Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1096 Compare Versions

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Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
	1	+	II
1	2		118THCONGRESS
2	3		1
3	4		STSESSION S. 1096
4		-	AN ACT
	5	+	To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the employees of
	6	+	the Department of Veterans Affairs to receive training developed by
	7	+	the Inspector General of the Department on reporting wrongdoing to,
	8	+	responding to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspector
	9	+	General of the Department, and for other purposes.
	10	+	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
	11	+	MARCH30, 2023
	12	+	Ms. H
	13	+	ASSAN(for herself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill;
	14	+	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
	15	+	A BILL
5	16		To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the
6	17		employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs to re-
7	18		ceive training developed by the Inspector General of the
8	19		Department on reporting wrongdoing to, responding to
9	20		requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspec-
10		-	tor General of the Department, and for other purposes. 2
11		-	†S 1096 ES
	21	+	tor General of the Department, and for other purposes.
12	22		Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
13	23		tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
14	24		SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
15	25		This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-4
16	26		erans Affairs Office of Inspector General Training Act of 5
17	27		2023’’. 6
18		-	SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEE 7
19		-	TRAINING REGARDING OFFICE OF INSPEC-8
20		-	TOR GENERAL. 9
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	30	+	•S 1096 IS
	31	+	SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEE 1
	32	+	TRAINING REGARDING OFFICE OF INSPEC-2
	33	+	TOR GENERAL. 3
21	34		(a) T
22		-	RAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 10
23		-	shall require each employee of the Department of Veterans 11
24		-	Affairs who begins employment with the Department on 12
25		-	or after the date of the enactment of this Act to receive 13
26		-	training that the Inspector General of the Department 14
27		-	shall develop on the reporting of wrongdoing to, respond-15
28		-	ing to requests from, and ~~the duty of~~ cooperating with 16
29		-	~~the Office of~~ Inspector General of the Department. 17
	35	+	RAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 4
	36	+	shall require each employee of the Department of Veterans 5
	37	+	Affairs who begins employment with the Department on 6
	38	+	or after the date of the enactment of this Act to receive 7
	39	+	training that the Inspector General of the Department 8
	40	+	shall develop on the reporting of wrongdoing to, respond-9
	41	+	ing to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of 10
	42	+	Inspector General of the Department. 11
30	43		(b) T
31		-	IMING OFTRAINING.—In carrying out sub-18
32		-	section (a), the Secretary shall require each employee of 19
33		-	the Department covered under such subsection to undergo 20
34		-	the training required by such subsection not later than 21
35		-	one year after the date on which the employee begins em-22
36		-	ployment with the Department. 23
	44	+	IMING OFTRAINING.—In carrying out sub-12
	45	+	section (a), the Secretary shall require each employee of 13
	46	+	the Department covered under such subsection to undergo 14
	47	+	the training required by such subsection not later than 15
	48	+	one year after the date on which the employee begins em-16
	49	+	ployment with the Department. 17
37	50		(c) E
38		-	LEMENTS.—Training developed and required 24
39		-	under subsection (a) shall include the following: 25 3
40		-	†S 1096 ES
41		-	(1) Definition of the role, responsibilities, and 1
42		-	legal authority of the Inspector General of the De-2
43		-	partment and the duties of employees of the Depart-3
44		-	ment for engaging with the Office of Inspector Gen-4
45		-	eral. 5
46		-	(2) Identification of Federal whistleblower pro-6
47		-	tection rights, including the right to report fraud, 7
48		-	waste, abuse, and other wrongdoing to Congress. 8
49		-	(3) Identification of the circumstances and 9
50		-	mechanisms for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, and 10
51		-	other wrongdoing to the Inspector General, including 11
52		-	making confidential complaints to the Inspector 12
53		-	General. 13
54		-	(4) Identification of the prohibitions and rem-14
55		-	edies that help to protect employees of the Depart-15
56		-	ment from retaliation when reporting wrongdoing to 16
57		-	the Inspector General. 17
58		-	(5) Recognition of opportunities to engage with 18
59		-	staff of the Office of Inspector General to improve 19
60		-	programs, operations, and services of the Depart-20
61		-	ment. 21
62		-	(6) Notification of the authority of the Inspec-22
63		-	tor General to subpoena the attendance and testi-23
64		-	mony of witnesses, including former employees of 24
65		-	the Department, as necessary to carry out the duties 25 4
66		-	†S 1096 ES
67		-	of the Office of Inspector General under section 312 1
68		-	of title 38, United States Code. 2
	51	+	LEMENTS.—Training developed and required 18
	52	+	under subsection (a) shall include the following: 19
	53	+	(1) Definition of the role, responsibilities, and 20
	54	+	legal authority of the Inspector General of the De-21
	55	+	partment and the duties of employees of the Depart-22
	56	+	ment for engaging with the Office of Inspector Gen-23
	57	+	eral. 24
	58	+	(2) Identification of the circumstances and 25
	59	+	mechanisms for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, and 26
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	62	+	•S 1096 IS
	63	+	other wrongdoing to the Inspector General, including 1
	64	+	making confidential complaints to the Inspector 2
	65	+	General. 3
	66	+	(3) Identification of the prohibitions and rem-4
	67	+	edies that help to protect employees of the Depart-5
	68	+	ment from retaliation when reporting wrongdoing to 6
	69	+	the Inspector General. 7
	70	+	(4) Recognition of opportunities to engage with 8
	71	+	staff of the Office of Inspector General to improve 9
	72	+	programs, operations, and services of the Depart-10
	73	+	ment. 11
69	74		(d) D
70		-	ESIGN ANDUPDATE.—The Inspector General of 3
71		-	the Department shall design, and update as the Inspector 4
72		-	General considers appropriate, the training developed and 5
73		-	required by subsection (a). 6
	75	+	ESIGN ANDUPDATE.—The Inspector General of 12
	76	+	the Department shall design, and update as the Inspector 13
	77	+	General considers appropriate, the training developed and 14
	78	+	required by subsection (a). 15
74	79		(e) S
75		-	YSTEM.—The Secretary shall provide, via the 7
76		-	talent management system of the Department, or suc-8
77		-	cessor system, the training developed and required under 9
78		-	subsection (a). 10
	80	+	YSTEM.—The Secretary shall provide, via the 16
	81	+	talent management system of the Department, or suc-17
	82	+	cessor system, the training developed and required under 18
	83	+	subsection (a). 19
79	84		(f) R
80		-	ELATION TOCERTAINTRAINING.—The Sec-11
81		-	retary shall ensure that training developed and required 12
82		-	under subsection (a) is separate and distinct from training 13
83		-	provided under section 733 of title 38, United States 14
84		-	Code. 15
85		-	(g) N
86		-	OTICE TOEMPLOYEES.—The Secretary shall 16
87		-	ensure that the Inspector General is afforded the oppor-17
88		-	tunity, not less frequently than twice each year and more 18
89		-	frequently if the Inspector General considers appropriate 19
90		-	under extraordinary circumstances, to use the electronic 20
91		-	mail system of the Department to notify all authorized 21
92		-	users of such system of the following: 22
93		-	(1) The roles and responsibilities of the employ-23
94		-	ees of the Department when engaging with the Of-24
95		-	fice of Inspector General. 25 5
96		-	†S 1096 ES
97		-	(2) The availability of training provided under 1
98		-	subsection (a). 2
99		-	(3) How to access training provided under sub-3
100		-	section (a). 4
101		-	(4) Information about how to contact the Office 5
102		-	of Inspector General, including a link to any 6
103		-	website-based reporting form of the Office. 7
104		-	Passed the Senate July 13, 2023.
105		-	Attest:
106		-	Secretary. 118
107		-	TH
108		-	CONGRESS
109		-	1
110		-	ST
111		-	S
112		-	ESSION
113		-
114		-	S. 1096
115		-	AN ACT
116		-	To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to re-
117		-	quire the employees of the Department of Vet-
118		-	erans Affairs to receive training developed by the
119		-	Inspector General of the Department on report-
120		-	ing wrongdoing to, responding to requests from,
121		-	and cooperating with the Office of Inspector
122		-	General of the Department, and for other pur-
123		-	poses.
	85	+	ELATION TOCERTAINTRAINING.—The Sec-20
	86	+	retary shall ensure that training developed and required 21
	87	+	under subsection (a) is separate and distinct from training 22
	88	+	provided under section 733 of title 38, United States 23
	89	+	Code. 24
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	93	+	(g) NOTICE TOEMPLOYEES.—The Secretary shall 1
	94	+	ensure that the Inspector General is afforded the oppor-2
	95	+	tunity, not less frequently than twice each year and more 3
	96	+	frequently if the Inspector General considers appropriate 4
	97	+	under extraordinary circumstances, to use the electronic 5
	98	+	mail system of the Department to notify all authorized 6
	99	+	users of such system of the following: 7
	100	+	(1) The roles and responsibilities of the employ-8
	101	+	ees of the Department when engaging with the Of-9
	102	+	fice of Inspector General. 10
	103	+	(2) The availability of training provided under 11
	104	+	subsection (a). 12
	105	+	(3) How to access training provided under sub-13
	106	+	section (a). 14
	107	+	(4) Information about how to contact the Office 15
	108	+	of Inspector General, including a link to any 16
	109	+	website-based reporting form of the Office. 17
	110	+	Æ
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