I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 846 

To amend the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act to direct the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs to establish a vacancy and recruitment database 

to facilitate the recruitment of certain members of the Armed Forces 

to satisfy the occupational needs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

to establish and implement a training and certification program for 

intermediate care technicians in that Department, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2019 

Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto Rico (for herself, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. 

JONES, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, and Mr. CISNEROS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act to 

direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 

vacancy and recruitment database to facilitate the recruitment of certain members of the Armed Forces to 

satisfy the occupational needs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to establish and implement a training and 

certification program for intermediate care technicians 

in that Department, 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, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 846 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Serving Vet3 erans Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. RECRUITMENT DATABASE. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 208 of the VA Choice 

6 and Quality Employment Act (Public Law 115–46; 38 

7 U.S.C. 701 note) is amended as follows: 

8 (1) In subsection (a)— 

9 (A) in the matter proceeding paragraph 

10 (1), by striking ‘‘a single database’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘and maintain a single searchable database 

12 (to be known as the ‘Departments of Defense 

13 and Veterans Affairs Recruitment Database’)’’; 

14 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

15 and inserting a semicolon; 

16 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe17 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (D) by adding after paragraph (2) the fol19 lowing new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(3) with respect to each vacant position under 

21 paragraphs (1) and (2)— 

22 ‘‘(A) the military occupational specialty or 

23 skill that corresponds to the position, as deter24 mined by the Secretary, in consultation with the 

25 Secretary of Defense; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 846 IH

1 ‘‘(B) each qualified member of the Armed 

2 Forces who may be recruited to fill the position 

3 before such qualified member of the Armed 

4 Forces has been discharged and released from 

5 active duty.’’. 

6 (2) By redesignating subsections (b), (c), and 

7 (d) as subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively. 

8 (3) By inserting after subsection (a) the fol9 lowing new subsections: 

10 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Subject to sub11 section (c), the database established under subsection (a) 

12 shall include, with respect to each qualified member of the 

13 Armed Forces, the following information: 

14 ‘‘(1) The name and contact information of the 

15 qualified member of the Armed Forces. 

16 ‘‘(2) The date on which the qualified member of 

17 the Armed Forces is expected to be discharged and 

18 released from active duty. 

19 ‘‘(3) Each military occupational specialty cur20 rently or previously assigned to the qualified member 

21 of the Armed Forces. 

22 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY.—Information in the database 

23 shall be available to offices, officials, and employees of the 

24 Department of Veterans Affairs to the extent the Sec25 retary of Veterans Affairs determines appropriate. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 846 IH

1 ‘‘(d) EXPEDITED HIRING PROCEDURES.—The Sec2 retary shall hire qualified members of the Armed Forces 

3 who apply for vacant positions listed in the database es4 tablished under subsection (a) without regard to the provi5 sions of subchapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United 

6 States Code. 

7 ‘‘(e) RELOCATION BONUS.—The Secretary may au8 thorize a relocation bonus, in an amount determined ap9 propriate by the Secretary and subject to the same limita10 tions as in the case of the authority provided under section 

11 5753 of title 5, to any qualified member of the Armed 

12 Forces who has accepted a position listed in the database 

13 established under subsection (a).’’. 

14 (4) In subsection (g)(1), as redesignated in 

15 paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘subsection (b)’’ and in16 serting ‘‘subsection (g)’’. 

17 (5) In subsection (h), as redesignated in para18 graph (2), by striking ‘‘of this Act’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘of the Veterans Serving Veterans Act of 2019, and 

20 annually thereafter’’. 

21 (6) By adding after subsection (h), as redesig22 nated in paragraph (2), the following new sub23 section: 

24 ‘‘(i) QUALIFIED MEMBER OF THE ARMED FORCES

25 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘qualified member of 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 846 IH

1 the Armed Forces’ means a member of the Armed 

2 Forces— 

3 ‘‘(1) described in section 1142(a) of title 10; 

4 ‘‘(2) who elects to be listed in the database es5 tablished under subsection (a); and 

6 ‘‘(3) who has been determined by the Secretary, 

7 in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to 

8 have a military occupational speciality that cor9 responds to a vacant position described in subsection 

10 (a).’’. 

11 (b) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than 180 

12 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec13 retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees 

14 on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Senate a plan to implement, including a timeline, sec16 tion 208 of the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act 

17 (Public Law 115–46; 38 U.S.C. 701 note), as amended 

18 by this section. 

19 SEC. 3. INTERMEDIATE CARE TECHNICIAN TRAINING PRO20 GRAM. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 

22 Affairs shall implement a program to train and certify cov23 ered veterans to work as intermediate care technicians in 

24 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

25 (b) LOCATIONS.— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 846 IH

1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es2 tablish centers at medical facilities of the Depart3 ment selected by the Secretary for the purposes of 

4 carrying out the program under subsection (a). 

5 (2) SELECTION OF MEDICAL FACILITIES.—In 

6 selecting a medical facility of the Department under 

7 this subsection to serve as a center, the Secretary 

8 shall consider— 

9 (A) the experience and success of the facil10 ity in training intermediate care technicians; 

11 and 

12 (B) the availability of resources of the fa13 cility to train intermediate care technicians. 

14 (c) COVERED VETERAN DEFINED.—In this section, 

15 the term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means a veteran whom the 

16 Secretary determines served as a basic health care techni17 cian while serving in the Armed Forces. 

18 SEC. 4. NO AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 No additional funds are authorized to be appro20 priated to carry out section 208 of the VA Choice and 

21 Quality Employment Act (Public Law 115–46; 38 U.S.C. 

22 701 note), as amended by section 2 of this Act, or to carry 

23 out section 3 of this Act. Such sections shall be carried 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•HR 846 IH

1 out using amounts otherwise authorized to be appro2 priated for such purpose. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS