S. 1550: Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-07-13 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2017-07-13 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Strange, Luther [R-AL] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017

Plain summary

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.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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The strongest published arguments

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Strange, Luther [R-AL] · 3 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Tom Cotton (R-AR)

Agencies named in this bill

Department of Veterans Affairs: its federal spending and other bills that name it

Found automatically: the agency's full official name appears in the bill title. A bill can affect agencies it does not name, so this list may be incomplete.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (2)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Rulemaking: The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s1550.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>

Record fed-us-cong115-s1550 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115