Department of Veterans Affairs Website Accessibility Act of 2019

Department of Veterans Affairs Website Accessibility Act of 2019

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report to Congress regarding the accessibility of VA websites (including attached files and web-based applications) to individuals with disabilities. The report shall identify websites, files, and applications that are not accessible to such individuals and include the VA's plan to make each of them accessible.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 746 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 746

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on the 
  accessibility of websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs to 
         individuals with disabilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2019

 Mr. Casey (for himself and Mr. Moran) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on the 
  accessibility of websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs to 
         individuals with disabilities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Website Accessibility Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. STUDY ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF WEBSITES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.

    (a) Study.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a study of 
all websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs to determine whether 
such websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 
accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 
U.S.C. 794d).
    (b) Report.--Not later than 90 days after completing the study 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
of the House of Representatives a report on such study.
    (c) Elements.--The report required by subsection (b) shall include 
the following:
            (1) A list of each website described in subsection (a) that 
        is not accessible to individuals with disabilities in 
        accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 
        (29 U.S.C. 794d).
            (2) For each website identified in the list under paragraph 
        (1)--
                    (A) the plan of the Secretary to bring the website 
                into compliance with the requirements of section 508 of 
                the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and
                    (B) a description of the barriers to bringing the 
                website into compliance with the requirements of such 
                section, including any barriers relating to staffing.
    (d) Website Defined.--In this section, the term ``website'' 
includes the following:
            (1) A file attached to a website.
            (2) A web-based application.
            (3) A kiosk at a medical facility of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs, the use of which is required to check in for 
        scheduled appointments.
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