II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 55
To limit the detailing of directors of medical centers of the Department
of Veterans Affairs to different positions within the Department, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. B
OOZMANintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To limit the detailing of directors of medical centers of
the Department of Veterans Affairs to different positions
within 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA medical Center 4
Absence and Notification Timeline Act’’ or the ‘‘VACANT 5
Act’’. 6
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•S 55 IS
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON DETAIL OF DIRECTORS OF MED-1
ICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VET-2
ERANS AFFAIRS TO DIFFERENT POSITIONS. 3
(a) N
OTIFICATION.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 5
detailing a director of a medical center of the De-6
partment of Veterans Affairs to a different position 7
within the Department, the Secretary of Veterans 8
Affairs shall notify the Committee on Veterans’ Af-9
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 10
Affairs of the House of Representatives of such de-11
tail. 12
(2) M
ATTERS TO BE INCLUDED .—The notifica-13
tion required by paragraph (1) shall include, with re-14
spect to a director of a medical center who is de-15
tailed to a different position within the Department, 16
the following information: 17
(A) The location at which the director is 18
detailed. 19
(B) The position title of the detail. 20
(C) The estimated time the director is ex-21
pected to be absent from their duties at the 22
medical center. 23
(D) Such other information as the Sec-24
retary may determine appropriate. 25
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•S 55 IS
(b) APPOINTMENT OFACTINGDIRECTOR.—Not later 1
than 120 days after detailing a director of a medical cen-2
ter of the Department to a different position within the 3
Department, the Secretary shall appoint an individual as 4
acting director of such medical center with all of the au-5
thority and responsibilities of the detailed director. 6
(c) U
PDATE ONDETAIL.—Not later than 120 days 7
after detailing a director of a medical center of the De-8
partment to a different position within the Department, 9
and not less frequently than every 30 days thereafter while 10
the detail is in effect or while the director position at the 11
medical center is vacant, the Secretary shall submit to the 12
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 13
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-14
resentatives an update regarding the status of the detail. 15
(d) R
ETURN TOPOSITION ORREASSIGNMENT.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-17
graph (2), not later than 180 days after detailing a 18
director of a medical center of the Department to a 19
different position within the Department, for a rea-20
son other than an ongoing investigation or adminis-21
trative action with respect to the director, the Sec-22
retary shall— 23
(A) return the individual to the position as 24
director of the medical center; or 25
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•S 55 IS
(B) reassign the individual from the posi-1
tion as director of the medical center and begin 2
the process of hiring a new director for such po-3
sition. 4
(2) W
AIVER.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 6
waive the requirement under paragraph (1) 7
with respect to an individual for successive 90- 8
day increments for a total period of not more 9
than 540 days from the original date the indi-10
vidual was detailed away from their position as 11
director of a medical center. 12
(B) N
OTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 13
days after exercising a waiver under subpara-14
graph (A), the Secretary shall notify Congress 15
of the waiver and provide to Congress informa-16
tion as to why the waiver is necessary. 17
Æ
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