Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017
This bill provides that the annual determination of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) staff shortages shall include shortages for five clinical and five non-clinical occupations for each network. (Such determination currently includes the five occupations for which there are the largest Department of Veterans Affairs [VA]-wide shortages.)
The bill establishes in the VA an executive management fellowship program to provide eligible employees of: (1) the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the VHA with private sector training and experience, and (2) a private-sector entity with VA training and experience.
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;
establish a single database that lists each vacant VA position that is critical, difficult to fill, or both, and each vacant mental health position;
prescribe regulations to allow for excepted service appointments of qualifying students and recent graduates;
provide VHA human resources with training on employee recruitment and retention;
establish a promotional track system for employees who are technical experts to advance without being required to transition to management positions;
develop a program to transition military medical people into VHA employment;
develop a plan to hire qualified directors for each medical center without a permanent director;
develop a standardized VA exit survey; and
ensure that a recruiter for each Veterans Integrated Service Network visits, at least annually, each allopathic and osteopathic teaching institution with a graduate medical education program within the network to recruit individuals to be appointed to VHA positions.
The VA may non-competitively appoint a qualified former career or career conditional employee to any VA position within the competitive service that is one grade higher than the position most recently occupied by the employee.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 13, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 13, 2017: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
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?
Luther Strange (R-AL) introduced it on July 13, 2017, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Republicans.
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.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 13, 2017, 3346 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3346 days ago, on July 13, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers