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 adjust-
ments 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. BOEH-
LERT, 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 Con-
necticut, 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 health-
care professionals employed by the Department of Vet-
erans 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 em-
ployees.
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 ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Nurses Appreciation Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. REVISED AUTHORITY FOR ADJUSTMENT OF BASIC
PAY FOR NURSES AND CERTAIN OTHER
HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS OF THE DE-
PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) REVISION OF COVERED POSITIONS.—Effective
October 1, 1999, section 7451 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended in subsection (a)(2) by striking ‘‘are the
following:’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘are reg-
istered nurses and each additional position referred to in
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 7401 of this title
(other than the positions of physician and dentist).’’.
(b) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS UNDER TITLE 5.—Ef-
fective October 1, 1999, such section is further amended
by striking subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) and inserting
the following:
‘‘(d) The rates of basic pay for each grade in a cov-
ered position shall (notwithstanding subsection (a)(3)(A))
be adjusted in accordance with sections 5303 and 5304
of title 5.’’.
(c) REVISED TITLE 38 LOCALITY PAY AUTHOR-
ITY.—Effective October 1, 2002, such section is further
amended by inserting after subsection (d), as added by
subsection (b) of this section, the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(e)(1) Whenever the Secretary determines that the
rates of basic pay in effect for any grade of a covered posi-
tion, as most recently adjusted under subsection (d), are
inadequate in any area to recruit or retain high quality
personnel at a Department health-care facility in that area
for service in that position, the Secretary shall in accord-
ance with this subsection adjust the rates of pay for em-
ployees at that facility in that grade of that position.
‘‘(2) An adjustment in rates of basic pay under this
subsection for a grade shall be carried out by adjusting
the minimum rate of basic pay for that grade in accord-
ance with paragraph (3) and then adjusting the other
rates for that grade to conform to the requirements of sub-
section (c). Such an adjustment in the minimum rate of
basic pay for a grade shall be made by the Secretary for
employees of a Department health-care facility so as to
achieve consistency with the rate of compensation for cor-
responding health-care professionals with respect to that
grade in the Bureau of Labor Statistics labor-market area
of that facility.
‘‘(3)(A) In the case of a Department health-care fa-
cility located in an area for which there is current informa-
tion, based upon appropriate Bureau of Labor Statistics
data for that survey area, on rates of compensation for
corresponding health-care professionals for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics survey or data area of that facility, the
Secretary shall use that information as the basis for mak-
ing adjustments in rates of pay under this subsection for
that facility. Whenever the Bureau of Labor Statistics re-
leases the results of a new appropriate wage survey for
that labor market that includes information on rates of
compensation for corresponding health-care professionals,
the Secretary shall determine, not later than 30 days after
the results of the survey are released, the amount of an
adjustment in rates of pay for employees at that facility
for any covered position necessary in order to meet the
purposes of this section.
‘‘(B) If the Secretary determines under subparagraph
(A) that an adjustment described in that subparagraph
is necessary, such adjustment, based upon the information
determined in the survey under that subparagraph, shall
take effect on the first day of the first pay period begin-
ning after that determination.
‘‘(4) An adjustment under this subsection may not
reduce any rate of pay.
‘‘(5) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations pro-
viding for the adjustment of the rates of basic pay for
Regional and Central Office employees in covered posi-
tions in order to assure that those rates are sufficient and
competitive.
‘‘(6) In this subsection—
‘‘(A) The term ‘rate of compensation’, with re-
spect to health-care personnel positions in non-De-
partment health-care facilities corresponding to a
grade of a covered position, means the sum of—
‘‘(i) the rate of pay established for per-
sonnel in such positions who have education,
training, and experience equivalent or similar to
the education, training, and experience required
for health-care personnel employed in the same
category of Department covered positions; and
‘‘(ii) other employees benefits for those po-
sitions to the extent that those benefits are rea-
sonably quantifiable.
‘‘(B) The term ‘corresponding’, with respect to
health care personnel in a specified grade of a cov-
ered position in a Department health-care facility,
means health-care personnel positions in non-De-
partment health-care facilities for which the edu-
cation, training, and experience requirements are
equivalent or similar to the education, training, and
experience requirements for Department health care
personnel in that grade of that covered position.’’.
SEC. 3. SAVINGS PROVISION.
In the case of an employee of the Veterans Health
Administration who on the day before the effective date
for the amendment made by section 2(b) is receiving a
rate of pay by reason of the second sentence of section
7451(e) of title 38, United States Code, as in effect on
that day, the provisions of the second and third sentences
of that section, as in effect on that day, shall continue
to apply to that employee, notwithstanding the amend-
ment made by section 2(b).
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