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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5994 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5994
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to maintain demographic information regarding veterans
and publish such information on a website of the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 10, 2025
Ms. Brownley (for herself and Ms. Tlaib) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs to maintain demographic information regarding veterans
and publish such information on a website of the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
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 ``Every Veteran Counts Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for
providing a variety of benefits and services to more than
19,000,000 living veterans.
(2) Pursuant to section 527 of title 38, United States
Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has conducted the
National Survey of Veterans to assess the needs and sentiments
of a statistically valid sample of all veterans.
(3) The Secretary has conducted this National Survey of
Veterans in the late 1970s, 1987, 1993, 2001, and 2010.
(4) The last survey conducted in 2010 included veterans and
other beneficiary groups, such as members of the Armed Forces
serving on active duty, members of the reserve components of
the Armed Forces, military spouses, and surviving spouses of
such veterans and members.
(5) The 2010 survey included information on demographics,
awareness and utilization of benefits, health status, military
service, and employment.
(6) These surveys provide valuable information on the
veteran population to the Secretary, Congress, Federal, State,
and local governments, academic institutions, and various non-
governmental organizations that serve veterans.
(7) This information is used to inform policymaking efforts
and to ensure the needs of the ever-changing veteran population
are met.
(8) However, since 2010, the statutory framework for data
collection has substantially evolved, notably with the
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Public Law
115-435), the Data Act (Public Law 113-139), and the Geospatial
Data Act (subtitle F of title VII of Public Law 115-254), known
collectively as the ``Evidence Act'', building on previously
enacted laws.
(9) Further, the Department, through the National Center
for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, has leveraged the vast
amount of data generated within the Department and collected by
other Federal partners to improve population-based descriptive,
statistical, and predictive analytic products to support the
Secretary and in evidence-based policymaking, facilitate
innovative and collaborative research, and empower modern
business intelligence applications.
(10) The Department has been a consistent leader in the
Federal Open Data program and offers a platform for scaling
access to useful data and insight to external stakeholders.
(11) Notwithstanding these recent advances, opportunities
exist to strengthen the capability of the Department to develop
and disseminate actionable insights into the veteran population
through--
(A) developing enterprise-focused management and
improvements in the quality of administrative data
collected by the Department through its delivery of
benefits and services;
(B) increased access to data collected by other
Federal entities through more flexible and efficient
information sharing policies;
(C) increased use of publicly available and
commercially generated data; and
(D) maturing data management of the Department.
(12) In line with the Evidence Act, it is incumbent upon
the Secretary to regularly engage with key stakeholders,
including Congress, veterans service organizations, advocacy
groups, and open government groups to--
(A) enhance the open data program of the
Department; and
(B) improve development and dissemination of
relevant data assets and analytic products to provide
more current, accurate, and useful insights on veterans
and their families.
(13) It is necessary for the Department to collect,
collate, and analyze all available data on veteran
demographics, and to share this data with Congress and other
stakeholders on an ongoing basis, in an easily digestible
format, to direct outreach and align policy with the needs of
the changing veteran population.
SEC. 3. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF VETERANS: COLLECTION; RETENTION;
PUBLICATION.
(a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 38, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 527, the following
new section:
``Sec. 528. Demographic data of veterans: collection; retention;
publication.
``(a) Database.--(1) The Secretary shall collect demographic data
of veterans (from any source of such data available to the Secretary,
including the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics of
the Department, the Bureau of the Census, and the Social Security
Administration) and maintain a database of such data.
``(2) Data collected and maintained under paragraph (1) shall
include the following:
``(A) Sex.
``(B) Gender identity, disaggregated by--
``(i) male;
``(ii) female;
``(iii) cisgender;
``(iv) transgender;
``(v) gender diverse;
``(vi) nonbinary; and
``(vii) combinations of clauses (i) through (vi).
``(C) Age.
``(D) Educational level.
``(E) Race and ethnicity, disaggregated by--
``(i) membership in an Indian tribe (as defined in
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); and
``(ii) the same major race groups as the decennial
censuses.
``(F) Sexual orientation, disaggregated by--
``(i) heterosexual;
``(ii) lesbian;
``(iii) gay;
``(iv) bisexual; and
``(v) queer.
``(G) Household makeup, including marital status and number
of dependents.
``(H) Gross income and sources of income.
``(I) Housing status, disaggregated by--
``(i) renter;
``(ii) homeowner; or
``(iii) residing in a home owned or rented by
another person.
``(J) Employment status, disaggregated by--
``(i) employed;
``(ii) seeking employment; and
``(iii) self-employed.
``(K) History of service in the Armed Forces, disaggregated
by--
``(i) Armed Force;
``(ii) regular or reserve component;
``(iii) service in a combat theater of operations
or war zone;
``(iv) service during a period of war;
``(v) whether a veteran is a former prisoner of
war;
``(vi) whether the veteran was exposed to dead,
dying, or wounded people during active military, naval,
air, or space service;
``(vii) whether the veteran was exposed to
environmental hazards during active military, naval,
air, or space service; and
``(viii) whether the veteran experienced military
sexual trauma (as that term is defined in section 1166
of this title).
``(L) Whether the veteran is enrolled in the patient
enrollment system under section 1705 of this title.
``(M) Whether the veteran has received a disability rating
from under section 1155 of this title.
``(N) Location of the veteran's residence, disaggregated
by--
``(i) rural or urban setting;
``(ii) distance to a facility of the Department;
and
``(iii) whether the veteran has access to broadband
service.
``(O) Any other information the Secretary determines
appropriate.
``(b) Data Retention Standards.--Demographic data in the database
under subsection (a) shall be--
``(1) anonymized to prevent the release of sensitive
personal information (as that term is defined in section 5727
of this title); and
``(2) machine readable.
``(c) Website.--The Secretary shall maintain a publicly accessible
website of the Department that provides access to the database under
subsection (a). The Secretary shall update such website not less
frequently than once each year.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
such chapter is amended by inserting, after the item relating to
section 527, the following new item:
``528. Demographic data of veterans: collection; retention;
publication.''.
(c) Implementation Date.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
carry out section 528 of such title, as added by this section, not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON DATA STRATEGY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit
to Congress a report describing the progress, challenges, performance,
and opportunities of implementing the data strategy of the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
(b) Elements.--The report under this section shall include the
following:
(1) Qualitative and quantitative progress towards
strengthening data management of the Department, including
business and mission impact enabled by management of data as a
strategic asset.
(2) Recommendations of the Secretary regarding legislation
that may accelerate data management maturity of the Department.
(3) Progress and results in cataloging and inventorying
data assets of the Department and using such assets to
support--
(A) internal evidence-based policymaking; and
(B) ethical and appropriate dissemination of
statistical aggregates, data-driven analysis, and open
data.
(4) Progress in implementing requirements under chapter 35
of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the
``Paperwork Reduction Act''), and related data quality efforts
to support strategic management of data collected by the
Department.
(5) Efforts to move towards a rules-based, transparent,
Department-wide approach to management, integration, and
sharing of, and access to, data.
(6) Recommendations of the Secretary regarding adjustments
to data requirements of the Department.
(7) Information sharing agreements and outstanding
requirements with other Federal entities, including gaps best
addressed by the addition of survey questions to an existing
Federal survey instrument.
(8) Progress on recently enacted public laws, Executive
orders, Presidential memoranda, and outstanding recommendations
of the Comptroller General of the United States or an inspector
general as it pertains to veteran population-based data
collection, quality, integration, sharing, interoperability,
and analytics within the scope of improving and ensuring equity
in services to veterans, their families, and other
beneficiaries.
(9) A discussion of current risk assessments regarding data
breaches and information security (as those terms are defined
in section 5727 of title 38, United States Code) of the
Department.
(10) Priority data requirements of the Department,
identified through consultation with the following entities:
(A) The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the
Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the
House of Representatives.
(B) The Congressional Budget Office.
(C) Veterans service organizations.
(D) The Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans of
the Department.
(E) The Advisory Committee on Women Veterans of the
Department.
(F) The Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans of
the Department.
(c) Publication.--Not later than 30 days after submitting the
report under this section, the Secretary shall publish such report on
the open data website of the Department, with all metrics and data
included in a machine readable format.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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