HR 8010
VA Police Recruitment and Retention Act of 2026
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Bill overview
This bill aims to protect the pay and status of law enforcement officers within the Department of Veterans Affairs. It prohibits any downgrading of these positions and retroactively reverses any downgrades that occurred between October 1, 2025, and the bill’s enactment. The bill clarifies that ‘covered VA positions’ include those with law enforcement functions, regardless of funding source. It also ensures affected employees receive any lost pay.
Key provisions
- Prohibits downgrading of law enforcement positions within the VA.
- Reverses any position downgrades proposed or carried out between October 1, 2025, and the bill’s enactment.
- Ensures affected employees receive lost pay.
- Defines ‘covered VA position’ as those with law enforcement functions.
- Defines ‘position downgrade’ as actions that could result in a loss of grade or pay.
Who is affected
- Department of Veterans Affairs employees
- Law enforcement officers in the VA
- Office of Personnel Management
- Federal employees involved in personnel classification
Notable changes
- Retroactively restores downgraded positions to their previous status.
- Guarantees compensation for employees who experienced pay reductions due to downgrades.
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Primary sponsor
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119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
H. R. 8010
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To prohibit the downgrading of law enforcement positions in the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the VA Police Recruitment and Retention Act of 2026
.
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.
For purposes of this section:
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.
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.