I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1216

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that pay adjustments

for nurses and certain other health-care professionals employed by the

Department of Veterans Affairs shall be made in the same manner

as is applicable to Federal employees generally and to revise the authority

for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make further locality pay adjustments for those employees.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1999

Mr. LATOURETTE (for himself, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. LEACH, Mr. PETERSON

of Minnesota, Mrs. BONO, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. HOUGHTON,

Mr. MINGE, Mr. NEY, Mr. SAWYER, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. RUSH,

Mr. OLVER, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. KING, Mr. OBERSTAR,

Mr. ALLEN, Mr. VENTO, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Ms. BROWN of Florida,

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. ENGLISH, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New

York, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. HORN, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. METCALF, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. CUNNINGHAM,

Mr. MOORE, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. LUTHER, Mr. WELLER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

HILL of Indiana, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. KLINK, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. HOLDEN, Ms. DELAURO, Ms.

BERKLEY, Mr. OXLEY, and Mr. TANNER) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that

pay adjustments for nurses and certain other healthcare professionals employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be made in the same manner as

is applicable to Federal employees generally and to revise
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the authority for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to

make further locality pay adjustments for those employees.

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 ‘‘Department of Vet5 erans Affairs Nurses Appreciation Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. REVISED AUTHORITY FOR ADJUSTMENT OF BASIC

7 PAY FOR NURSES AND CERTAIN OTHER

8 HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS OF THE DE9 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

10 (a) REVISION OF COVERED POSITIONS.—Effective

11 October 1, 1999, section 7451 of title 38, United States

12 Code, is amended in subsection (a)(2) by striking ‘‘are the

13 following:’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘are reg14 istered nurses and each additional position referred to in

15 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 7401 of this title

16 (other than the positions of physician and dentist).’’.

17 (b) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS UNDER TITLE 5.—Ef18 fective October 1, 1999, such section is further amended

19 by striking subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) and inserting

20 the following:

21 ‘‘(d) The rates of basic pay for each grade in a cov22 ered position shall (notwithstanding subsection (a)(3)(A))
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1 be adjusted in accordance with sections 5303 and 5304

2 of title 5.’’.

3 (c) REVISED TITLE 38 LOCALITY PAY AUTHOR4 ITY.—Effective October 1, 2002, such section is further

5 amended by inserting after subsection (d), as added by

6 subsection (b) of this section, the following new sub7 section:

8 ‘‘(e)(1) Whenever the Secretary determines that the

9 rates of basic pay in effect for any grade of a covered posi10 tion, as most recently adjusted under subsection (d), are

11 inadequate in any area to recruit or retain high quality

12 personnel at a Department health-care facility in that area

13 for service in that position, the Secretary shall in accord14 ance with this subsection adjust the rates of pay for em15 ployees at that facility in that grade of that position.

16 ‘‘(2) An adjustment in rates of basic pay under this

17 subsection for a grade shall be carried out by adjusting

18 the minimum rate of basic pay for that grade in accord19 ance with paragraph (3) and then adjusting the other

20 rates for that grade to conform to the requirements of sub21 section (c). Such an adjustment in the minimum rate of

22 basic pay for a grade shall be made by the Secretary for

23 employees of a Department health-care facility so as to

24 achieve consistency with the rate of compensation for cor25 responding health-care professionals with respect to that
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1 grade in the Bureau of Labor Statistics labor-market area

2 of that facility.

3 ‘‘(3)(A) In the case of a Department health-care fa4 cility located in an area for which there is current informa5 tion, based upon appropriate Bureau of Labor Statistics

6 data for that survey area, on rates of compensation for

7 corresponding health-care professionals for the Bureau of

8 Labor Statistics survey or data area of that facility, the

9 Secretary shall use that information as the basis for mak10 ing adjustments in rates of pay under this subsection for

11 that facility. Whenever the Bureau of Labor Statistics re12 leases the results of a new appropriate wage survey for

13 that labor market that includes information on rates of

14 compensation for corresponding health-care professionals,

15 the Secretary shall determine, not later than 30 days after

16 the results of the survey are released, the amount of an

17 adjustment in rates of pay for employees at that facility

18 for any covered position necessary in order to meet the

19 purposes of this section.

20 ‘‘(B) If the Secretary determines under subparagraph

21 (A) that an adjustment described in that subparagraph

22 is necessary, such adjustment, based upon the information

23 determined in the survey under that subparagraph, shall

24 take effect on the first day of the first pay period begin25 ning after that determination.
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1 ‘‘(4) An adjustment under this subsection may not

2 reduce any rate of pay.

3 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations pro4 viding for the adjustment of the rates of basic pay for

5 Regional and Central Office employees in covered posi6 tions in order to assure that those rates are sufficient and

7 competitive.

8 ‘‘(6) In this subsection—

9 ‘‘(A) The term ‘rate of compensation’, with re10 spect to health-care personnel positions in non-De11 partment health-care facilities corresponding to a

12 grade of a covered position, means the sum of—

13 ‘‘(i) the rate of pay established for per14 sonnel in such positions who have education,

15 training, and experience equivalent or similar to

16 the education, training, and experience required

17 for health-care personnel employed in the same

18 category of Department covered positions; and

19 ‘‘(ii) other employees benefits for those po20 sitions to the extent that those benefits are rea21 sonably quantifiable.

22 ‘‘(B) The term ‘corresponding’, with respect to

23 health care personnel in a specified grade of a cov24 ered position in a Department health-care facility,

25 means health-care personnel positions in non-De-
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1 partment health-care facilities for which the edu2 cation, training, and experience requirements are

3 equivalent or similar to the education, training, and

4 experience requirements for Department health care

5 personnel in that grade of that covered position.’’.

6 SEC. 3. SAVINGS PROVISION.

7 In the case of an employee of the Veterans Health

8 Administration who on the day before the effective date

9 for the amendment made by section 2(b) is receiving a

10 rate of pay by reason of the second sentence of section

11 7451(e) of title 38, United States Code, as in effect on

12 that day, the provisions of the second and third sentences

13 of that section, as in effect on that day, shall continue

14 to apply to that employee, notwithstanding the amend15 ment made by section 2(b).

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