VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 115-46.
VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017
TITLE I--APPROPRIATION OF AMOUNTS FOR VETERANS CHOICE PROGRAM
(Sec. 101) This bill provides funding for the Veterans Choice Program.
TITLE II--PERSONNEL MATTERS
(Sec. 201) The annual determination of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) staff shortages shall include shortages for a minimum of five clinical and five nonclinical occupations for each network. (Such determination currently includes the five occupations for which there are the largest Department of Veterans Affairs [VA]-wide shortages.)
(Sec. 202) The bill establishes in the VA an executive management fellowship program to provide Veterans Benefits Administration and VHA employees with training and experience in the private sector and private sector employees training and experience in the VA. Employees shall be selected in a manner that reflects veteran demographics and provides a preference for rural employees.
(Sec. 203) The VA shall conduct an annual performance plan for each political appointee that is similar to the plan conducted for VA career senior executive employees.
(Sec. 204) The VA may noncompetitively appoint a qualified former employee to any VA position within the competitive service that is one grade or equivalent higher than the person's most recent position.
(Sec. 205) The VA shall establish a promotional track system for employees who are technical experts to advance without being required to transition to management positions.
(Sec. 206) The VA shall prescribe regulations to allow for excepted service appointments of qualifying students and recent graduates leading to career employment.
(Sec. 207) The VA shall establish a program to encourage service members with a military health care specialty to seek postmilitary employment with the VHA.
(Sec. 208) The VA shall establish a single database that lists each vacant VA position that is: (1) critical, difficult to fill, or both; or (2) for a mental health professional. A qualified applicant for a position in the database who is not selected may elect to be considered by the VA for similar positions in the database.
The summary continues for 10 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on August 12, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on August 12, 2017: Became Public Law No: 115-46.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced it on January 12, 2017, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HousePassed
- PresidentSigned into law