H.R. 8010

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8010 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8010

To prohibit the downgrading of law enforcement positions in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 19, 2026

Mr. Kennedy of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To prohibit the downgrading of law enforcement positions in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ``VA Police Recruitment and Retention 
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DOWNGRADING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT POSITIONS IN THE 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

(a) Prohibition.--No official in the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, or any other department or 
agency may propose, initiate, or carry out a position downgrade for any 
covered VA position, and no Federal funds may be used to propose, 
initiate, or carry out a position downgrade for any such position.
(b) Retroactive Application.--Any position downgrade for a covered 
VA position proposed, initiated, or carried out during the period 
beginning October 1, 2025, and ending on the date of the enactment of 
this Act shall have no force or effect. Any such position subjected to 
a position downgrade during this period shall be returned to the status 
it had prior to the position downgrade. Any employee occupying such a 
position shall receive all pay to which they otherwise would have been 
entitled.
(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) The term ``covered VA position'' means a position 
carrying out law enforcement functions within the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, whether permanent, temporary, full-time, 
part-time, or intermittent, and without regard to the source of 
funding for the position.
(2) The term ``position downgrade'' means a consistency 
review, incumbent-only review, or other classification action 
taken by the Office of Personnel Management or any other 
department or agency pursuant to chapter 51 of title 5, United 
States Code, or similar authority, that may result in a loss of 
grade or pay associated with a position or set of positions, 
without regard to whether an employee occupying such a position 
is entitled to or otherwise provided with retained grade or 
pay.
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