I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4613 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 4, 2019 

Mr. ROSE of New York (for himself and Mr. CISNEROS) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Reporting Trans5 parency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH DEPART2 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS WEBSITE TO 

3 LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORTS OF 

4 THE DEPARTMENT. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW ACCESS ONLINE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary shall establish and maintain a website of the 

9 Department that allows the public to obtain elec10 tronic copies of all legislatively requested reports. 

11 (2) EXISTING RESOURCES.—To the extent pos12 sible, the Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) by 

13 using existing online resources administered by the 

14 Secretary. 

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

16 ensure that the website includes the following: 

17 (1) With respect to each legislatively requested 

18 report, each of the following: 

19 (A) A citation to the statute requiring the 

20 report. 

21 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in22 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

23 the report, that is platform independent and 

24 available to the public without restrictions, in25 cluding restrictions that would impede the reuse 


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1 of the information in the report. Where prac2 ticable, the report shall be in an open format. 

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

4 extent practicable, through searches based on 

5 each, and any combination, of the following: 

6 (i) The title of the report. 

7 (ii) The date of publication. 

8 (iii) Any congressional committee or 

9 subcommittee receiving the report. 

10 (iv) The Act of Congress or confer11 ence report that requests the report. 

12 (v) Subject tags. 

13 (vi) A unique alphanumeric identifier 

14 for the report that is consistent across re15 port editions. 

16 (vii) Any serial number, Superinten17 dent of Documents number, or other iden18 tification number for the report. 

19 (viii) Key words. 

20 (ix) Full text search. 

21 (x) Any other information the Sec22 retary determines appropriate. 

23 (D) The date on which the report was re24 quired to be submitted to the website. 


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1 (E) The date on which the report was sub2 mitted to the website. 

3 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

4 means of accessing the report electronically. 

5 (2) A means for bulk download of all legisla6 tively requested reports. 

7 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 

8 as the result of a search. 

9 (4) In tabular form, a list of all legislatively re10 quested reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

11 downloaded by— 

12 (A) reports submitted within the required 

13 time; 

14 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

15 which such reports were required to be sub16 mitted; and 

17 (C) reports not submitted. 

18 (c) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall ensure that in19 formation required to be published on the website under 

20 this Act with respect to a legislatively requested report 

21 submitted after the period under subsection (a)(1) is pub22 lished not later than three calendar days after the report 

23 is submitted. 

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

25 If a report is withheld from submission to or publication 


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1 on the website at the request of a recipient committee or 

2 subcommittee, the Secretary shall post on the website a 

3 statement that the report is withheld at the request of 

4 such committee or subcommittee. 

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

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

7 in exchange for access to the website. 

8 SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA9 TION ACT. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con11 strued to— 

12 (1) require the disclosure of information, 

13 records, or reports that are exempt from public dis14 closure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

15 Code; or 

16 (2) impose any affirmative duty on the Sec17 retary to review legislatively requested reports sub18 mitted for publication to the website for the purpose 

19 of identifying and redacting such information or 

20 records. 

21 (b) REDACTION OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary 

22 may redact information required to be disclosed under this 

23 Act if the information would be properly withheld from 

24 disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

25 Code, and shall— 


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1 (1) redact information required to be disclosed 

2 under this Act if disclosure of such information is 

3 prohibited by law; 

4 (2) redact only such information properly with5 held under this subsection from the submission of 

6 information or from any legislatively requested re7 port submitted under this Act; 

8 (3) identify where any such redaction is made 

9 in the submission or report; and 

10 (4) identify the exemption under which each 

11 such redaction is made. 

12 SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED. 

13 (a) RECURRING REPORTS THAT THE SECRETARY

14 RECOMMENDS DISCONTINUING.—The Secretary shall 

15 submit to Congress a report regarding recurring legisla16 tively requested reports that the Secretary recommends 

17 discontinuing not later than— 

18 (1) 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

19 this Act; and 

20 (2) two years after the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act. 

22 (b) COMPLIANCE OF VA WEBSITE WITH FEDERAL

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

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

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


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1 regarding the compliance of the website of the Department 

2 with Federal statutes, regulations, rules, and guidance re3 garding transparency for and access by the public and 

4 Congress, including requirements for links and informa5 tion subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

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

7 452). 

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORT.—The 

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

12 to be submitted by the Secretary to either house of 

13 Congress or any committee of Congress or sub14 committee thereof pursuant to— 

15 (A) an Act of Congress enacted not more 

16 than eight years before the date of the enact17 ment of this Act; or 

18 (B) a conference report adopted not more 

19 than eight years before the date of the enact20 ment of this Act. 

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

22 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

23 an underlying open standard that— 

24 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

25 that would impede reuse; and 


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1 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

2 standard that is maintained by a standards or3 ganization. 

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

5 means the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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

7 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

Æ 


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