II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2326 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Received 

AN ACT 

To amend the Social Security Act, to amend the Dignified 

Burial and Other Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act 

of 2012, and to direct the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Labor, and Homeland Security, and the 

Administrator of the Small Business Administration, to 

take certain actions to improve transition assistance to 

members of the Armed Forces who separate, retire, or 

are discharged from the Armed Forces, and for other 

purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Navy SEAL Chief 

5 Petty Officer William ‘Bill’ Mulder (Ret.) Transition Im6 provement Act of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. TAP DEFINED. 

8 In this Act, the term ‘‘TAP’’ means the Transition 

9 Assistance Program under sections 1142 and 1144 of title 

10 10, United States Code. 

11 SEC. 3. ACCESS FOR THE SECRETARIES OF LABOR AND 

12 VETERANS AFFAIRS TO THE FEDERAL DIREC13 TORY OF NEW HIRES. 

14 Section 453A(h) of the Social Security Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 653a(h)) is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(4) VETERAN EMPLOYMENT.—The Secretaries 

18 of Labor and of Veterans Affairs shall have access 

19 to information reported by employers pursuant to 

20 subsection (b) of this section for purposes of track21 ing employment of veterans.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR OFF-BASE TRANSITION 

23 TRAINING FOR VETERANS AND SPOUSES. 

24 (a) EXTENSION OF PILOT PROGRAM.—Subsection 

25 (a) of section 301 of the Dignified Burial and Other VetVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2326.RDS H2326

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1 erans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2012 (Public Law 

2 112–260; 10 U.S.C. 1144 note) is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘During the two-year period be4 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘During the 5-year period beginning 

6 on the date of the enactment of the Navy SEAL 

7 Chief Petty Officer William ‘Bill’ Mulder (Ret.) 

8 Transition Improvement Act of 2019’’; and 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘to assess the feasibility and ad10 visability of providing such program to eligible indi11 viduals at locations other than military installa12 tions’’. 

13 (b) LOCATIONS.—Subsection (c) of such section is 

14 amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘not less than 

16 three and not more than five States’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘not fewer than 50 locations in States (as defined 

18 in section 101 of title 38, United States Code)’’; and 

19 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘at least two’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘at least 20’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING REPEAL.—Subsection (f) of such 

22 section is repealed. 


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1 SEC. 5. GRANTS FOR PROVISION OF TRANSITION ASSIST2 ANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 

3 AFTER SEPARATION, RETIREMENT, OR DIS4 CHARGE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

6 shall make grants to eligible organizations for the provi7 sion of transition assistance to members of the Armed 

8 Forces who are separated, retired, or discharged from the 

9 Armed Forces, and spouses of such members. 

10 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—The recipient of a grant under 

11 this section shall use the grant to provide to members of 

12 the Armed Forces and spouses described in subsection (a) 

13 resume assistance, interview training, job recruitment 

14 training, and related services leading directly to successful 

15 transition, as determined by the Secretary. 

16 (c) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—To be eligible for a 

17 grant under this section, an organization shall submit to 

18 the Secretary an application containing such information 

19 and assurances as the Secretary, in consultation with the 

20 Secretary of Labor, may require. 

21 (d) PRIORITY FOR HUBS OF SERVICES.—In making 

22 grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority 

23 to an organization that provides multiple forms of services 

24 described in subsection (b). 

25 (e) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—A grant under this section 

26 shall be in an amount that does not exceed 50 percent 


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1 of the amount required by the organization to provide the 

2 services described in subsection (b). 

3 (f) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall carry out this 

4 section not later than 6 months after the effective date 

5 of this Act. 

6 (g) TERMINATION.—The authority to provide a grant 

7 under this section shall terminate on the date that is 5 

8 years after the date on which the Secretary implements 

9 the grant program under this section. 

10 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

11 authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out 

12 this section. 

13 SEC. 6. ONE-YEAR INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF THE EF14 FECTIVENESS OF TAP. 

15 (a) INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 90 

16 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec17 retary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the cov18 ered officials, shall enter into an agreement with an appro19 priate entity with experience in adult education to carry 

20 out a 1-year independent assessment of TAP, including— 

21 (1) the effectiveness of TAP for members of 

22 each military department during the entire military 

23 life cycle; 

24 (2) the appropriateness of the TAP career read25 iness standards; 


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1 (3) a review of information that is provided to 

2 the Department of Veterans Affairs under TAP, in3 cluding mental health data; 

4 (4) whether TAP effectively addresses the chal5 lenges veterans face entering the civilian workforce 

6 and in translating experience and skills from mili7 tary service to the job market; 

8 (5) whether TAP effectively addresses the chal9 lenges faced by the families of veterans making the 

10 transition to civilian life; 

11 (6) appropriate metrics regarding TAP out12 comes for members of the Armed Forces 1 year 

13 after separation, retirement, or discharge from the 

14 Armed Forces; 

15 (7) what the Secretary, in consultation with the 

16 covered officials and veterans service organizations 

17 determine to be successful outcomes for TAP; 

18 (8) whether members of the Armed Forces 

19 achieve successful outcomes for TAP, as determined 

20 under paragraph (7); 

21 (9) how the Secretary and the covered officials 

22 provide feedback to each other regarding such out23 comes; 

24 (10) recommendations for the Secretaries of the 

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1 comes for members of the Armed Forces after sepa2 ration, retirement, and discharge; and 

3 (11) other topics the Secretary and the covered 

4 officials determine would aid members of the Armed 

5 Forces as they transition to civilian life. 

6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the com7 pletion of the independent assessment under subsection 

8 (a), the Secretary and the covered officials, shall submit 

9 to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

10 House of Representatives and the Committees on Armed 

11 Services of the Senate and House of Representatives— 

12 (1) the findings and recommendations (includ13 ing recommended legislation) of the independent as14 sessment prepared by the entity described in sub15 section (a); and 

16 (2) responses of the Secretary and the covered 

17 officials to the findings and recommendations de18 scribed in paragraph (1). 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘covered officials’’ is comprised 

21 of— 

22 (A) the Secretary of Defense; 

23 (B) the Secretary of Labor; 

24 (C) the Administrator of the Small Busi25 ness Administration; and 


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1 (D) the Secretaries of the military depart2 ments. 

3 (2) The term ‘‘military department’’ has the 

4 meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10, 

5 United States Code. 

6 SEC. 7. LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON CHANGES TO TAP. 

7 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

8 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

9 Affairs, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense 

10 and Labor and the Administrator of the Small Business 

11 Administration, shall conduct a 5-year longitudinal study 

12 regarding TAP on three separate cohorts of members of 

13 the Armed Forces who have separated from the Armed 

14 Forces, including— 

15 (1) a cohort that has attended TAP counseling 

16 as implemented on the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act; 

18 (2) a cohort that attends TAP counseling after 

19 the Secretaries of Defense and Labor implement 

20 changes recommended in the report under section 

21 6(b) of this Act; and 

22 (3) a cohort that has not attended TAP coun23 seling. 

24 (b) PROGRESS REPORTS.—Not later than 90 days 

25 after the day that is 1 year after the date of the initiation 


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1 of the study under subsection (a) and annually thereafter 

2 for the 3 subsequent years, the Secretaries of Veterans 

3 Affairs, Defense, and Labor, and the Administrator of the 

4 Small Business Administration, shall submit to the Com5 mittees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of 

6 Representatives and the Committees on Armed Services 

7 of the Senate and House of Representatives a progress 

8 report of activities under the study during the immediately 

9 preceding year. 

10 (c) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

11 the completion of the study under subsection (a), the Sec12 retaries of Veterans Affairs, Defense, and Labor, and the 

13 Administrator of the Small Business Administration, shall 

14 submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen15 ate and House of Representatives and the Committees on 

16 Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representa17 tives a report of final findings and recommendations based 

18 on the study. 

19 (d) ELEMENTS.—The final report under subsection 

20 (c) shall include information regarding the following: 

21 (1) The percentage of each cohort that received 

22 unemployment benefits during the study. 

23 (2) The numbers of months members of each 

24 cohort were employed during the study. 


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1 (3) Annual starting and ending salaries of 

2 members of each cohort who were employed during 

3 the study. 

4 (4) How many members of each cohort enrolled 

5 in an institution of higher learning, as that term is 

6 defined in section 3452(f) of title 38, United States 

7 Code. 

8 (5) The academic credit hours, degrees, and 

9 certificates obtained by members of each cohort dur10 ing the study. 

11 (6) The annual income of members of each co12 hort. 

13 (7) The total household income of members of 

14 each cohort. 

15 (8) How many members of each cohort own 

16 their principal residences. 

17 (9) How many dependents that members of 

18 each cohort have. 

19 (10) The percentage of each cohort that 

20 achieves a successful outcome for TAP, as deter21 mined under section 6(a)(7) of this Act. 


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1 (11) Other criteria the Secretaries and the Ad2 ministrator of the Small Business Administration 

3 determine appropriate. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 21, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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