IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4613 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2020 

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

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and 

maintain a website of the Department that allows the 

public to obtain electronic copies of certain legislatively 

requested reports 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 Reporting Trans3 parency Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH DEPART5 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WEBSITE TO 

6 LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORTS OF 

7 THE DEPARTMENT. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW ACCESS ONLINE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

10 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 shall establish and maintain a website of the Depart12 ment that allows the public to obtain electronic cop13 ies of all legislatively requested reports required to 

14 be submitted after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act. 

16 (2) EXISTING RESOURCES.—To the extent pos17 sible, the Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) by 

18 using existing online resources administered by the 

19 Secretary. 

20 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Secretary shall 

21 ensure that the website includes the following: 

22 (1) With respect to each legislatively requested 

23 report, each of the following: 

24 (A) A citation to the statute requiring the 

25 report. 


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1 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in2 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

3 the report, that is platform independent and 

4 available to the public without restrictions, in5 cluding restrictions that would impede the reuse 

6 of the information in the report. Where prac7 ticable, the report shall be in an open format. 

8 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 

9 extent practicable, through searches based on 

10 each, and any combination, of the following: 

11 (i) The title of the report. 

12 (ii) The date of publication. 

13 (iii) Any congressional committee or 

14 subcommittee receiving the report. 

15 (iv) The Act of Congress or confer16 ence report that requests the report. 

17 (v) Subject tags. 

18 (vi) A unique alphanumeric identifier 

19 for the report that is consistent across re20 port editions. 

21 (vii) Any serial number, Superinten22 dent of Documents number, or other iden23 tification number for the report. 

24 (viii) Key words. 

25 (ix) Full text search. 


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1 (x) Any other information the Sec2 retary determines appropriate. 

3 (D) The date on which the report was re4 quired to be submitted to the website. 

5 (E) The date on which the report was sub6 mitted to the website. 

7 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

8 means of accessing the report electronically. 

9 (2) A means for bulk download of all legisla10 tively requested reports. 

11 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 

12 as the result of a search. 

13 (4) In tabular form, a list of all legislatively re14 quested reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

15 downloaded by— 

16 (A) reports submitted within the required 

17 time; 

18 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

19 which such reports were required to be sub20 mitted; and 

21 (C) reports not submitted. 

22 (c) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall ensure that in23 formation required to be published on the website under 

24 this Act with respect to a legislatively requested report 

25 submitted after the period under subsection (a)(1) is pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613

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1 lished not earlier than 30 days after the report is sub2 mitted and not later than 45 days after the report is sub3 mitted. 

4 (d) NOTICE ON WEBSITE OF WITHHELD REPORTS.— 

5 If, at the time a requirement or request for a legislatively 

6 requested report is made pursuant to an Act of Congress 

7 or a conference report, Congress includes in such Act or 

8 conference report, as the case may be, specific language 

9 exempting the report from publication on a website under 

10 this section, the Secretary shall publish on such website 

11 the title of the report and notice that Congress exempted 

12 the report from publication. 

13 (e) FREE ACCESS.—The Secretary may not charge 

14 a fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 

15 in exchange for access to the website. 

16 SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA17 TION ACT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con19 strued to— 

20 (1) require the disclosure of information, 

21 records, or reports that are exempt from public dis22 closure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

23 Code; or 

24 (2) impose any affirmative duty on the Sec25 retary to review legislatively requested reports subVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:03 Feb 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4613.RFS H4613

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1 mitted for publication to the website for the purpose 

2 of identifying and redacting such information or 

3 records. 

4 (b) REDACTION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 

5 may redact information required to be disclosed under this 

6 Act if the information would be properly withheld from 

7 disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

8 Code, and shall— 

9 (1) redact information required to be disclosed 

10 under this Act if disclosure of such information is 

11 prohibited by law; 

12 (2) redact only such information properly with13 held under this subsection from the submission of 

14 information or from any legislatively requested re15 port submitted under this Act; 

16 (3) identify where any such redaction is made 

17 in the submission or report; and 

18 (4) identify the exemption under which each 

19 such redaction is made. 

20 SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED. 

21 (a) RECURRING REPORTS THAT THE SECRETARY

22 RECOMMENDS DISCONTINUING.—The Secretary shall 

23 submit to Congress a report regarding recurring legisla24 tively requested reports that the Secretary recommends 

25 discontinuing not later than— 


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1 (1) 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

2 this Act; and 

3 (2) 2 years after the date of the enactment of 

4 this Act. 

5 (b) COMPLIANCE OF VA WEBSITE WITH FEDERAL

6 STATUTES, REGULATIONS, RULES, AND GUIDANCE.—Not 

7 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

8 this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

9 regarding the compliance of the website of the Department 

10 with Federal statutes, regulations, rules, and guidance re11 garding transparency for and access by the public and 

12 Congress, including requirements for links and informa13 tion subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

14 and the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95– 

15 452). 

16 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORT.—The 

19 term ‘‘legislatively requested report’’ means a report 

20 to be submitted by the Secretary to either house of 

21 Congress or any committee of Congress or sub22 committee thereof pursuant to— 

23 (A) an Act of Congress enacted not more 

24 than 8 years before the date of the enactment 

25 of this Act; or 


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1 (B) a conference report adopted not more 

2 than 8 years before the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act. 

4 (2) OPEN FORMAT.—The term ‘‘open format’’ 

5 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

6 an underlying open standard that— 

7 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

8 that would impede reuse; and 

9 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

10 standard that is maintained by a standards or11 ganization. 

12 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

13 means the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

14 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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