

5 (C) Veterans service organizations. 

6 (D) The Advisory Committee on Minority 

7 Veterans of the Department. 

8 (E) The Advisory Committee on Women 

9 Veterans of the Department. 

10 (F) The Advisory Committee on Homeless 

11 Veterans of the Department. 

12 (c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days after sub13 mitting the report under this section, the Secretary shall 

14 publish such report on the open data website of the De15 partment, with all metrics and data included in a machine 

16 readable format. 

Æ 


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