I
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5464
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 24, 2006
Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Simmons, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Carter, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Souder, Mr. Foley, Mr. Mack, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Chocola, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Ms. Harris, Mrs. Bono, Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Goode, Mr. Price of Georgia, Mr. Shays, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Poe, and Mr. Issa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To improve information security for veterans, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Veterans Identity Protection
Act
.
Required availability of free credit reports and credit monitoring to veterans
Required notification
Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall provide to each veteran described in subsection (b) a notice in writing. The notice shall—
inform the veteran that information about the veteran was included in the data of the Department of Veterans Affairs that was stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee around May 22, 2006;
inform the veteran of the nature of the breach of confidentiality of personal records that are held by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as required by section 5901 of title 38, United States Code; and
inform the veteran that the veteran (using the form provided pursuant to subsection (c)) may request a free credit report once every three months for the next year and free monitoring of the veteran’s credit report for the next year.
Covered veterans
Veterans described in this subsection are the veterans whose names or other personal identifying information were part in the data of the Department of Veterans Affairs that was stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee around May 22, 2006.
Election form for free credit reports and credit monitoring
The Secretary shall include with each notification under subsection (a) a form (with a postage-paid return envelope) by which the veteran receiving the notification my request a free credit report once every three months for the next year and free monitoring of the veteran’s credit report for the next year.
Agreements with credit reporting agencies
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall enter into discussions with the three principal credit reporting agencies and conclude such agreements as necessary in order to implement elections made by veterans pursuant to subsection (c). Any such agreement may include provisions for the Secretary to pay the expenses of such a credit reporting agency for compliance with such elections.
Implementation of information security improvement recommendations
Requirement
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, as rapidly as feasible, fully implement each of the 16 Information Security improvements recommended to the Secretary by the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Inspector General’s report on the March 2005 audit of the Department of Veterans Affairs Information Security Program.
Penalty for failure to implement
Fiscal year 2007
If as of January 1, 2007, each of the Information Security improvements referred to in subsection (a) is not fully implemented, then effective as of that date, the amount of funds that may be obligated during fiscal year 2007 for activities of the Office of the Secretary, within funds available for that fiscal year for General Operating Expenses for the Department of Veterans Affairs, may not exceed 90 percent of the amount otherwise specified as available for such activities.
Subsequent fiscal years
In any fiscal year after fiscal year 2007 for which, as of January 1 of that fiscal year, each of the Information Security improvements referred to in subsection (a) is not fully implemented, then effective as of that date, the amount of funds that may be obligated during that fiscal year for activities of the Office of the Secretary, within funds available for that fiscal year for General Operating Expenses for the Department of Veterans Affairs, may not exceed the percentage of the amount otherwise specified as available for such activities that is the percentage applicable under this subsection for the preceding fiscal year reduced by 10 percentage points.