I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2733
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the employees of
the Department of Veterans Affairs to receive training developed by
the Inspector General of the Department on reporting wrongdoing to,
responding to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspector
General of the Department, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL20, 2023
Ms. U
NDERWOOD(for herself, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. PAPPAS, and Mr. JOYCEof
Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs to re-
ceive training developed by the Inspector General of the
Department on reporting wrongdoing to, responding to
requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspec-
tor General of the Department, 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
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2733.IH H2733
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 2733 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-2
erans Affairs Office of Inspector General Training Act of 3
2023’’. 4
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEE 5
TRAINING REGARDING OFFICE OF INSPEC-6
TOR GENERAL. 7
(a) T
RAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 8
shall require each employee of the Department of Veterans 9
Affairs who begins employment with the Department on 10
or after the date of the enactment of this Act to receive 11
training that the Inspector General of the Department 12
shall develop on the reporting of wrongdoing to, respond-13
ing to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of 14
Inspector General of the Department. 15
(b) T
IMING OFTRAINING.—In carrying out sub-16
section (a), the Secretary shall require each employee of 17
the Department covered under such subsection to undergo 18
the training required by such subsection not later than 19
one year after the date on which the employee begins em-20
ployment with the Department. 21
(c) E
LEMENTS.—Training developed and required 22
under subsection (a) shall include the following: 23
(1) Definition of the role, responsibilities, and 24
legal authority of the Inspector General of the De-25
partment and the duties of employees of the Depart-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2733.IH H2733
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 2733 IH
ment for engaging with the Office of Inspector Gen-1
eral. 2
(2) Identification of the circumstances and 3
mechanisms for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, and 4
other wrongdoing to the Inspector General, including 5
making confidential complaints to the Inspector 6
General. 7
(3) Identification of the prohibitions and rem-8
edies that help to protect employees of the Depart-9
ment from retaliation when reporting wrongdoing to 10
the Inspector General. 11
(4) Recognition of opportunities to engage with 12
staff of the Office of Inspector General to improve 13
programs, operations, and services of the Depart-14
ment. 15
(d) D
ESIGN ANDUPDATE.—The Inspector General of 16
the Department shall design, and update as the Inspector 17
General considers appropriate, the training developed and 18
required by subsection (a). 19
(e) S
YSTEM.—The Secretary shall provide, via the 20
talent management system of the Department, or suc-21
cessor system, the training developed and required under 22
subsection (a). 23
(f) R
ELATION TOCERTAINTRAINING.—The Sec-24
retary shall ensure that training developed and required 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2733.IH H2733
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 2733 IH
under subsection (a) is separate and distinct from training 1
provided under section 733 of title 38, United States 2
Code. 3
(g) N
OTICE TOEMPLOYEES.—The Secretary shall 4
ensure that the Inspector General is afforded the oppor-5
tunity, not less frequently than twice each year and more 6
frequently if the Inspector General considers appropriate 7
under extraordinary circumstances, to use the electronic 8
mail system of the Department to notify all authorized 9
users of such system of the following: 10
(1) The roles and responsibilities of the employ-11
ees of the Department when engaging with the Of-12
fice of Inspector General. 13
(2) The availability of training provided under 14
subsection (a). 15
(3) How to access training provided under sub-16
section (a). 17
(4) Information about how to contact the Office 18
of Inspector General, including a link to any 19
website-based reporting form of the Office. 20
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2733.IH H2733
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB