PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Mar 27, 2019
VA Hiring Enhancement Act
This bill modifies requirements and procedures related to the hiring of physicians at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Specifically, the bill negates enforcement of a noncompete agreement that an applicant for a physician position in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has entered into with a non-VA facility or entity. As a condition of terminating the noncompete agreement, the physician must agree to serve at the VHA for one year or until the expiration of the noncompete agreement, whichever is later.
The bill also authorizes the VA to offer a contingent physician's appointment to a person if the person will have completed a residency program leading to board eligibility in a specialty and met other requirements for the appointment within two years after the VA offer.
Eligibility requirements for a VA physician's appointment are revised to require completion of a residency program rather than an internship.
People & committees
Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Jan 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.902 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.902 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.902 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.902 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.