[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4613 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4613
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 27, 2020
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``VA Reporting Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIRING PUBLIC ACCESS THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
WEBSITE TO LEGISLATIVELY REQUESTED REPORTS OF THE
DEPARTMENT.
(a) Requirement To Allow Access Online.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and
maintain a website of the Department that allows the public to
obtain electronic copies of all legislatively requested reports
required to be submitted after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(2) Existing resources.--To the extent possible, the
Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) by using existing
online resources administered by the Secretary.
(b) Content and Function.--The Secretary shall ensure that the
website includes the following:
(1) With respect to each legislatively requested report,
each of the following:
(A) A citation to the statute requiring the report.
(B) An electronic copy of the report, including any
transmittal letter associated with the report, that is
platform independent and available to the public
without restrictions, including restrictions that would
impede the reuse of the information in the report.
Where practicable, the report shall be in an open
format.
(C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the extent
practicable, through searches based on each, and any
combination, of the following:
(i) The title of the report.
(ii) The date of publication.
(iii) Any congressional committee or
subcommittee receiving the report.
(iv) The Act of Congress or conference
report that requests the report.
(v) Subject tags.
(vi) A unique alphanumeric identifier for
the report that is consistent across report
editions.
(vii) Any serial number, Superintendent of
Documents number, or other identification
number for the report.
(viii) Key words.
(ix) Full text search.
(x) Any other information the Secretary
determines appropriate.
(D) The date on which the report was required to be
submitted to the website.
(E) The date on which the report was submitted to
the website.
(F) To the extent practicable, a permanent means of
accessing the report electronically.
(2) A means for bulk download of all legislatively
requested reports.
(3) A means for downloading individual reports as the
result of a search.
(4) In tabular form, a list of all legislatively requested
reports that can be searched, sorted, and downloaded by--
(A) reports submitted within the required time;
(B) reports submitted after the date on which such
reports were required to be submitted; and
(C) reports not submitted.
(c) Deadline.--The Secretary shall ensure that information required
to be published on the website under this Act with respect to a
legislatively requested report submitted after the period under
subsection (a)(1) is published not earlier than 30 days after the
report is submitted and not later than 45 days after the report is
submitted.
(d) Notice on Website of Withheld Reports.--If, at the time a
requirement or request for a legislatively requested report is made
pursuant to an Act of Congress or a conference report, Congress
includes in such Act or conference report, as the case may be, specific
language exempting the report from publication on a website under this
section, the Secretary shall publish on such website the title of the
report and notice that Congress exempted the report from publication.
(e) Free Access.--The Secretary may not charge a fee, require
registration, or impose any other limitation in exchange for access to
the website.
SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.
(a) In General.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to--
(1) require the disclosure of information, records, or
reports that are exempt from public disclosure under section
552 of title 5, United States Code; or
(2) impose any affirmative duty on the Secretary to review
legislatively requested reports submitted for publication to
the website for the purpose of identifying and redacting such
information or records.
(b) Redaction of Information.--The Secretary may redact information
required to be disclosed under this Act if the information would be
properly withheld from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United
States Code, and shall--
(1) redact information required to be disclosed under this
Act if disclosure of such information is prohibited by law;
(2) redact only such information properly withheld under
this subsection from the submission of information or from any
legislatively requested report submitted under this Act;
(3) identify where any such redaction is made in the
submission or report; and
(4) identify the exemption under which each such redaction
is made.
SEC. 4. REPORTS REQUIRED.
(a) Recurring Reports That the Secretary Recommends
Discontinuing.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
regarding recurring legislatively requested reports that the Secretary
recommends discontinuing not later than--
(1) 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act;
and
(2) 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Compliance of VA Website With Federal Statutes, Regulations,
Rules, and Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
regarding the compliance of the website of the Department with Federal
statutes, regulations, rules, and guidance regarding transparency for
and access by the public and Congress, including requirements for links
and information subject to section 552 of title 5, United States Code,
and the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-452).
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Legislatively requested report.--The term
``legislatively requested report'' means a report to be
submitted by the Secretary to either house of Congress or any
committee of Congress or subcommittee thereof pursuant to--
(A) an Act of Congress enacted not more than 8
years before the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(B) a conference report adopted not more than 8
years before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2) Open format.--The term ``open format'' means a file
format for storing digital data based on an underlying open
standard that--
(A) is not encumbered by any restrictions that
would impede reuse; and
(B) is based on an underlying open data standard
that is maintained by a standards organization.
(3) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs.
Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 2020.
Attest:
CHERYL L. JOHNSON,
Clerk.