118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1669
AN ACT
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make permanent
the high technology pilot program of the Department
of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VET–TEC Authoriza-2
tion Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HIGH TECH-4
NOLOGY PROGRAM. 5
(a) H
IGHTECHNOLOGYPROGRAM.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Chapter 36 of title 38, 7
United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8
end the following new section: 9
‘‘§ 3699C. High technology program 10
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—(1) The Secretary shall 11
carry out a program under which the Secretary provides 12
covered individuals with the opportunity to enroll in high 13
technology programs of education that the Secretary de-14
termines provide training or skills sought by employers in 15
a relevant field or industry. 16
‘‘(2) Not more than 6,000 covered individuals may 17
participate in the program under this section in any fiscal 18
year. 19
‘‘(b) A
MOUNT OFASSISTANCE.—(1) The Secretary 20
shall provide, to each covered individual who pursues a 21
high technology program of education under this section, 22
educational assistance in amounts equal to the amounts 23
provided under section 3313(c)(1) of this title, including 24
with respect to the housing stipend described in that sec-25
tion and in accordance with the treatment of programs 26 3
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that are distance learning and programs that are less than 1
half-time. 2
‘‘(2) Under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall pro-3
vide such amounts of educational assistance to a covered 4
individual for each of the following: 5
‘‘(A) A high technology program of education. 6
‘‘(B) A second such program if— 7
‘‘(i) the second such program begins at 8
least 18 months after the covered individual 9
graduates from the first such program; and 10
‘‘(ii) the covered individual uses edu-11
cational assistance under chapter 33 of this 12
title to pursue the second such program. 13
‘‘(c) C
ONTRACTS.—(1) For purposes of carrying out 14
subsection (a), the Secretary shall seek to enter into con-15
tracts with any number of qualified providers of high tech-16
nology programs of education for the provision of such 17
programs to covered individuals. Each such contract shall 18
provide for the conditions under which the Secretary may 19
terminate the contract with the provider and the proce-20
dures for providing for the graduation of students who 21
were enrolled in a program provided by such provider in 22
the case of such a termination. 23
‘‘(2) A contract under this subsection shall provide 24
that the Secretary shall pay to a provider— 25 4
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‘‘(A) upon the enrollment of a covered indi-1
vidual in the program, 25 percent of the cost of the 2
tuition and other fees for the program of education 3
for the individual; 4
‘‘(B) upon graduation of the individual from 5
the program, 25 percent of such cost; and 6
‘‘(C) 50 percent of such cost upon— 7
‘‘(i) the successful employment of the cov-8
ered individual for a period— 9
‘‘(I) of 180 days in the field of study 10
of the program; and 11
‘‘(II) that begins not later than 180 12
days following graduation of the covered 13
individual from the program; 14
‘‘(ii) the employment of the individual by 15
the provider for a period of one year; or 16
‘‘(iii) the enrollment of the individual in a 17
program of education to continue education in 18
such field of study. 19
‘‘(3) For purposes of this section, a provider of a high 20
technology program of education is qualified if— 21
‘‘(A) the provider employs instructors whom the 22
Secretary determines are experts in their respective 23
fields in accordance with paragraph (5); 24 5
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‘‘(B) the provider has successfully provided the 1
high technology program for at least one year; 2
‘‘(C) the provider does not charge tuition and 3
fees to a covered individual who receives assistance 4
under this section to pursue such program that are 5
higher than the tuition and fees charged by such 6
provider to another individual; and 7
‘‘(D) the provider meets the approval criteria 8
developed by the Secretary under paragraph (4). 9
‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall prescribe criteria for ap-10
proving providers of a high technology program of edu-11
cation under this section. 12
‘‘(B) In developing such criteria, the Secretary may 13
consult with State approving agencies. 14
‘‘(C) Such criteria are not required to meet the re-15
quirements of section 3672 of this title. 16
‘‘(D) Such criteria shall include the job placement 17
rate, in the field of study of a program of education, of 18
covered individuals who complete such program of edu-19
cation. 20
‘‘(5) The Secretary shall determine whether instruc-21
tors are experts under paragraph (3)(A) based on evidence 22
furnished to the Secretary by the provider regarding the 23
ability of the instructors to— 24 6
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‘‘(A) identify professions in need of new em-1
ployees to hire, tailor the programs to meet market 2
needs, and identify the employers likely to hire grad-3
uates; 4
‘‘(B) effectively teach the skills offered to cov-5
ered individuals; 6
‘‘(C) provide relevant industry experience in the 7
fields of programs offered to incoming covered indi-8
viduals; and 9
‘‘(D) demonstrate relevant industry experience 10
in such fields of programs. 11
‘‘(6) In entering into contracts under this subsection, 12
the Secretary shall give preference to a provider of a high 13
technology program of education— 14
‘‘(A) from which at least 70 percent of grad-15
uates find full-time employment in the field of study 16
of the program during the 180-day period beginning 17
on the date the student graduates from the program; 18
or 19
‘‘(B) that offers tuition reimbursement for any 20
student who graduates from such a program and 21
does not find employment described in subparagraph 22
(A). 23
‘‘(d) E
FFECT ONOTHERENTITLEMENT.—(1) If a 24
covered individual enrolled in a high technology program 25 7
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of education under this section has remaining entitlement 1
to educational assistance under chapter 30, 32, 33, 34, 2
or 35 of this title, entitlement of the individual to edu-3
cational assistance under this section shall be charged at 4
the rate of one month of such remaining entitlement for 5
each such month of educational assistance under this sec-6
tion. 7
‘‘(2) The Secretary may not consider enrollment in 8
a high technology program of education under this section 9
to be assistance under a provision of law referred to in 10
section 3695 of this title. 11
‘‘(e) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATIONALINSTITU-12
TIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall not approve the enroll-13
ment of any covered individual, not already enrolled, in 14
any high technology programs of education under this sec-15
tion for any period during which the Secretary finds that 16
more than 85 percent of the students enrolled in the pro-17
gram are having all or part of their tuition, fees, or other 18
charges paid to or for them by the educational institution 19
or by the Department of Veterans Affairs under this title 20
or under chapter 1606 or 1607 of title 10, except with 21
respect to tuition, fees, or other charges that are paid 22
under a payment plan at an educational institution that 23
the Secretary determines has a history of offering pay-24 8
•HR 1669 EH
ment plans that are completed not later than 180 days 1
after the end of the applicable term, quarter, or semester. 2
‘‘(2) The Secretary may waive a requirement of para-3
graph (1) if the Secretary determines, pursuant to regula-4
tions which the Secretary shall prescribe, such waiver to 5
be in the interest of the covered individual and the Federal 6
Government. Not later than 30 days after the Secretary 7
waives such a requirement, the Secretary shall submit to 8
the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 9
House of Representatives a report regarding such waiver. 10
‘‘(3)(A)(i) The Secretary shall establish and maintain 11
a process by which an educational institution may request 12
a review of a determination that the educational institu-13
tion does not meet the requirements of paragraph (1). 14
‘‘(ii) The Secretary may consult with a State approv-15
ing agency regarding such process or such a review. 16
‘‘(iii) Not later than 180 days after the Secretary es-17
tablishes or revises a process under this subparagraph, the 18
Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-19
fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a report 20
regarding such process. 21
‘‘(B) An educational institution that requests a re-22
view under subparagraph (A)— 23
‘‘(i) shall request the review not later than 30 24
days after the start of the term, quarter, or semester 25 9
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for which the determination described in subpara-1
graph (A) applies; and 2
‘‘(ii) may include any information that the edu-3
cational institution believes the Department should 4
have taken into account when making the deter-5
mination, including with respect to any mitigating 6
circumstances. 7
‘‘(f) A
NNUALREPORTS.—Not later than one year 8
after the date of the enactment of this section, and annu-9
ally thereafter until the termination date specified in sub-10
section (i), the Secretary shall submit to the Committees 11
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Rep-12
resentatives a report on the operation of program under 13
this section during the year covered by the report. Each 14
such report shall include each of the following: 15
‘‘(1) The number of covered individuals enrolled 16
in the program, disaggregated by type of educational 17
institution, during the year covered by the report. 18
‘‘(2) The number of covered individuals who 19
completed a high technology program of education 20
under the program during the year covered by the 21
report. 22
‘‘(3) The average employment rate of covered 23
individuals who completed such a program of edu-24 10
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cation during such year, as of 180 days after the 1
date of completion. 2
‘‘(4) The average length of time between the 3
completion of such a program of education and em-4
ployment. 5
‘‘(5) The total number of covered individuals 6
who completed a program of education under the 7
program and who, as of the date of the submission 8
of the report, are employed in a position related to 9
technology. 10
‘‘(6) The average salary of a covered individual 11
who completed a program of education under the 12
program and who is employed in a position related 13
to technology, in various geographic areas deter-14
mined by the Secretary. 15
‘‘(7) The average salary of all individuals em-16
ployed in positions related to technology in the geo-17
graphic areas determined under subparagraph (F), 18
and the difference, if any, between such average sal-19
ary and the average salary of a covered individual 20
who completed a program of education under the 21
program and who is employed in a position related 22
to technology. 23
‘‘(8) The number of covered individuals who 24
completed a program of education under the pro-25 11
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gram and who subsequently enrolled in a second 1
program of education under the program. 2
‘‘(g) C
OLLECTION OF INFORMATION; CONSULTA-3
TION.—(1) The Secretary shall develop practices to use 4
to collect information about covered individuals and pro-5
viders of high technology programs of education. 6
‘‘(2) For the purpose of carrying out program under 7
this section, the Secretary may consult with providers of 8
high technology programs of education and may establish 9
an advisory group made up of representatives of such pro-10
viders, private employers in the technology field, and other 11
relevant groups or entities, as the Secretary determines 12
necessary. 13
‘‘(h) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered individual’ means any of 15
the following: 16
‘‘(A) A veteran whom the Secretary deter-17
mines— 18
‘‘(i) served an aggregate of at least 36 19
months on active duty in the Armed 20
Forces (including service on active duty in 21
entry level and skill training) and was dis-22
charged or released therefrom under condi-23
tions other than dishonorable; and 24
‘‘(ii) has not attained the age of 62. 25 12
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‘‘(B) A member of the Armed Forces that 1
the Secretary determines will become a veteran 2
described in subparagraph (A) fewer than 180 3
days after the date of such determination. 4
‘‘(2) The term ‘high technology program of edu-5
cation’ means a program of education— 6
‘‘(A) offered by a public or private edu-7
cational institution; 8
‘‘(B) if offered by an institution of higher 9
learning, that is provided directly by such insti-10
tution rather than by an entity other than such 11
institution under a contract or other agreement; 12
‘‘(C) that does not lead to a degree; 13
‘‘(D) that has a term of not less than six 14
and not more than 28 weeks; and 15
‘‘(E) that provides instruction in computer 16
programming, computer software, media appli-17
cation, data processing, or information sciences. 18
‘‘(i) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to carry out a 19
program under this section shall terminate on September 20
30, 2028.’’. 21
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-22
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 23
by inserting after the item relating to section 3699B 24
the following new item: 25
‘‘3699C. High technology program.’’. 13
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(b) EFFECT ONHIGHTECHNOLOGY PILOTPRO-1
GRAM.—Section 116 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans 2
Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–48; 3
38 U.S.C. 3001 note) is amended— 4
(1) in subsection (g), by striking paragraph (6); 5
and 6
(2) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 7
following new subsection (h): 8
‘‘(h) T
ERMINATION.—The authority to carry out a 9
pilot program under this section shall terminate on Sep-10
tember 30, 2023.’’. 11
(c) A
PPROVAL OFCERTAINHIGHTECHNOLOGYPRO-12
GRAMS.—Section 3680A of title 38, United States Code, 13
is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (4) 15
and inserting the following: 16
‘‘(4) Any independent study program except— 17
‘‘(A) an independent study program (in-18
cluding such a program taken over open circuit 19
television) that— 20
‘‘(i) is accredited by an accrediting 21
agency or association recognized by the 22
Secretary of Education under subpart 2 of 23
part H of title IV of the Higher Education 24
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b); 25 14
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‘‘(ii) leads to— 1
‘‘(I) a standard college degree; 2
‘‘(II) a certificate that reflects 3
educational attainment offered by an 4
institution of higher learning; or 5
‘‘(III) a certificate that reflects 6
graduation from a course of study of-7
fered by— 8
‘‘(aa) an area career and 9
technical education school (as de-10
fined in subparagraphs (C) and 11
(D) of section 3(3) of the Carl D. 12
Perkins Career and Technical 13
Education Act of 2006 (20 14
U.S.C. 2302(3))) that provides 15
education at the postsecondary 16
level; or 17
‘‘(bb) a postsecondary voca-18
tional institution (as defined in 19
section 102(c) of the Higher 20
Education Act of 1965 (20 21
U.S.C. 1002(c))) that provides 22
education at the postsecondary 23
level; and 24 15
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‘‘(iii) in the case of a program de-1
scribed in clause (ii)(III)— 2
‘‘(I) provides training aligned 3
with the requirements of employers in 4
the State or local area where the pro-5
gram is located, which may include in- 6
demand industry sectors or occupa-7
tions; 8
‘‘(II) provides a student, upon 9
graduation from the program, with a 10
recognized postsecondary credential 11
that is recognized by employers in the 12
relevant industry, which may include 13
a credential recognized by industry or 14
sector partnerships in the State or 15
local area where the industry is lo-16
cated; and 17
‘‘(III) meets such content and in-18
structional standards as may be re-19
quired to comply with the criteria 20
under section 3676(c)(14) and (15) of 21
this title; or 22
‘‘(B) an online high technology program of 23
education (as defined in subsection (h)(2) of 24
section 3699C of this title)— 25 16
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‘‘(i) the provider of which has entered 1
into a contract with the Secretary under 2
subsection (c) of such section; 3
‘‘(ii) that has been provided to covered 4
individuals (as defined in subsection (h)(1) 5
of such section) under such contract for a 6
period of at least five years; 7
‘‘(iii) regarding which the Secretary 8
has determined that the average employ-9
ment rate of covered individuals who grad-10
uated from such program of education is 11
65 percent or higher for the year preceding 12
such determination; and 13
‘‘(iv) that satisfies the requirements of 14
subsection (e) of such section.’’; and 15
(2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 16
following: 17
‘‘(8) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the enrollment 18
of a veteran in an online high technology program de-19
scribed in subsection (a)(4)(B).’’. 20
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 21
subsections (a) and (c) shall take effect on October 1, 22
2023. 23 17
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SEC. 3. BURIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN VETERANS WHO 1
DIE AT HOME WHILE IN RECEIPT OF HOS-2
PICE CARE FURNISHED BY DEPARTMENT OF 3
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subsection (a)(2)(A) of section 5
2303 of title 38, United States Code, is further amend-6
ed— 7
(1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and insert-8
ing a semicolon; 9
(2) in clause (ii)(III), by striking the period at 10
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 11
(3) by adding at the end the following new 12
clause: 13
‘‘(iii) a home or other setting at which the 14
deceased veteran was, at the time of death, re-15
ceiving hospice care pursuant to section 16
1717(a) of this title if such care was directly 17
preceded by the Secretary furnishing to the vet-18
eran hospital care or nursing home care de-19
scribed in subclause (I), (II), or (III) of clause 20
(ii).’’. 21
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub-22
section (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactment 23
of this Act and apply with respect to deaths occurring on 24
or after the date that is 180 days after the date of the 25
enactment of this Act. 26 18
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SEC. 4. INCLUSION OF NON-DEGREE FLIGHT TRAINING IN 1
CERTAIN REHABILITATION PROGRAMS FOR 2
CERTAIN VETERANS WITH SERVICE-CON-3
NECTED DISABILITIES. 4
Section 3101 of title 38, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) in paragraph (7), by adding at the end the 7
following: ‘‘A rehabilitation program may include a 8
program that includes flight training and does not 9
lead to a degree.’’; and 10
(2) by redesignating the first paragraph (10) as 11
paragraph (1). 12
SEC. 5. SOLE LIABILITY FOR TRANSFERRED EDUCATIONAL 13
ASSISTANCE BY AN INDIVIDUAL WHO FAILS 14
TO COMPLETE A SERVICE AGREEMENT. 15
Subsection (i) of section 3319 of title 38, United 16
States Code, is amended— 17
(1) in paragraph (1)— 18
(A) by striking ‘‘In the event’’ and insert-19
ing ‘‘Subject to paragraph (2), in the event’’; 20
and 21
(B) by inserting ‘‘of this title’’ after ‘‘sec-22
tion 3685’’; 23
(2) in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2)— 24
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘I
N GEN-25
ERAL’’ and inserting ‘‘SOLE LIABILITY’’; and 26 19
•HR 1669 EH
(B) by striking ‘‘under paragraph (1)’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘for which the individual shall be sole-2
ly liable to the United States for the amount of 3
the overpayment for purposes of section 3685 4
of this title’’; and 5
(3) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2)— 6
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 7
striking ‘‘Subparagraph (A) shall not apply’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘Neither the individual nor the 9
dependent shall be liable to the United States 10
for the amount of the overpayment for purposes 11
of section 3685 of this title’’; and 12
(B) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘of this 13
title’’ after ‘‘section 3311(c)(4)’’. 14
SEC. 6. INCREASE OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 15
EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR PROGRAMS 16
OF EDUCATION IN REPUBLIC OF PHIL-17
IPPINES. 18
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This section may be cited as the 19
‘‘Filipino Education Fairness Act’’. 20
(b) I
NCREASE.—Section 3532 of title 38, United 21
States Code, is amended— 22
(1) by striking subsection (d); and 23
(2) by redesignating subsections (e) through (g) 24
as subsections (d) through (f), respectively. 25 20
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SEC. 7. PROVISION OF CERTIFICATES OF ELIGIBILITY AND 1
AWARD LETTERS USING ELECTRONIC MEANS. 2
Chapter 36 of title 38, United States Code, is amend-3
ed by inserting after section 3698 the following new sec-4
tion (and conforming the table of sections at the beginning 5
of such chapter accordingly): 6
‘‘§ 3698A. Provision of certificates of eligibility and 7
award letters using electronic means 8
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENT.—Except as provided by sub-9
section (b), the Secretary shall provide to an individual 10
the following documents using electronic means: 11
‘‘(1) A certificate of eligibility for the entitle-12
ment of the individual to covered educational assist-13
ance. 14
‘‘(2) An award letter regarding the authoriza-15
tion of the individual to receive covered educational 16
assistance. 17
‘‘(b) E
LECTIONTOOPTOUT.—An individual may 18
elect to receive the documents specified in subsection (a) 19
by mail rather than through electronic means under sub-20
section (a). An individual may revoke such an election at 21
any time, by means prescribed by the Secretary. 22
‘‘(c) C
OVEREDEDUCATIONALASSISTANCE.—In this 23
section, the term ‘covered educational assistance’ means 24
educational assistance under chapter 30, 33, or 35, or sec-25
tion 3699C, of this title.’’. 26 21
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SEC. 8. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HOUSING 1
LOAN FEES. 2
The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 3
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘November 4
14, 2031’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘April 30, 5
2032’’. 6
Passed the House of Representatives May 24, 2023.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 1669
AN ACT
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make
permanent the high technology pilot program of
the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for
other purposes.