II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 10
To improve the workforce of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY23 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. T
ESTER(for himself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To improve the workforce 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘VA Clinician Appreciation, Recruitment, Education, Ex-5
pansion, and Retention Support (CAREERS) Act of 6
2023’’. 7
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 8
this Act is as follows: 9
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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TITLE I—TRAINING, RECRUITMENT, AND RETENTION OF
HEALTH CARE EMPLOYEES
Sec. 101. Payment of licensure exam costs for recipients of scholarships from
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 102. Improvement of workforce training and team models to meet the
needs of older veterans.
Sec. 103. Study on improving recruitment and retention at community living
centers of Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 104. Limitation on detail of directors of medical centers of Department of
Veterans Affairs to different positions.
TITLE II—ACCOUNTABILITY, OVERSIGHT, AND PERSONNEL
MATTERS
Subtitle A—Matters Relating to Pay
Sec. 201. Modification of pay limitation for physicians, podiatrists, optom-
etrists, and dentists of Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 202. Increased pay cap for directors of medical centers and Veterans Inte-
grated Service Networks of Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 203. Waiver of pay limitation for employees of the Veterans Health Ad-
ministration performing mission critical work.
Sec. 204. Increase of maximum amount of incentive pay for Department phar-
macist executives.
Sec. 205. Modification of special pay authority for nurse executives.
Subtitle B—Improvement of Recruitment and Hiring
Sec. 211. Oversight of direct hire authority and hiring flexibility of Department
of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 212. Waiver of certain licensure requirements.
Subtitle C—Other Personnel Matters
Sec. 221. Role of optometrists in Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 222. Expansion of annual leave options for employees of Department of
Veterans Affairs during public health emergency.
Sec. 223. Expansion of reimbursement of continuing professional education ex-
penses.
Sec. 224. Inclusion of police officers of Department of Veterans Affairs as law
enforcement officers.
Sec. 225. Department of Veterans Affairs personnel transparency.
Sec. 226. Comptroller General report assessing human resources modernization
within Veterans Health Administration.
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TITLE I—TRAINING, RECRUIT-1
MENT, AND RETENTION OF 2
HEALTH CARE EMPLOYEES 3
SEC. 101. PAYMENT OF LICENSURE EXAM COSTS FOR RE-4
CIPIENTS OF SCHOLARSHIPS FROM DEPART-5
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 7
shall pay the costs of any licensing examinations and cer-8
tifications required by the Secretary for any current recipi-9
ent of a covered health professional scholarship from the 10
Department of Veterans Affairs. 11
(b) L
ICENSINGEXAMINATIONS AND CERTIFI-12
CATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall apply to the payment of 13
costs for— 14
(1) the United States Medical Licensing Exam-15
ination Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3; 16
(2) the National Council Licensure Exam; 17
(3) the National Board Dental Examination; 18
(4) the National Board Dental Hygiene Exam-19
ination; 20
(5) the Dental Licensure Objective Structured 21
Clinical Examination and Integrated National Board 22
Dental Examination; 23
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(6) the National Licensing Exams for Reg-1
istered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Certified 2
Registered Nurse Anesthetists; 3
(7) the American Podiatric Medical Licensing 4
Exam; 5
(8) the National Board of Examiners in Optom-6
etry Exam; 7
(9) the Physician Assistant National Certifi-8
cation Exam; 9
(10) the Examination for Professional Practice 10
in Psychology; 11
(11) the Academy for Certification of Vision 12
Rehabilitation and Education Professionals certifi-13
cation examinations; 14
(12) the Association of Social Workers Boards 15
Exam; and 16
(13) such other licensing examinations and cer-17
tifications as the Secretary considers appropriate. 18
(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than one year 19
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less 20
frequently than annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 21
submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen-22
ate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House 23
of Representatives a report on the implementation of this 24
section that includes the following data for each State and 25
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territory of the United States for the one-year period pre-1
ceding the date of the report: 2
(1) Utilization by the Secretary of the require-3
ment under subsection (a) broken down by position 4
and career type. 5
(2) Number of times each examination or cer-6
tification described in subsection (b) was paid for by 7
the Department and total funds expended by the 8
Department for each such examination or certifi-9
cation. 10
(d) C
OVEREDHEALTHPROFESSIONALSCHOLARSHIP 11
D
EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered health pro-12
fessional scholarship’’ means— 13
(1) the Department of Veterans Affairs Health 14
Professional Scholarship Program under subchapter 15
II of chapter 76 of title 38, United States Code; 16
(2) the Department of Veterans Affairs Em-17
ployee Incentive Scholarship Program under sub-18
chapter VI of such chapter, including— 19
(A) the National Nursing Education Initia-20
tive; and 21
(B) the VA National Education for Em-22
ployees Program; 23
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(3) the Department of Veterans Affairs Read-1
justment Counseling Service Scholarship Program 2
under subchapter IX of such chapter; 3
(4) the Visual Impairment and Orientation and 4
Mobility Professionals Scholarship Program under 5
chapter 75 of such title; 6
(5) the Veterans Healing Veterans Medical Ac-7
cess and Scholarship Program under section 304 of 8
the VA MISSION Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 9
182; 38 U.S.C. 7601 note); 10
(6) the Physician Assistant Education and 11
Training Pilot Program for Former Members of The 12
Armed Forces under section 246 of division J of the 13
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (Public 14
Law 115–141; 38 U.S.C. 7601 note); and 15
(7) such other programs as the Secretary con-16
siders appropriate. 17
SEC. 102. IMPROVEMENT OF WORKFORCE TRAINING AND 18
TEAM MODELS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF 19
OLDER VETERANS. 20
(a) R
URALGERIATRICSTEAMTRAINING.—The Sec-21
retary of Veterans Affairs shall expand the Rural Inter-22
disciplinary Team Training program of the Department 23
of Veterans Affairs to not fewer than one rural site in 24
each Veterans Integrated Service Network of the Depart-25
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ment and ensure access at such sites to learning opportu-1
nities through the Geriatric Scholars Program of the De-2
partment. 3
(b) T
RAINING ONCARING FORVETERANSWITH 4
M
EMORYLOSS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 6
continuing professional education for clinical staff of 7
the Department who provide care for veterans with 8
Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. 9
(2) I
MPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall 10
implement the continuing professional education re-11
quired under paragraph (1) in consultation with the 12
Office of Rural Health of the Department of Vet-13
erans Affairs established under section 7308 of title 14
38, United States Code, in order to ensure equitable 15
access to learning opportunities for employees of the 16
Department in rural and highly rural areas. 17
(c) E
XPANSION OFGERIATRICPATIENTALIGNED 18
C
ARETEAMMODEL ANDGERIATRIC ANDPALLIATIVE 19
S
PECIALTYSERVICES.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall expand 21
the Geriatrics Patient Aligned Care Team model and 22
the geriatric and palliative specialty services of the 23
Department of Veterans Affairs— 24
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(A) to every medical center of the Depart-1
ment; 2
(B) to any community-based outpatient 3
clinic at which such expansion is determined by 4
the Secretary to be feasible and needed; and 5
(C) to provide access to all veterans that 6
need those services, including through imple-7
menting Geriatric and Palliative Specialty Con-8
sultative Clinical Resource Hubs to meet the 9
needs of the aging veteran population. 10
(2) W
AIVER OF EXPANSION TO MEDICAL CEN -11
TERS.—The Secretary may waive the application of 12
the requirements under paragraph (1)(A) with re-13
spect to a medical center if the Secretary determines 14
that the medical center does not have the capacity 15
or need to implement a Geriatrics Patient Aligned 16
Care Team model or to provide geriatric and pallia-17
tive specialty services, as the case may be. 18
(3) S
TUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a 19
study on the variations in the structure and model 20
consistency of the Geriatrics Patient Aligned Care 21
Team model and delivery and utilization of geriatric 22
and palliative care throughout the Department and 23
how those variations impact quality of care and pa-24
tient outcomes. 25
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(d) REPORT TOCONGRESS.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than two years 2
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not 3
less frequently than annually thereafter for the fol-4
lowing five years, the Secretary shall submit to the 5
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 6
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 7
Representatives a report on the implementation of 8
this section. 9
(2) I
NCLUSION OF INFORMATION ON WAIV -10
ERS.—The Secretary shall include in the report re-11
quired by paragraph (1) an identification of any 12
medical center of the Department in receipt of a 13
waiver under subsection (c)(2) and the reason for 14
the waiver. 15
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘rural’’ 16
and ‘‘highly rural’’ have the meanings given those terms 17
under the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA) coding 18
system of the Department of Agriculture. 19
SEC. 103. STUDY ON IMPROVING RECRUITMENT AND RE-20
TENTION AT COMMUNITY LIVING CENTERS 21
OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than two years after the 23
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-24
erans Affairs shall complete a study on barriers to hiring 25
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and retaining staff at community living centers of the De-1
partment of Veterans Affairs and best practices for im-2
proving recruitment and retention of such staff, with an 3
emphasis on nursing staff. 4
(b) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 5
after completion of the study under subsection (a), the 6
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-7
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-8
fairs of the House of Representatives a report— 9
(1) summarizing key findings with respect to 10
barriers to hiring and retaining staff at community 11
living centers of the Department and best practices 12
for improving recruitment and retention of such 13
staff, including any barriers or best practices specific 14
to rural areas; and 15
(2) including recommendations for such admin-16
istrative action as the Secretary considers appro-17
priate. 18
SEC. 104. LIMITATION ON DETAIL OF DIRECTORS OF MED-19
ICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VET-20
ERANS AFFAIRS TO DIFFERENT POSITIONS. 21
(a) N
OTIFICATION.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 23
detailing a director of a medical center of the De-24
partment of Veterans Affairs to a different position 25
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within the Department, the Secretary of Veterans 1
Affairs shall notify the Committee on Veterans’ Af-2
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 3
Affairs of the House of Representatives of such de-4
tail. 5
(2) M
ATTERS TO BE INCLUDED .—The notifica-6
tion required by paragraph (1) shall include, with re-7
spect to a director of a medical center who is de-8
tailed to a different position within the Department, 9
the following information: 10
(A) The location at which the director is 11
detailed. 12
(B) The position title of the detail. 13
(C) The estimated time the director is ex-14
pected to be absent from their duties at the 15
medical center. 16
(D) Such other information as the Sec-17
retary may determine appropriate. 18
(b) A
PPOINTMENT OFACTINGDIRECTOR.—Not later 19
than 120 days after detailing a director of a medical cen-20
ter of the Department to a different position within the 21
Department, the Secretary shall appoint an individual as 22
acting director of such medical center with all of the au-23
thority and responsibilities of the detailed director. 24
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(c) UPDATE ONDETAIL.—Not later than 120 days 1
after detailing a director of a medical center of the De-2
partment to a different position within the Department, 3
and not less frequently than every 30 days thereafter while 4
the detail is in effect or while the director position at the 5
medical center is vacant, the Secretary shall submit to the 6
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 7
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-8
resentatives an update regarding the status of the detail. 9
(d) R
ETURN TOPOSITION ORREASSIGNMENT.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-11
graph (2), not later than 180 days after detailing a 12
director of a medical center of the Department to a 13
different position within the Department, for a rea-14
son other than an ongoing investigation or adminis-15
trative action with respect to the director, the Sec-16
retary shall— 17
(A) return the individual to the position as 18
director of the medical center; or 19
(B) reassign the individual from the posi-20
tion as director of the medical center and begin 21
the process of hiring a new director for such po-22
sition. 23
(2) W
AIVER.— 24
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 1
waive the requirement under paragraph (1) 2
with respect to an individual for successive 90- 3
day increments for a total period of not more 4
than 540 days from the original date the indi-5
vidual was detailed away from their position as 6
director of a medical center. 7
(B) N
OTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 8
days after exercising a waiver under subpara-9
graph (A), the Secretary shall notify Congress 10
of the waiver and provide to Congress informa-11
tion as to why the waiver is necessary. 12
TITLE II—ACCOUNTABILITY, 13
OVERSIGHT, AND PERSONNEL 14
MATTERS 15
Subtitle A—Matters Relating to 16
Pay 17
SEC. 201. MODIFICATION OF PAY LIMITATION FOR PHYSI-18
CIANS, PODIATRISTS, OPTOMETRISTS, AND 19
DENTISTS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 20
AFFAIRS. 21
(a) M
ARKETPAY.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 7431 of title 38, 23
United States Code, is amended— 24
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(A) by striking subsections (a), (b), and 1
(d); 2
(B) by redesignating subsections (c), (e), 3
(f), (g), and (h) as subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), 4
and (e), respectively; 5
(C) by inserting ‘‘optometrists,’’ after ‘‘po-6
diatrists,’’ each place it appears; 7
(D) by inserting ‘‘optometrist’’ after ‘‘podi-8
atrist,’’ each place it appears; 9
(E) in subsection (a), as redesignated by 10
subparagraph (B), in the matter preceding 11
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘One element of pay 12
for physicians, podiatrists, and dentists shall be 13
base pay. Base pay shall meet the following re-14
quirements:’’ and inserting ‘‘Pay of physicians, 15
podiatrists, optometrists, and dentists in the 16
Veterans Health Administration shall consist of 17
base pay, which shall meet the following re-18
quirements:’’; 19
(F) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 20
(i) in the subsection heading, by strik-21
ing ‘‘T
OTAL’’ and inserting ‘‘MARKET’’; 22
(ii) in paragraph (1)(A)— 23
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(I) by striking ‘‘annual’’ each 1
place it appears and inserting ‘‘mar-2
ket’’; and 3
(II) by inserting ‘‘, optom-4
etrists,’’ after ‘‘podiatrists’’; 5
(iii) by striking paragraphs (2) and 6
(3); 7
(iv) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 8
paragraph (2); 9
(v) in paragraph (2), as redesignated 10
by clause (iv), by striking ‘‘Except as pro-11
vided in sections 7404A(c) and 7410(a)(2) 12
of this title, in no case may the total 13
amount of compensation’’ and inserting 14
‘‘The total amount of market pay under 15
subsection (a)’’; 16
(vi) by inserting ‘‘may not’’ before 17
‘‘exceed’’; and 18
(vii) by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing new paragraphs: 20
‘‘(3) Notwithstanding any compensation or pay limi-21
tations under this title or title 5, the Secretary may au-22
thorize the Under Secretary for Health to pay physicians, 23
podiatrists, and dentists— 24
‘‘(A) awards authorized under this title; 25
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‘‘(B) advance payments, recruitment or reloca-1
tion bonuses, and retention allowances authorized 2
under section 7410(a) of this title or as otherwise 3
provided by law; 4
‘‘(C) incentives or bonuses under section 706 of 5
this title or as otherwise provided by law; and 6
‘‘(D) earnings from fee-basis appointments 7
under section 7405(a)(2) of this title. 8
‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary may waive any pay limitation 9
described in this section (to include tier limitations) if the 10
Secretary determines it is necessary for the recruitment 11
or retention of critical health care personnel, as deter-12
mined by the Secretary. 13
‘‘(B) The Secretary may prescribe requirements, limi-14
tations, and other considerations for waivers under sub-15
paragraph (A).’’; 16
(G) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, 17
by striking ‘‘subsections (b) and (c) of’’; 18
(H) in subsection (d), as so redesignated— 19
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub-20
section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)’’; 21
and 22
(ii) by adding at the end the following 23
new paragraph: 24
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‘‘(3) An individual receiving market pay under sub-1
section (a) may not receive a non-foreign cost of living 2
allowance under section 5941 of title 5.’’; and 3
(I) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 4
striking ‘‘subsection (c), (d), or (e) except for 5
the responsibilities of the Secretary under sub-6
section (e)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a) 7
or (b) except for the responsibilities of the Sec-8
retary under subsection (b)(1)’’. 9
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 10
(A) I
NCENTIVES FOR RECRUITMENT .—Sec-11
tion 706(d)(6) of title 38, United States Code, 12
is amended by striking ‘‘total amount of com-13
pensation under section 7431(e)(4)’’ and insert-14
ing ‘‘total amount of market pay under section 15
7431’’. 16
(B) A
WARDS.—Section 7404A(c) of such 17
title is amended by striking ‘‘the limitation 18
under section 7431(e)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘a lim-19
itation under section 7431’’. 20
(C) A
DDITIONAL PAY AUTHORITIES .—Sec-21
tion 7410(a)(2) of such title is amended by 22
striking ‘‘the limitation under section 23
7431(e)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘a limitation under 24
section 7431’’. 25
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(D) PAY OF UNDER SECRETARY FOR 1
HEALTH.—Section 7432(b)(1) of such title is 2
amended— 3
(i) by inserting ‘‘, podiatrist, optom-4
etrist,’’ after ‘‘physician’’; and 5
(ii) by striking ‘‘7431(c)’’ and insert-6
ing ‘‘7431’’. 7
(E) A
DMINISTRATIVE MATTERS .—Section 8
7433 of such title is amended by inserting ‘‘op-9
tometrists,’’ after ‘‘physicians,’’ each place it 10
appears. 11
(F) C
OMPETITIVE PAY .—Section 12
7451(a)(2)(C) of such title is amended by in-13
serting ‘‘optometrist,’’ after ‘‘physician,’’. 14
(G) C
OMPENSATION AND PROFESSIONAL 15
STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN MEDICAL OFFI -16
CERS.—Section 27(b) of the Central Intel-17
ligence Agency Act of 1949 (50 U.S.C. 18
3528(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 19
7431(e)(1)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 20
7431(b)(1)(C)’’. 21
(3) C
LERICAL AMENDMENTS .— 22
(A) S
ECTION HEADING.— 23
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(i) IN GENERAL.—The heading for 1
section 7431 of title 38, United States 2
Code is amended to read as follows: 3
‘‘§ 7431. Market pay’’. 4
(ii) T
ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table 5
of sections at the beginning of subchapter 6
III of chapter 74 of title 38, United States 7
Code, is amended by striking the item re-8
lating to section 7431 and inserting the 9
following new item: 10
‘‘7431. Market pay.’’.
(B) SUBCHAPTER HEADING .— 11
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The heading for 12
subchapter III of chapter 74 of such title 13
is amended to read as follows: 14
‘‘Subchapter III—Pay for Physicians and 15
Other Health-care Personnel’’. 16
(ii) T
ABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table 17
of sections at the beginning of chapter 74 18
of such title is amended by striking the 19
item relating to subchapter III and insert-20
ing the following new item: 21
‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PAY FOR PHYSICIANS AND OTHER HEALTH -CARE
PERSONNEL’’.
(4) APPLICATION.— 22
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 1
by this subsection shall apply to any pay period 2
of the Department of Veterans Affairs begin-3
ning on or after the date that is 30 days after 4
the date of the enactment of this Act. 5
(B) P
ERFORMANCE PAY FOR YEAR OF EN -6
ACTMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 7
may pay performance pay under section 8
7431(d) of title 38, United States Code, as in 9
effect on the day before the date of the enact-10
ment of this Act, for the calendar year in which 11
this Act is enacted. 12
(b) M
ODIFICATION AND CLARIFICATION OF PAY 13
G
RADE FOROPTOMETRISTS.—Section 7404 of such title 14
is amended— 15
(1) in subsection (a)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘podia-16
trists, and dentists’’ and inserting ‘‘podiatrists, op-17
tometrists, and dentists’’; and 18
(2) in the list in subsection (b)— 19
(A) by striking ‘‘PODIATRIST (DPM), 20
AND DENTIST’’ and inserting ‘‘PODIA-21
TRIST (DPM), OPTOMETRIST (OD), AND 22
DENTIST’’; and 23
(B) by striking ‘‘CLINICAL CHIRO-24
PRACTOR AND OPTOMETRIST SCHED-25
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ULE,’’ and inserting ‘‘CLINICAL CHIRO-1
PRACTOR SCHEDULE’’. 2
(c) R
ETROACTIVE AUTHORITY FOR COMPENSA-3
TION.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 5
Affairs is retroactively authorized to pay to a cov-6
ered employee the amount of compensation that was 7
authorized to be paid to the employee during the pe-8
riod specified in paragraph (2) but was deferred and 9
paid to the employee in the calendar year following 10
the calendar year in which it was authorized to be 11
paid because it exceeded $400,000 in a calendar 12
year. 13
(2) P
ERIOD SPECIFIED.—The period specified 14
in this paragraph is the period beginning on Janu-15
ary 8, 2006, and ending on December 31, 2017. 16
(3) A
DDITIONAL PERIOD.—Compensation au-17
thorized under this subsection shall not be included 18
in the calculation of any aggregate limit on com-19
pensation for a covered employee for the year in 20
which it is paid. 21
(4) C
HARGING OF COMPENSATION .—Compensa-22
tion authorized under this subsection shall be 23
charged to the appropriate medical care appropria-24
tion account of the Department of Veterans Affairs 25
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for the fiscal year in which the work was performed 1
except as follows: 2
(A) In the case of an account that has 3
closed pursuant to section 1552 of title 31, 4
United States Code, the compensation shall be 5
charged to a current appropriation account in 6
accordance with section 1553 of such title. 7
(B) In the case of an expired account that 8
has not closed, if charging the compensation to 9
the expired account would cause such account 10
to have a negative unliquidated or unexpended 11
balance, the compensation may be charged to a 12
current appropriation account available for the 13
same purpose. 14
(5) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 15
(A) C
OMPENSATION.—The term ‘‘com-16
pensation’’ means any pay, including salary, 17
awards, and incentives. 18
(B) C
OVERED EMPLOYEE .—The term 19
‘‘covered employee’’ means a physician, podia-20
trist, optometrist, or dentist subject to market 21
pay under section 7431 of title 38, United 22
States Code, as amended by subsection (a). 23
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SEC. 202. INCREASED PAY CAP FOR DIRECTORS OF MED-1
ICAL CENTERS AND VETERANS INTEGRATED 2
SERVICE NETWORKS OF DEPARTMENT OF 3
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 4
(a) I
NCREASEDPAYCAP.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 74 6
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add-7
ing at the end the following new section: 8
‘‘§ 7414. Pay for directors of medical centers and di-9
rectors of Veterans Integrated Service 10
Networks 11
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—To reflect the recruitment and 12
retention needs of the Department for the assignment of 13
a particular director in a medical center or Veterans Inte-14
grated Service Network of the Department, the Secretary 15
shall prescribe a system of pay for individuals appointed 16
under section 7401(4) of this title. 17
‘‘(b) M
ARKETPAY.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The annual amount of the 19
market rate of pay of an individual appointed under 20
section 7401(4) of this title— 21
‘‘(A) shall be determined by the Secretary 22
on a case-by-case basis; and 23
‘‘(B) shall take into account— 24
‘‘(i) the level of experience of the indi-25
vidual in managing facilities or programs 26
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of the Department or other similar agen-1
cies or companies, whether governmental 2
or nongovernmental; 3
‘‘(ii) the complexity of the assignment 4
of the individual, whether assigned or to be 5
assigned; 6
‘‘(iii) the labor market for individuals 7
in similar positions, which may cover any 8
geographic area the Secretary considers 9
appropriate; 10
‘‘(iv) the experience of the individual 11
in performing the assignment of the indi-12
vidual, whether assigned or to be assigned; 13
and 14
‘‘(v) such other considerations as the 15
Secretary considers appropriate. 16
‘‘(2) E
VALUATION AND ADJUSTMENT .— 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The market rate of 18
pay provided under this subsection shall be 19
evaluated by the Secretary not less frequently 20
than once every two years. 21
‘‘(B) A
DJUSTMENT.—The market rate of 22
pay of an individual may be adjusted as the re-23
sult of an evaluation under subparagraph (A). 24
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‘‘(C) NOTICE OF RESULTS.—An individual 1
whose market rate of pay is evaluated under 2
subparagraph (A) shall receive written notice of 3
the results of such evaluation. 4
‘‘(c) R
EQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS ONTOTAL 5
P
AY.— 6
‘‘(1) M
INIMUM AND MAXIMUM AMOUNTS .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not less frequently 8
than once every two years, the Secretary shall 9
prescribe for applicability throughout the De-10
partment the minimum and maximum amounts 11
for a market rate of pay that may be paid 12
under subsection (b). 13
‘‘(B) P
UBLICATION AND EFFECTIVE DATE 14
OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts prescribed under sub-15
paragraph (A) shall be published in the Federal 16
Register and shall take effect not earlier than 17
60 days after the date of publication. 18
‘‘(C) M
AXIMUM.— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-20
vided in clause (ii), in no case may the 21
total market rate of pay provided under 22
subsection (b) exceed the amount of annual 23
compensation (excluding expenses) speci-24
fied in section 102 of title 3. 25
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‘‘(ii) WAIVER.—The Secretary may 1
waive the limitation under clause (i) (to in-2
clude tier limitations) if the Secretary de-3
termines it is necessary for the recruitment 4
or retention of critical health care per-5
sonnel, as determined by the Secretary. 6
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION ON REDUCTION .—No adjust-7
ment of the market rate of pay under subsection 8
(b)(2)(B) may result in a reduction of the amount 9
of the market rate of pay of an individual while in 10
the same position or assignment at the same loca-11
tion. 12
‘‘(d) T
REATMENT OFPAY.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Pay under subsection (b) 14
shall be considered pay for all purposes, including 15
retirement benefits under chapters 83 and 84 of title 16
5 and other benefits. 17
‘‘(2) C
OST-OF-LIVING ALLOWANCE .—An indi-18
vidual receiving pay under subsection (b) may not 19
receive a cost-of-living allowance under section 5941 20
of title 5. 21
‘‘(e) A
NNUALREPORT.—Not later than one year 22
after the date of the enactment of the VA Clinician Appre-23
ciation, Recruitment, Education, Expansion, and Reten-24
tion Support (CAREERS) Act of 2023, and annually 25
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thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 1
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 2
Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 3
on the implementation by the Secretary of the require-4
ments under this section.’’. 5
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-6
tions at the beginning of such subchapter is amend-7
ed by inserting after the item relating to section 8
7413 the following new item: 9
‘‘7414. Pay for directors of medical centers and directors of Veterans Integrated
Service Networks.’’.
(b) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 10
7404(a)(1) of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 11
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 12
(A) by striking ‘‘(A) The annual’’ and in-13
serting ‘‘The annual’’; and 14
(B) by striking ‘‘and 7401(4)’’; and 15
(2) by striking subparagraph (B). 16
SEC. 203. WAIVER OF PAY LIMITATION FOR EMPLOYEES OF 17
THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 18
PERFORMING MISSION CRITICAL WORK. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 74 of title 20
38, United States Code, as amended by section 202(a)(1), 21
is further amended by adding at the end the following new 22
section: 23
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‘‘§ 7415. Waiver of pay limitation for employees per-1
forming mission critical work 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-3
vision of law, the Secretary may waive any limitation on 4
pay for an employee of the Veterans Health Administra-5
tion who is performing mission critical work. 6
‘‘(b) A
UTHORITY.—The Secretary shall prescribe reg-7
ulations for the administration of this section. 8
‘‘(c) E
MPLOYEE OF THE VETERANSHEALTHADMIN-9
ISTRATIONDEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘em-10
ployee of the Veterans Health Administration’ includes 11
any employee of the Veterans Health Administration, re-12
gardless of the authority under which the employee was 13
hired.’’. 14
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 15
at the beginning of such subchapter, as amended by sec-16
tion 202(a)(2), is further amended by inserting after the 17
item relating to section 7414 the following new item: 18
‘‘7415. Waiver of pay limitation for employees performing mission critical
work.’’.
SEC. 204. INCREASE OF MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF INCENTIVE
19
PAY FOR DEPARTMENT PHARMACIST EXECU-20
TIVES. 21
Section 7410(b)(1) of title 38, United States Code, 22
is amended by striking ‘‘$40,000’’ and inserting 23
‘‘$100,000’’. 24
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SEC. 205. MODIFICATION OF SPECIAL PAY AUTHORITY FOR 1
NURSE EXECUTIVES. 2
Section 7452(g) of title 38, United States Code, is 3
amended— 4
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Department 5
nurse executives, the Secretary may, in accordance 6
with’’ and all that follows through the period at the 7
end and inserting ‘‘nurse executives for the Veterans 8
Health Administration, the Under Secretary for 9
Health may pay special pay to personnel of the Vet-10
erans Health Administration who are nurse execu-11
tives.’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following new 13
paragraph: 14
‘‘(5) The Under Secretary for Health shall define 15
through regulations which positions of the Veterans 16
Health Administration qualify as nurse executives for pur-17
poses of special pay under paragraph (1).’’. 18
Subtitle B—Improvement of 19
Recruitment and Hiring 20
SEC. 211. OVERSIGHT OF DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY AND 21
HIRING FLEXIBILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF 22
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 23
Not later than three years after the date of the enact-24
ment of this Act, the Inspector General of the Department 25
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of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a study and publish a 1
report on— 2
(1) the use of direct hire authority by the De-3
partment; 4
(2) the contributions made by the use of such 5
authority to filling vacancies within the Department; 6
and 7
(3) any vulnerabilities or inconsistencies with 8
respect to the use of such authority. 9
SEC. 212. WAIVER OF CERTAIN LICENSURE REQUIRE-10
MENTS. 11
(a) P
SYCHOLOGISTS.—Paragraph (8)(C) of section 12
7402(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 13
(1) by striking ‘‘individual psychologist for a 14
period’’ and inserting ‘‘individual psychologist— 15
‘‘(i) for a period’’; 16
(2) by striking the period at the end and insert-17
ing ‘‘; or’’; and 18
(3) by adding at the end the following new 19
clause: 20
‘‘(ii) for a reasonable period recommended 21
by the Under Secretary for Health, not to ex-22
ceed four years, during a public health emer-23
gency declared by the President, the Secretary 24
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of Health and Human Services, or such other 1
authority as specified by the Secretary.’’. 2
(b) L
ICENSEDPROFESSIONAL MENTALHEALTH 3
C
OUNSELOR.—Paragraph (11)(B) of such section is 4
amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 5
‘‘, except that the Secretary may waive the requirement 6
of licensure or certification for an individual professional 7
mental health counselor for a reasonable period of time 8
recommended by the Under Secretary for Health.’’. 9
Subtitle C—Other Personnel 10
Matters 11
SEC. 221. ROLE OF OPTOMETRISTS IN DEPARTMENT OF 12
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 13
(a) I
NCLUSION ASPHYSICIAN.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 7413 of title 38, 15
United States Code, is amended— 16
(A) in the section heading, by inserting 17
‘‘and optometrists’’ after ‘‘podiatrists’’; 18
(B) in subsection (a)— 19
(i) by striking ‘‘a doctor of podiatric 20
medicine who is appointed as a podiatrist 21
under section 7401(1) of this title’’ and in-22
serting ‘‘a covered individual’’; and 23
(ii) by striking ‘‘such section’’ and in-24
serting ‘‘section 7401(1) of this title’’; and 25
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(C) by adding at the end the following new 1
subsection: 2
‘‘(c) C
OVEREDINDIVIDUALDEFINED.—In this sec-3
tion, the term ‘covered individual’ means any of the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘(1) A doctor of podiatric medicine who is ap-6
pointed as a podiatrist under section 7401(1) of this 7
title. 8
‘‘(2) A doctor of optometry who is appointed as 9
an optometrist under section 7401(1) of this title.’’. 10
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-11
tions at the beginning of subchapter I of chapter 74 12
of such title is amended by striking the item relating 13
to section 7413 and inserting the following new item 14
‘‘7413. Treatment of podiatrists and optometrists; clinical oversight standards.’’.
(b) CLARIFICATION OFROLE.—Section 7306 of such 15
title is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (a)— 17
(A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘, a Di-18
rector of Dietetic Service, and a Director of Op-19
tometric Service’’ and inserting ‘‘and a Director 20
of Dietetic Service’’; 21
(B) by redesignating paragraph (12) as 22
paragraph (13); and 23
(C) by inserting after paragraph (11) the 24
following new paragraph (12): 25
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‘‘(12) An Executive Director of Optometric 1
Service, who shall be a qualified doctor of optometry 2
and who shall be responsible to the Under Secretary 3
for Health for the operation of the Optometric Serv-4
ice.’’; 5
(2) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ‘‘optom-6
etry,’’ after ‘‘podiatric medicine,’’; and 7
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘and (10)’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘(10), and (12)’’. 9
SEC. 222. EXPANSION OF ANNUAL LEAVE OPTIONS FOR EM-10
PLOYEES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-11
FAIRS DURING PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY. 12
(a) A
CCOUNT FORCONSOLIDATION OFCERTAINAN-13
NUALLEAVE.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 15
provision of law, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 16
shall consolidate into one restored annual leave ac-17
count all annual leave restored pursuant to section 18
6304(d)(1)(B) of title 5, United States Code, during 19
calendar years 2020, 2021, and 2022 for covered 20
employees who are employed by the Department of 21
Veterans Affairs on the date of the enactment of 22
this Act. 23
(2) A
DDITIONAL CALENDAR YEARS .—The Sec-24
retary may consolidate into the annual leave account 25
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described in paragraph (1) annual leave restored 1
pursuant to section 6304(d)(1)(B) of such title dur-2
ing calendar years not described in such paragraph 3
with the approval of the Director of the Office of 4
Personnel Management. 5
(b) L
EAVEEXPIRATION.—Annual leave consolidated 6
into the annual leave account described in subsection 7
(a)(1) shall be used before the later of— 8
(1) January 9, 2027; and 9
(2) the applicable deadline pursuant to section 10
630.309 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or 11
successor regulation. 12
(c) P
ROGRAM OFLUMPSUMPAYMENTS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 14
appropriations, the Secretary may establish a pro-15
gram under which, during the period beginning on 16
the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on 17
January 9, 2027, a covered employee with annual 18
leave described in subsection (a)(1) may elect to re-19
ceive a single lump sum payment lin lieu of using 20
such leave. 21
(2) T
REATMENT OF LUMP SUM PAYMENTS .—A 22
lump sum payment under a program established 23
under paragraph (1) shall be treated as separate 24
and apart from any lump sum payment of annual 25
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leave the covered employee may otherwise be entitled 1
to upon separation from employment with the De-2
partment. 3
(d) C
OVEREDEMPLOYEEDEFINED.—In this section, 4
the term ‘‘covered employee’’ means an employee of the 5
Department of Veterans Affairs who— 6
(1) was appointed under chapter 73 or 74 of 7
title 38, United States Code, notwithstanding section 8
7421(a) of such title, section 7425(b) of such title, 9
or any other provision of such chapter that impacts 10
leave for such an employee; 11
(2) was appointed under chapter 78 of such 12
title; or 13
(3) occupied any position under the jurisdiction 14
of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that is subject 15
to the leave provisions of chapter 63 of title 5, 16
United States Code. 17
SEC. 223. EXPANSION OF REIMBURSEMENT OF CON-18
TINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION EX-19
PENSES. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7411 of title 38, United 21
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 22
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‘‘§ 7411. Reimbursement of continuing professional 1
education expenses 2
‘‘The Secretary shall reimburse certain full-time 3
health care professionals of the Department for expenses 4
incurred for continuing professional education in amounts 5
as follows: 6
‘‘(1) With respect to any physician, dentist, po-7
diatrist, chiropractor, optometrist, registered nurse, 8
or physician assistant appointed under section 9
7401(1) of this title, not more than $1,000 per year 10
for each such individual. 11
‘‘(2) With respect to any licensed practical or 12
vocational nurse, medical technologist, pharmacist, 13
pharmacy technician, psychologist, diagnostic 14
radiologic technologist, or social worker appointed 15
under section 7401(3) of this title, not more than 16
$1,000 per year for each such individual.’’. 17
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 18
at the beginning of subchapter I of chapter 74 of title 38, 19
United States Code, is amended by striking the item relat-20
ing to section 7411 and inserting the following new item: 21
‘‘7411. Reimbursement of continuing professional education expenses.’’.
SEC. 224. INCLUSION OF POLICE OFFICERS OF DEPART-
22
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AS LAW EN-23
FORCEMENT OFFICERS. 24
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 25
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(1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 1
the Office of Personnel Management; 2
(2) the term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Civil Service 3
Retirement and Disability Fund; 4
(3) the term ‘‘incumbent’’ means an individual 5
who— 6
(A) was appointed as a law enforcement 7
officer before the date of enactment of this Act; 8
and 9
(B) is serving as a law enforcement officer 10
on the date of enactment of this Act; 11
(4) the term ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ means 12
an individual who satisfies the requirements of sec-13
tion 8331(20) or 8401(17) of title 5, United States 14
Code, by virtue of the amendments made by this sec-15
tion; 16
(5) the term ‘‘prior service’’ means, with re-17
spect to an incumbent who makes an election under 18
subsection (c)(2), service performed by the incum-19
bent before the date on which appropriate retirement 20
deductions begin to be made under the election; and 21
(6) the term ‘‘service’’ means service performed 22
by an individual as a law enforcement officer. 23
(b) C
IVILSERVICERETIREMENTSYSTEM.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Title 5, United States Code, 1
is amended— 2
(A) in section 8331(20), in the matter pre-3
ceding subparagraph (A)— 4
(i) by inserting ‘‘(or who is described 5
in section 8401(17)(E))’’ after ‘‘criminal 6
laws of the United States’’; and 7
(ii) by inserting ‘‘(or who is so de-8
scribed)’’ after ‘‘engaged in this activity’’; 9
and 10
(B) in section 8401(17)— 11
(i) in subparagraph (C)— 12
(I) by striking ‘‘subparagraph 13
(A) and (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara-14
graph (A), (B), or (E)’’; and 15
(II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 16
(ii) in the flush text following sub-17
paragraph (D)(iii), by adding ‘‘and’’ after 18
the semicolon at the end; and 19
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-20
lowing: 21
‘‘(E) an employee of the Department of 22
Veterans Affairs who is a Department police of-23
ficer under section 902 of title 38, as deter-24
mined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs;’’. 25
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(2) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by 1
this subsection shall apply to any— 2
(A) individual who is appointed as a law 3
enforcement officer— 4
(i) as defined in section 8331(20) or 5
8401(17) of title 5, United States Code, as 6
amended by this subsection; and 7
(ii) on or after the date of enactment 8
of this Act; and 9
(B) incumbent, consistent with the require-10
ments of this section. 11
(c) T
REATMENT OFSERVICEPERFORMED BYINCUM-12
BENTS.— 13
(1) S
ERVICE ON OR AFTER DATE OF ENACT -14
MENT.—Service performed by an incumbent on or 15
after the date of enactment of this Act shall be 16
treated as service performed as a law enforcement 17
officer. 18
(2) S
ERVICE BEFORE DATE OF ENACTMENT .— 19
Service performed by an incumbent before the date 20
of enactment of this Act shall, for purposes of sub-21
chapter III of chapter 83 and chapter 84 of title 5, 22
United States Code, be treated as service performed 23
as a law enforcement officer only if the incumbent 24
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submits a written election to the Director by the ear-1
lier of— 2
(A) the date that is 5 years after the date 3
of enactment of this Act; or 4
(B) the day before the date on which the 5
incumbent separates from the service. 6
(d) I
NDIVIDUALCONTRIBUTIONS FOR PRIORSERV-7
ICE.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An incumbent who makes an 9
election under subsection (c)(2) may, with respect to 10
prior service performed by the incumbent, pay a de-11
posit into the Fund equal to the sum of— 12
(A) the difference between— 13
(i) the amount that would have been 14
deducted during the period of prior service 15
under section 8334 or 8422 of title 5, 16
United States Code, from the pay of the 17
incumbent if the amendments made by this 18
section had been in effect during the prior 19
service; and 20
(ii) the amount that was deducted 21
during the period of prior service under 22
section 8334 or 8422 of title 5, United 23
States Code; and 24
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(B) interest on the amount described in 1
subparagraph (A)(i), as computed under— 2
(i) paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 3
8334(e) of title 5, United States Code; and 4
(ii) regulations promulgated by the 5
Director. 6
(2) E
FFECT OF NOT CONTRIBUTING .—If an in-7
cumbent does not pay the full amount of the deposit 8
described in paragraph (1)— 9
(A) all prior service of the incumbent shall 10
remain fully creditable as a law enforcement of-11
ficer; and 12
(B) the resulting annuity shall be re-13
duced— 14
(i) in a manner similar to that de-15
scribed in section 8334(d)(2) of title 5, 16
United States Code; and 17
(ii) to the extent necessary to make 18
up the amount unpaid. 19
(e) G
OVERNMENTCONTRIBUTIONS FORPRIORSERV-20
ICE.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If an incumbent makes an 22
election under subsection (c)(2), an agency that em-23
ployed the incumbent during any prior service of the 24
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incumbent shall remit to the Director, for deposit in 1
the Fund, an amount equal to the sum of— 2
(A) the difference between— 3
(i) the total amount of Government 4
contributions that would have been paid 5
under section 8334 or 8423 of title 5, 6
United States Code, if the amendments 7
made by this section had been in effect 8
during the prior service; and 9
(ii) the total amount of Government 10
contributions paid under section 8334 or 11
8423 of title 5, United States Code; and 12
(B) interest on the amount described in 13
subparagraph (A)(i), as computed in accordance 14
with— 15
(i) paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 16
8334(e) of title 5, United States Code; and 17
(ii) regulations promulgated by the 18
Director. 19
(2) C
ONTRIBUTIONS TO BE MADE RATABLY .— 20
Government contributions under this subsection on 21
behalf of an incumbent shall be made by the agency 22
ratably (not less frequently than annually) over the 23
10-year period beginning on the date described in 24
subsection (a)(5). 25
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(f) EXEMPTIONFROMMANDATORYSEPARATION.— 1
Notwithstanding sections 8335(b) and 8425(b) of title 5, 2
United States Code, a law enforcement officer shall not 3
be subject to mandatory separation during the 3-year pe-4
riod beginning on the date of enactment of this Act. 5
(g) R
EGULATIONS.—The Director shall prescribe reg-6
ulations to carry out this section, and the amendments 7
made by this section, including regulations for the applica-8
tion of this section (and those amendments) in the case 9
of any individual entitled to a survivor annuity (based on 10
the service of an incumbent who dies before making an 11
election under subsection (c)(2)), to the extent that any 12
rights that would have been available to the decedent if 13
still living. 14
(h) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-15
tion, or an amendment made by this section, shall be con-16
sidered to apply in the case of a reemployed annuitant. 17
SEC. 225. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PER-18
SONNEL TRANSPARENCY. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 505 of the John S. 20
McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA 21
Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Inte-22
grated Outside Networks Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 23
182; 38 U.S.C. 301 note) is amended— 24
(1) in subsection (a)— 25
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(A) in paragraph (1)— 1
(i) in the matter before subparagraph 2
(A), by striking ‘‘information,’’ and all 3
that follows through ‘‘facility:’’ and insert-4
ing ‘‘information:’’; 5
(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 6
(I) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before ‘‘The 7
number’’; and 8
(II) by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing new clause: 10
‘‘(ii) Information made available under this 11
subparagraph shall be updated not less fre-12
quently than once each quarter to account for 13
delays in data processing and shall reflect the 14
most recently available data.’’; 15
(iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 16
‘‘vacancies, by occupation.’’ and inserting 17
‘‘positions currently undergoing a recruit-18
ment action, disaggregated by occupation 19
and by stage of recruitment, including pre- 20
posting, posting processing stage, recruit-21
ment stage, onboarding stage, and waiting 22
to start stage, or successor stages if modi-23
fied.’’; and 24
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(iv) by adding at the end the following 1
new subparagraph: 2
‘‘(F) The number of positions vacated that 3
the Secretary as decided not to backfill, 4
disaggregated by occupation.’’; 5
(B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 6
paragraph (6); 7
(C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 8
following new paragraph (5): 9
‘‘(5) D
ISPLAY OF INFORMATION .—The display 10
of information made publicly available on an Inter-11
net website of the Department pursuant to para-12
graph (1), subject to subparagraph (D) of such 13
paragraph, shall be disaggregated— 14
‘‘(A) by departmental component; 15
‘‘(B) in the case of information relating to 16
Veterans Health Administration positions, by 17
medical facility; and 18
‘‘(C) in the case of information relating to 19
Veterans Benefits Administration positions, by 20
regional office.’’; and 21
(D) in paragraph (6), as redesignated by 22
subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘shall’’ and all 23
that follows and inserting ‘‘shall— 24
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‘‘(A) review the administration of the 1
website required under paragraph (1); 2
‘‘(B) develop recommendations relating to 3
the improvement of such administration; and 4
‘‘(C) submit to the Committee on Vet-5
erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 6
on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Represent-7
atives a report containing— 8
‘‘(i) the findings of the Inspector Gen-9
eral with respect to the most recent review 10
conducted under subparagraph (A); and 11
‘‘(ii) the recommendations most re-12
cently developed under subparagraph 13
(B).’’; and 14
(2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-15
lows: 16
‘‘(b) A
NNUALREPORT.—Each year, the Secretary 17
shall submit to Congress an annual report that includes 18
the following: 19
‘‘(1) A description of the steps the Department 20
is taking to achieve full staffing capacity. 21
‘‘(2) A description of the actions the Depart-22
ment is taking to improve the onboard timeline for 23
facilities of the Department, including— 24
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‘‘(A) in the case of facilities of the Vet-1
erans Health Administration, for facilities for 2
which the duration of the onboarding process 3
exceeds the metrics laid out in the Time to Hire 4
Model of the Veterans Health Administration, 5
or successor model; and 6
‘‘(B) in the case of Veterans Benefits Ad-7
ministration, for regional offices that exceed the 8
time-to-hire target of the Office of Personnel 9
Management. 10
‘‘(3) The amount of additional funds necessary 11
to enable the Department to reach full staffing ca-12
pacity. 13
‘‘(4) Such recommendations for legislative or 14
administrative action as the Secretary may have in 15
order to achieve full staffing capacity at the Depart-16
ment.’’. 17
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-19
ment of this Act and shall apply with respect to the first 20
update under section 505(a)(3) of such Act beginning 21
after the date of the enactment of this Act and each up-22
date thereafter. 23
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SEC. 226. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ASSESSING 1
HUMAN RESOURCES MODERNIZATION WITH-2
IN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 4
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 5
General of the United States shall submit to the Com-6
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-7
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-8
tives a report on human resources modernization con-9
ducted by the Veterans Health Administration (in this sec-10
tion referred to as the ‘‘Administration’’). 11
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 12
(a) shall include an assessment of the following: 13
(1) The Human Resources Modernization Pro-14
gram of the Administration, including an assessment 15
of the activities carried out under the Program, the 16
results of those activities, and how the Administra-17
tion measures the performance of those activities. 18
(2) The human resources information tech-19
nology systems of the Administration, including the 20
performance, accuracy, efficiency, and user-ability of 21
those systems for human resources professionals, 22
managers with hiring authority, and other employees 23
of the Administration who use those systems. 24
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(3) Metrics and timelines used to report hiring 1
and vacancy data within the Administration, includ-2
ing recruitment and retention data. 3
(4) Trends in hiring, recruitment, retention, 4
and vacancies among employees of the Administra-5
tion. 6
(5) The use by the Administration of authori-7
ties and waivers for hiring flexibility, including an 8
assessment of the standardization of use of such au-9
thorities and waivers within each Veterans Inte-10
grated Service Network. 11
(6) Training, development, and workload of 12
human resources professionals of the Administra-13
tion. 14
(7) Such other matters as the Comptroller Gen-15
eral considers relevant. 16
Æ
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