Protecting VA Employees Act

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6682 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6682

 To amend titles 38 and 5, United States Code, to ensure that certain 
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same 
 removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the 
              Federal Government, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 9, 2022

  Mr. Lamb (for himself and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in 
 addition to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend titles 38 and 5, United States Code, to ensure that certain 
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to the same 
 removal, demotion, and suspension policies as other employees of the 
              Federal Government, 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 ``Protecting VA Employees Act''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SEPARATE REMOVAL, DEMOTION, AND SUSPENSION PROCESSES 
              FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Repeal.--
            (1) Title 38.--Section 714 of title 38, United States Code, 
        is amended--
                    (A) by striking subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and 
                (g);
                    (B) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and (h) 
                as subsections (a), (b), and (c), respectively;
                    (C) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by 
                striking ``under subsection (a)'' each place it 
                appears; and
                    (D) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
                            (i) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4); and
                            (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 
                        (6) as paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively.
            (2) Title 5.--Section 4303(f) of title 5, United States 
        Code, is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking the comma at the 
                end and inserting ``, or'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``, or'' and 
                inserting a period; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (4).
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 719, by striking ``under section 713, 714, 
        or 7461 of this title'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``under section 713 or 7461 of this title'';
            (2) in section 714, as amended by subsection (a), by 
        striking the section heading and inserting ``Protections for 
        whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and suspension'';
            (3) by redesignating section 714 as section 734;
            (4) by transferring section 734, as so redesignated, so as 
        to appear after section 733; and
            (5) in the table of sections--
                    (A) by striking the item relating to section 714; 
                and
                    (B) by inserting after the item relating to section 
                733 the following new item:

``734. Protections for whistleblowers from removal, demotion, and 
                            suspension.''.

SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF CERTAIN DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES 
              FOR PERSONNEL OF THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

    The following provisions of title 38, United States Code, are each 
amended to read as such provisions read on the day before the date of 
the enactment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and 
Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-41):
            (1) Section 7461(b).
            (2) Section 7462(b).
            (3) Section 7463(c).
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