
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 38USC510]

 
                      TITLE 38--VETERANS' BENEFITS
 
                       PART I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
            CHAPTER 5--AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL AUTHORITIES
 
Sec. 510. Authority to reorganize offices

    (a) Except to the extent inconsistent with law, the Secretary may--
        (1) consolidate, eliminate, abolish, or redistribute the 
    functions of the Administrations, offices, facilities, or activities 
    in the Department;
        (2) create new Administrations, offices, facilities, or 
    activities in the Department; and
        (3) fix the functions of any such Administration, office, 
    facility, or activity and the duties and powers of their respective 
    executive heads.

    (b) The Secretary may not in any fiscal year implement an 
administrative reorganization described in subsection (c) unless the 
Secretary first submits to the appropriate committees of the Congress a 
report containing a detailed plan and justification for the 
administrative reorganization. No action to carry out such 
reorganization may be taken after the submission of such report until 
the end of a 45-day period following the date of the submission of the 
report, not less than 30 days of which shall be days during which 
Congress shall have been in continuous session. For purposes of the 
preceding sentence, continuity of a session of Congress is broken only 
by adjournment sine die, and there shall be excluded from the 
computation of any period of continuity of session any day during which 
either House of Congress is not in session during an adjournment of more 
than three days to a day certain.
    (c) An administrative reorganization described in this subsection is 
an administrative reorganization of a covered field office or facility 
that involves a reduction during any fiscal year in the number of full-
time equivalent employees with permanent duty stations at such office or 
facility--
        (1) by 15 percent or more; or
        (2) by a percent which, when added to the percent reduction made 
    in the number of such employees with permanent duty stations at such 
    office or facility during the preceding fiscal year, is 25 percent 
    or more.

    (d)(1) Not less than 30 days before the date on which the 
implementation of any administrative reorganization described in 
paragraph (2) of a unit in the Central Office is to begin, the Secretary 
shall transmit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and 
the House of Representatives a notification regarding the 
reorganization.
    (2) Paragraph (1) applies to an administrative reorganization of any 
unit of the Central Office that is the duty station for 30 or more 
employees if the reorganization involves a reduction in any fiscal year 
in the number of full-time equivalent employees with permanent duty 
station in such unit by 50 percent or more.
    (e) For purposes of this section, the term ``administrative 
reorganization'' does not include a consolidation or redistribution of 
functions at a covered field office or facility, or between components 
of the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Veterans Health 
Administration at a Department medical and regional office center, if 
after the consolidation or redistribution the same number of full-time 
equivalent employees continues to perform the affected functions at that 
field office, facility, or center.
    (f) For purposes of this section:
        (1) The term ``covered field office or facility'' means a 
    Department office or facility outside the Central Office that is the 
    permanent duty station for 25 or more employees or that is a free-
    standing outpatient clinic.
        (2) The term ``detailed plan and justification'' means, with 
    respect to an administrative reorganization, a written report that, 
    at a minimum, includes the following:
            (A) Specification of the number of employees by which each 
        covered office or facility affected is to be reduced, the 
        responsibilities of those employees, and the means by which the 
        reduction is to be accomplished.
            (B) Identification of any existing or planned office or 
        facility at which the number of employees is to be increased and 
        specification of the number and responsibilities of the 
        additional employees at each such office or facility.
            (C) A description of the changes in the functions carried 
        out at any existing office or facility and the functions to be 
        assigned to an office or facility not in existence on the date 
        that the plan and justification are submitted pursuant to 
        subsection (b).
            (D) An explanation of the reasons for the determination that 
        the reorganization is appropriate and advisable in terms of the 
        statutory missions and long-term goals of the Department.
            (E) A description of the effects that the reorganization may 
        have on the provision of benefits and services to veterans and 
        dependents of veterans (including the provision of benefits and 
        services through offices and facilities of the Department not 
        directly affected by the reorganization).
            (F) Estimates of the costs of the reorganization and of the 
        cost impact of the reorganization, together with analyses 
        supporting those estimates.

(Added Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 2(a), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 387; amended 
Pub. L. 104-262, title III, Sec. 304, Oct. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 3194.)


                            Prior Provisions

    Prior section 510, Pub. L. 85-857, Sept. 2, 1958, 72 Stat. 1135, 
provided monthly pension for persons who served in military or naval 
forces of Confederate States of America, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 94-
169, title I, Sec. 101(2)(F), Dec. 23, 1975, 89 Stat. 1014, effective 
Jan. 1, 1976.
    Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in 
section 210(b)(1), (2) of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 102-83, 
Sec. 2(a).


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104-262 substituted ``a 45-day period 
following the date of the submission of the report, not less than 30 
days of which shall be days during which Congress shall have been in 
continuous session'' for ``a 90-day period of continuous session of 
Congress following the date of the submission of the report'' in second 
sentence and ``any period of continuity of session'' for ``such 90-day 
period'' in third sentence.


   Authority of Secretary of Veterans Affairs To Carry Out Specified 
                      Administrative Reorganization

    Pub. L. 102-54, Sec. 12, June 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 273, provided 
that:
    ``(a) Authority for Administrative Reorganization.--The Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs may carry out the administrative reorganization 
described in subsection (b) without regard to section 210(b)(2) of title 
38 [38 U.S.C. 510(b)-(f)], United States Code.
    ``(b) Specified Reorganization.--Subsection (a) applies to the 
organizational realignment of management responsibility for the 
Department of Veterans Affairs Data Processing Centers, together with 
the corresponding organizational realignment of associated Information 
Resources Management operational components and functions within the 
Department of Veterans Affairs central office, as such realignment was 
described in the detailed plan and justification submitted by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs in [sic] January 4, 1991, letters to the 
Chairmen of the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the 
House of Representatives.''


                     Inapplicability of Restrictions

    Pub. L. 101-312, June 25, 1990, 104 Stat. 271, provided: ``That (a) 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may proceed with the administrative 
reorganization described in subsection (b) of this Act without regard to 
section 210(b) [see 303, 510, 711] of title 38, United States Code.
    ``(b) The administrative reorganization referred to in subsection 
(a) is the reorganization of the regional field offices of the Veterans 
Health Services and Research Administration of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs as that reorganization and related activity are 
described in (1) letters dated January 22, 1990, and the detailed plan 
and justification enclosed therewith, submitted by the Secretary to the 
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives pursuant to such section 210(b) [see 303, 510, 711], and 
(2) letters dated April 17, 1990, submitted in supplementation thereof 
by the Secretary to such Committees.''
    Section 15(b) of Pub. L. 100-527 provided that: ``Section 210(b) 
[see 303, 510, 711] of title 38, United States Code (as amended by 
subsection (a)), shall not apply to a reorganization of a unit of the 
Central Office of the Department of Veterans' Affairs if the 
reorganization--
        ``(1) is necessary in order to carry out the provisions of or 
    amendments made by this Act [see Tables for classification]; and
        ``(2) is initiated within 6 months after the effective date of 
    this Act [Mar. 15, 1989].''
