I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 575 
To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to employees of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 27, 2015 
Ms. SINEMA (for herself and Mr. BENISHEK) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To appropriately limit the authority to award bonuses to 
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Stop Wasteful Bonuses 
in Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 2015’’ or the 
‘‘VA Bonus Accountability Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON BONUSES FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 714. Limitation and repayment of bonuses 
‘‘(a)(1) If the Comptroller General of the United 
States, the Inspector General of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, or any other senior ethics official of the De-
partment makes an adverse finding with respect to an em-
ployee of the Department, the Secretary, after notice and 
an opportunity for a hearing, shall issue an order directing 
the employee to repay to the Department the amount of 
any bonus paid to the employee during the fiscal year in 
which the adverse finding is made. 
‘‘(2) If the Comptroller General of the United States, 
the Inspector General of the Department, or any other 
senior ethics official of the Department makes an adverse 
finding with respect to an employee under subsection (a), 
the Secretary may not award a bonus to such employee 
for a period of 5 years beginning on the last day of the 
fiscal year during which the adverse finding occurred. 
‘‘(b) In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘adverse finding’ with respect to 
an employee means a determination that the conduct 
of the employee— 
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‘‘(A) violated a policy of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs for which the employee may be 
removed or suspended; or 
‘‘(B) violated a law for which the employee 
may be imprisoned for more than 1 year; and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘bonus’ means any bonus or cash 
award, including— 
‘‘(A) an award under chapter 45 of title 5; 
‘‘(B) an award under section 5384 of such 
title; and 
‘‘(C) a retention bonus under section 5754 
of such title.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 7 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘714. Limitation and repayment of bonuses.’’. 
(c) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by this 
section shall apply to any bonus paid in fiscal year 2014 
and each fiscal year thereafter. 
Æ 
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