I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5464 
To improve information security for veterans, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 24, 2006 
Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mr. SIMMONS, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. 
MCCOTTER, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. CARTER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. 
BOUSTANY, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. MACK, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. 
WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Ms. 
HARRIS, Mrs. BONO, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. WAMP, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. 
DOOLITTLE, Mr. GOODE, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. JONES 
of North Carolina, Mr. POE, and Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To improve information security for veterans, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Identity Pro-
tection Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIRED AVAILABILITY OF FREE CREDIT RE-
PORTS AND CREDIT MONITORING TO VET-
ERANS. 
(a) REQUIRED NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 60 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall provide to each veteran 
described in subsection (b) a notice in writing. The notice 
shall— 
(1) inform the veteran that information about 
the veteran was included in the data of the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs that was stolen from the 
home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee 
around May 22, 2006; 
(2) inform the veteran of the nature of the 
breach of confidentiality of personal records that are 
held by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as re-
quired by section 5901 of title 38, United States 
Code; and 
(3) inform the veteran that the veteran (using 
the form provided pursuant to subsection (c)) may 
request a free credit report once every three months 
for the next year and free monitoring of the vet-
eran’s credit report for the next year. 
(b) COVERED VETERANS.—Veterans described in this 
subsection are the veterans whose names or other personal 
identifying information were part in the data of the De-
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partment of Veterans Affairs that was stolen from the 
home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee 
around May 22, 2006. 
(c) ELECTION FORM FOR FREE CREDIT REPORTS 
AND CREDIT MONITORING.—The Secretary shall include 
with each notification under subsection (a) a form (with 
a postage-paid return envelope) by which the veteran re-
ceiving the notification may request a free credit report 
once every three months for the next year and free moni-
toring of the veteran’s credit report for the next year. 
(d) AGREEMENTS WITH CREDIT REPORTING AGEN-
CIES.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall enter into 
discussions with the three principal credit reporting agen-
cies and conclude such agreements as necessary in order 
to implement elections made by veterans pursuant to sub-
section (c). Any such agreement may include provisions 
for the Secretary to pay the expenses of such a credit re-
porting agency for compliance with such elections. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION SECURITY IM-
PROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs shall, as rapidly as feasible, fully implement each of 
the 16 Information Security improvements recommended 
to the Secretary by the Inspector General of the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs in the Inspector General’s report 
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on the March 2005 audit of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs Information Security Program. 
(b) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT.— 
(1) FISCAL YEAR 2007.—If as of January 1, 
2007, each of the Information Security improve-
ments referred to in subsection (a) is not fully im-
plemented, then effective as of that date, the amount 
of funds that may be obligated during fiscal year 
2007 for activities of the Office of the Secretary, 
within funds available for that fiscal year for Gen-
eral Operating Expenses for the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, may not exceed 90 percent of the 
amount otherwise specified as available for such ac-
tivities. 
(2) SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.—In any fiscal 
year after fiscal year 2007 for which, as of January 
1 of that fiscal year, each of the Information Secu-
rity improvements referred to in subsection (a) is 
not fully implemented, then effective as of that date, 
the amount of funds that may be obligated during 
that fiscal year for activities of the Office of the Sec-
retary, within funds available for that fiscal year for 
General Operating Expenses for the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, may not exceed the percentage of 
the amount otherwise specified as available for such 
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activities that is the percentage applicable under this 
subsection for the preceding fiscal year reduced by 
10 percentage points. 
Æ 
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