Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1147 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 1147
55 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the Veterans Advisory
66 Committee on Equal Access, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 FEBRUARY7, 2025
99 Mr. V
1010 ALADAO(for himself and Mr. MCGARVEY) introduced the following bill;
1111 which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
1212 A BILL
1313 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the
1414 Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access, and for
1515 other purposes.
1616 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1717 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1818 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
1919 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Accessibility 4
2020 Advisory Committee Act of 2025’’. 5
2121 SEC. 2. VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON EQUAL AC-6
2222 CESS. 7
2323 (a) E
2424 STABLISHMENT.—Subchapter III of chapter 5 8
2525 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 9
2626 the end the following new section: 10
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3030 ‘‘§ 549. Advisory Committee on Equal Access 1
3131 ‘‘(a) E
3232 STABLISHMENT.—(1) The Secretary shall es-2
3333 tablish an advisory committee on matters relating to ac-3
3434 cessibility of the Department for individuals with disabil-4
3535 ities. 5
3636 ‘‘(2) The advisory committee established under para-6
3737 graph (1) shall be known as the ‘Veterans Advisory Com-7
3838 mittee on Equal Access’ (in this section referred to as the 8
3939 ‘Advisory Committee’). 9
4040 ‘‘(b) M
4141 EMBERSHIP.—(1) The Advisory Committee 10
4242 shall be composed of 15 voting members, appointed by the 11
4343 Secretary. In appointing such members, the Secretary 12
4444 shall ensure the following: 13
4545 ‘‘(A) Four are veterans with disabilities, includ-14
4646 ing mobility impairment, hearing, visual, and mental 15
4747 or cognitive disabilities. 16
4848 ‘‘(B) Four are experts on issues described in 17
4949 subsection (f)(1)(A) or the provisions of law set 18
5050 forth under subsection (f)(1)(B). 19
5151 ‘‘(C) Two are employees of the Department, 20
5252 one from the Section 508 Office and one from the 21
5353 Architectural Accessibility Program, who oversee the 22
5454 compliance of the Department with Federal accessi-23
5555 bility laws. 24
5656 ‘‘(D) Five are representatives nominated by vet-25
5757 erans service organizations, recognized under section 26
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6161 5902 of this title, that advocate for veterans with 1
6262 physical, sensory, mental, or cognitive disabilities. 2
6363 ‘‘(2) The Advisory Committee shall also include four 3
6464 ex officio members (or their designees): 4
6565 ‘‘(A) The Under Secretary for Health. 5
6666 ‘‘(B) The Under Secretary for Benefits. 6
6767 ‘‘(C) The Under Secretary for Memorial Af-7
6868 fairs. 8
6969 ‘‘(D) The chairperson of the Architectural and 9
7070 Transportation Barriers Compliance Board estab-10
7171 lished by section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act of 11
7272 1973 (Public Law 93–112; 29 U.S.C. 792). 12
7373 ‘‘(c) T
7474 ERMS; VACANCIES.—(1) A member of the Ad-13
7575 visory Committee shall be appointed for a term of two 14
7676 years. The Secretary may reappoint members to the Advi-15
7777 sory Committee for such additional two-year terms as the 16
7878 Secretary determines appropriate. 17
7979 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall fill a vacancy in the Advisory 18
8080 Committee in the same manner as the original appoint-19
8181 ment not later than 180 days after such vacancy occurs. 20
8282 ‘‘(d) M
8383 EETINGS; SUBCOMMITTEES; QUORUM.—(1) 21
8484 The Advisory Committee shall meet not less frequently 22
8585 than twice each year. 23
8686 ‘‘(2) The Advisory Committee may form subcommit-24
8787 tees, which shall meet as often as required. 25
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9191 ‘‘(3) A majority of the members of the Advisory Com-1
9292 mittee shall constitute a quorum. 2
9393 ‘‘(e) C
9494 HAIRPERSON.—(1) Members of the Advisory 3
9595 Committee shall select a Chairperson from among the 4
9696 members of the Advisory Committee. 5
9797 ‘‘(2) If the position of Chairperson becomes vacant, 6
9898 the members of the Advisory Committee shall select a new 7
9999 Chairperson not later than 30 days after the date on which 8
100100 the position became vacant. 9
101101 ‘‘(f) D
102102 UTIES.—(1) On a regular basis, the Secretary 10
103103 shall consult with and seek the advice of the Advisory 11
104104 Committee— 12
105105 ‘‘(A) on improving the accessibility of the De-13
106106 partment for individuals with disabilities, including 14
107107 improving— 15
108108 ‘‘(i) the accessibility of information of the 16
109109 Department, including electronic information; 17
110110 ‘‘(ii) the accessibility of the services and 18
111111 benefits furnished by the Department; 19
112112 ‘‘(iii) the accessibility of the facilities of the 20
113113 Department; 21
114114 ‘‘(iv) the accessibility of facilities of health 22
115115 care providers furnishing care or services under 23
116116 the Veterans Community Care Program under 24
117117 section 1703 of this title; and 25
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121121 ‘‘(v) the acquisition process of the Depart-1
122122 ment to ensure that products and services, in-2
123123 cluding information technology and information 3
124124 and communication technology (as defined in 4
125125 the standards issued by the Architectural and 5
126126 Transportation Barriers Compliance Board pur-6
127127 suant to section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 7
128128 of 1973 (Public Law 93–112; 29 U.S.C. 8
129129 794d)), are accessible when purchased; and 9
130130 ‘‘(B) for ensuring the compliance of the Depart-10
131131 ment with provisions of law that ensure equal access 11
132132 to Federal facilities, benefits, or services, for individ-12
133133 uals with disabilities, including the following: 13
134134 ‘‘(i) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 14
135135 1990 (Public Law 101–336; 42 U.S.C. 12101 15
136136 et seq.). 16
137137 ‘‘(ii) Sections 501, 504, and 508 of the Re-17
138138 habilitation Act of 1973 (Public Law 93–112; 18
139139 29 U.S.C. 791, 794, and 794d). 19
140140 ‘‘(iii) The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub-20
141141 lic Law 111–274; 5 U.S.C. 301 note). 21
142142 ‘‘(iv) The 21st Century Integrated Digital 22
143143 Experience Act (Public Law 115–336; 44 23
144144 U.S.C. 3501 note). 24
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148148 ‘‘(v) The Architectural Barriers Act of 1
149149 1968 (Public Law 90–480; 42 U.S.C. 4151 et 2
150150 seq.). 3
151151 ‘‘(2) In advising to the Secretary, the Advisory Com-4
152152 mittee shall, focusing on the areas of greatest need for 5
153153 the Department— 6
154154 ‘‘(A) assess the disability access needs of vet-7
155155 erans, the public, and Department employees, for 8
156156 full access to the Department’s information, services, 9
157157 and benefits, by reviewing relevant information, such 10
158158 as filed complaints by people with disabilities or 11
159159 physical assessments of the Department’s facilities; 12
160160 ‘‘(B) provide assessments of accessibility at the 13
161161 Department and the compliance of the Department 14
162162 with applicable provisions of law relating to dis-15
163163 ability and accessibility; and 16
164164 ‘‘(C) provide advice on improving accessibility 17
165165 at the Department, including the accessibility of 18
166166 all— 19
167167 ‘‘(i) communications, including internal 20
168168 and public-facing; 21
169169 ‘‘(ii) services and benefits; and 22
170170 ‘‘(iii) facilities. 23
171171 ‘‘(3) R
172172 EPORTS.—(A) Not later than two years after 24
173173 the date of the first meeting of the Advisory Committee, 25
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177177 and not less frequently than once every two years there-1
178178 after, the Advisory Committee shall submit to the Sec-2
179179 retary a report that, focusing on areas of greatest need 3
180180 for the Department— 4
181181 ‘‘(i) identifies and assesses access barriers af-5
182182 fecting veterans, the public, and employees of the 6
183183 Department; 7
184184 ‘‘(ii) determines the extent to which the pro-8
185185 grams and activities of the Department address the 9
186186 barriers identified in clause (i), including compliance 10
187187 of the Department with provisions of law relating to 11
188188 accessibility law and reporting; 12
189189 ‘‘(iii) provides recommendations and access pri-13
190190 orities to improve the accessibility of the Depart-14
191191 ment’s services, benefits, information, technology, 15
192192 and facilities; 16
193193 ‘‘(iv) provides a description of access improve-17
194194 ments and assesses the Department’s implementa-18
195195 tion of recommendations from previous reports of 19
196196 the Advisory Committee, including any unmet rec-20
197197 ommendations that remain necessary for improving 21
198198 accessibility for the Department; and 22
199199 ‘‘(v) provides any recommendations for legisla-23
200200 tion, administrative action, or other actions that the 24
201201 Advisory Committee determines appropriate. 25
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205205 ‘‘(B)(i) Not later than 90 days after the receipt of 1
206206 a report required under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 2
207207 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 3
208208 a copy of such report and any comments and recommenda-4
209209 tions of the Secretary concerning such report that the Sec-5
210210 retary determines appropriate. 6
211211 ‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall publish on a publicly acces-7
212212 sible website of the Department such report and such com-8
213213 ments and recommendations as may have been submitted 9
214214 along with such report. 10
215215 ‘‘(iii) In this subparagraph, the term ‘appropriate 11
216216 congressional committee’ means— 12
217217 ‘‘(I) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 13
218218 House of Representatives; 14
219219 ‘‘(II) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 15
220220 Senate; 16
221221 ‘‘(III) the Committee on Education and Work-17
222222 force of the House of Representatives; or 18
223223 ‘‘(IV) the Special Committee on Aging of the 19
224224 Senate. 20
225225 ‘‘(g) A
226226 DVISORYCOMMITTEEPERSONNEL AND RE-21
227227 SOURCEMATTERS.—(1) A member of the Commission 22
228228 who is not an officer or employee of the Federal Govern-23
229229 ment shall not be compensated for the performance of the 24
230230 duties of the Advisory Committee. 25
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234234 ‘‘(2) A member of the Advisory Committee shall be 1
235235 allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of sub-2
236236 sistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies 3
237237 under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, while away 4
238238 from their homes or regular places of business in the per-5
239239 formance of services for the Advisory Committee. 6
240240 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall ensure that such personnel, 7
241241 funding, and other resources are made available to the Ad-8
242242 visory Committee as the Secretary determines appropriate 9
243243 to carry out the duties of the Advisory Committee. 10
244244 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall furnish to the Advisory 11
245245 Committee such information as the Advisory Committee 12
246246 may request from the Secretary, subject to applicable pro-13
247247 visions of law. 14
248248 ‘‘(h) T
249249 ERMINATION OFADVISORYCOMMITTEE.—The 15
250250 Advisory Committee shall terminate on the day that is 10 16
251251 years after the date of the enactment of the Veterans Ac-17
252252 cessibility Advisory Committee Act of 2025.’’. 18
253253 (b) T
254254 ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections at 19
255255 the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding, after 20
256256 the item relating to section 548, the following new item: 21
257257 ‘‘549. Advisory Committee on Equal Access.’’.
258258 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; ABOLITION OFINACTIVEAD-22
259259 VISORYCOMMITTEE.—Not later than 180 days after the 23
260260 date of the enactment of this Act, and before establishing 24
261261 the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access under 25
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265265 section 549 of title 38, United States Code, as added by 1
266266 subsection (a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 2
267267 (1) abolish an advisory committee of the De-3
268268 partment of Veterans Affairs that— 4
269269 (A) was not established by an Act of Con-5
270270 gress; and 6
271271 (B) is inactive; 7
272272 (2) consolidate two advisory committees de-8
273273 scribed in paragraph (1); or 9
274274 (3) submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-10
275275 fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a 11
276276 recommendation to abolish an advisory committee of 12
277277 the Department that— 13
278278 (A) was established by an Act of Congress; 14
279279 and 15
280280 (B) is inactive. 16
281281 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN HOUSING LOAN FEES. 17
282282 The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 18
283283 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘June 9, 19
284284 2034’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘June 23, 20
285285 2034’’. 21
286286 Æ
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