Bill Sponsor
Senate Bill 2431
117th Congress(2021-2022)
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Training Act of 2021
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Jul 22, 2021
Overview
Text
Introduced in Senate 
Jul 22, 2021
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Introduced in Senate(Jul 22, 2021)
Jul 22, 2021
About Linkage
Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
S. 2431 (Introduced-in-Senate)


117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2431


To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs to receive training developed by the Inspector General of the Department on reporting wrongdoing to, responding to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspector General, and for other purposes.


IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

July 22, 2021

Ms. Hassan (for herself and Mr. Boozman) 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 require the employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs to receive training developed by the Inspector General of the Department on reporting wrongdoing to, responding to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspector General, 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 Office of Inspector General Training Act of 2021”.

SEC. 2. Department of Veterans Affairs employee training regarding Office of Inspector General.

(a) Training.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall require each employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs to receive training that the Inspector General of the Department shall develop on the reporting of wrongdoing to, responding to requests from, and cooperating with the Office of Inspector General.

(b) Employees.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall require—

(1) each employee of the Department who was employed by the Department on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act undergo the training required by subsection (a) not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act; and

(2) each employee of the Department who begins employment with the Department on or after the date of the enactment of this Act undergo the training required by subsection (a) not later than one year after the date on which the employment begins.

(c) Elements.—Training developed and required under subsection (a) shall include the following:

(1) Definition of the role, responsibilities, and legal authority of the Inspector General of the Department and the duties of employees of the Department for engaging with the Office of the Inspector General.

(2) Identification of the circumstances and mechanisms for reporting fraud, waste, abuse, and other wrongdoing to the Inspector General, including making confidential complaints to the Inspector General.

(3) Identification of the prohibitions and remedies that help to protect Department employees from retaliation when reporting wrongdoing to the Inspector General.

(4) Recognition of opportunities to engage with staff of the Office of the Inspector General to improve Department programs, operations, and services.

(d) Design and update.—The Inspector General of the Department shall design, and update as the Inspector General considers appropriate, the training developed and required by subsection (a).

(e) System.—The Secretary shall provide, via the talent management system of the Department, or successor system, the training developed and required under subsection (a).

(f) Relation to certain training.—The Secretary shall ensure that training developed and required under subsection (a) is separate and distinct from training provided under section 733 of title 38, United States Code.

(g) Notice to employees.—The Secretary shall ensure that the Inspector General is afforded the opportunity, not less frequently than twice each year and as frequently as the Inspector General considers appropriate under extraordinary circumstances, to use the electronic mail system of the Department to notify all authorized users of such system of the following:

(1) The roles and responsibilities of the employees of the Department when engaging with the Office of the Inspector General.

(2) The availability of training provided under subsection (a).

(3) How to access training provided under subsection (a).

(4) Information about how to contact the Office of the Inspector General, including a link to any website-based reporting form of the Office.