[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6874 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6874
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a system or
process to actively monitor the veteran self-service and data
transmission functions of the main internet website of the Department
of Veterans Affairs for certain adverse events, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 19, 2023
Mr. Rosendale (for himself and Mr. Williams of Texas) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a system or
process to actively monitor the veteran self-service and data
transmission functions of the main internet website of the Department
of Veterans Affairs for certain adverse events, 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
Watching over Electronic Benefits Act'' or the ``VA WEB Act''.
SEC. 2. SYSTEM OR PROCESS TO ACTIVELY MONITOR CERTAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE
COVERED WEBSITE FOR ADVERSE EVENTS.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall develop
and implement a system or process to actively monitor certain functions
of the covered website, including covered features and any underlying
interface or system, for adverse events. The Secretary may use the
authority under section 701(a) of the Sergeant First Class Heath
Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of
2022 (Public Law 117-168; 38 U.S.C. 324 note) to carry out this
subsection.
(b) System or Process Requirements.--The Secretary shall ensure
that the system or process developed under subsection (a) is designed
to monitor, and log and store data, with respect to--
(1) the volume of traffic to the covered website;
(2) the number of submissions made using a covered feature;
(3) software updates or other modifications to a covered
feature or underlying interface or system;
(4) needs, deficiencies, or obsolescence of a covered
feature or underlying interface or system;
(5) adverse events, including--
(A) the date and time of any such adverse event;
(B) the number of users of the covered website who
were affected by the adverse event;
(C) the number of submissions affected by the
adverse event; and
(D) any factor related to an underlying interface
or system that caused or contributed to the adverse
event; and
(6) any other factors, as determined by the Secretary.
(c) Notice and Report Regarding Certain Adverse Events.--
(1) Notice.--In the case of any significant adverse event
affecting the covered website, not later than 30 days after the
date of such event, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of
Representatives notice of the event, including a description of
the event.
(2) Report.--Not later than 30 days after receiving a
request from the Chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of
the Senate or the Chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
of the House of Representatives for a report about an adverse
event, including a significant adverse event, the Secretary
shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the
Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the adverse
event covered by the request. Each such report shall include--
(A) a description of the adverse event;
(B) the date and time when the adverse event began
and ended;
(C) the number of users of the covered website who
were affected;
(D) the number of submissions made using a covered
feature that were affected; and
(E) a description of any underlying interface or
system that was affected.
(3) Sunset.--The requirements under this subsection shall
expire on the date that is seven years after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(d) Report Regarding Exercise of Certain Authority.--If the
Secretary exercises authority under section 701(a) of the Sergeant
First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address
Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-168; 38 U.S.C. 324
note) to carry out subsection (a), not later than 30 days after the
date on which the Secretary first exercises such authority for such
purpose, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans'
Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives and the
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a report about the exercise of such authority. Such
report shall include--
(1) the cost of implementing the system or process
developed under subsection (a);
(2) a description of any modernization or replacement of an
underlying interface or system necessary to implement the
system or process;
(3) an identification of any ways in which the covered
website and any underlying interface or system is susceptible
to any adverse event; and
(4) a description of how the Secretary plans to eliminate
or mitigate, to the extent possible, any such susceptibility.
(e) Testing Strategy.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary for Information and
Technology of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a strategy to reduce the occurrence of adverse events
by improving testing for each modification or software update to a
covered feature or underlying system or interface.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``adverse event'' means, with respect to the
covered website, including covered features--
(A) a failure to properly receive or process a
submission;
(B) a system outage;
(C) an error in an underlying interface or system
that prevents the transmission of data;
(D) a deficiency in information storage capacity;
(E) a loss of data;
(F) a presentation of incorrect information;
(G) an error regarding a status notification; or
(H) any similar event that affects a function of
the covered website, as determined by the Secretary.
(2) The term ``covered feature'' means any feature or
function of the covered website for use in the facilitation of
the application, maintenance, or receipt of benefits under the
laws administered by the Secretary.
(3) The term ``covered website'' means the main internet
website of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(4) The term ``significant adverse event'', with respect to
the covered website, including covered features, means an
adverse event that affects 1,000 or more users of, or
submissions to, the covered website.
(5) The term ``underlying interface or system'' means--
(A) any information technology system that
transmits data through, or accepts data from, a covered
feature; or
(B) any mechanism through which any such
information technology system connects and interacts
with the covered website.
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