To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a portal for maintaining digital records of former members of the Armed Forces and to establish an advisory committee regarding the maintenance of those records, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Lankford (for himself and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to create a digital portal where military veterans and their families can access their military service records online. Currently, obtaining these records can be slow and cumbersome. The bill also creates a 12-member advisory committee to guide the development of this portal and assess how to improve coordination between the VA, Department of Defense, and the National Archives.
Who Benefits and How
Former members of the Armed Forces and their families are the primary beneficiaries. They would gain direct, convenient online access to their military personnel records, eliminating the need for cumbersome paper-based requests. Veterans service organizations also benefit from having improved access to support their members. Congressional caseworkers and historians may eventually benefit if the advisory committee recommends additional access portals for their use.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Veterans Affairs bears the primary burden, as it must design, build, and operate the new digital portal using existing appropriations (no new funding is authorized). The 12-member advisory committee must be appointed within 90 days, meet quarterly, and submit a report to Congress within 180 days. Representatives from each military branch, the National Archives, DoD, and VA must participate. The committee terminates after two years.
Key Provisions
- Mandates the VA to establish a digital portal for veterans to access their military personnel records
- Creates the "Veteran Military Personnel Record Advisory Committee" with 12 members including representatives from each military branch, DoD, VA, National Archives, a software development specialist, and a veterans service organization
- Requires the committee to meet quarterly and report to Congress within 180 days
- Committee must assess interagency coordination, privacy protections, nondigital access options, third-party access for scholars and family, and the transition of records to public access after 62 years
- No new appropriations are authorized; VA must fund the initiative from existing resources
- Committee terminates two years after enactment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a portal for maintaining digital records of former members of the Armed Forces and creates an advisory committee to oversee this process.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any organization recognized by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for the representation of veterans under section 5902 of title 38, United States Code.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology