United States HR 162: National Digital Reserve Corps Act

Bill Text

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118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 162
To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a National Digital Reserve
Corps to help address the digital and cybersecurity needs of Executive
agencies, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 9, 2023
Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas (for himself and Ms. KELLY of Illinois) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Accountability
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a National
Digital Reserve Corps to help address the digital and
cybersecurity needs of Executive agencies, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Digital Re-4
serve Corps Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL DIGITAL RESERVE CORPS. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart I of part III of title 5, 2
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 3
following new chapter: 4
‘‘CHAPTER 104—NATIONAL DIGITAL 5
RESERVE CORPS 6
‘‘Sec. 10401. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 10402. Establishment.
‘‘Sec. 10403. Organization.
‘‘Sec. 10404. Assignments.
‘‘Sec. 10405. Reservist continuing education.
‘‘Sec. 10406. Congressional reports.
‘‘SEC. 10401. DEFINITIONS. 7
‘‘In this chapter: 8
‘‘(1) ACTIVE RESERVIST.—The term ‘active re-9
servist’ means a reservist holding a position to which 10
such reservist has been appointed under section 11
10403(c)(2). 12
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis-13
trator’ means the Administrator of the General 14
Services Administration. 15
‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means 16
the program established under section 10402(a). 17
‘‘(4) RESERVIST.—The term ‘reservist’ means 18
an individual who is a member of the National Dig-19
ital Reserve Corps. 20
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‘‘SEC. 10402. ESTABLISHMENT. 1
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 2
General Services Administration a program to establish, 3
manage, and assign a reserve of individuals with relevant 4
skills and credentials, to be know as the ‘National Digital 5
Reserve Corps’, to help address the digital and cybersecu-6
rity needs of Executive agencies. 7
‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 8
‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than six months 9
after the date of the enactment of this section, the 10
Administrator shall issue guidance for the National 11
Digital Reserve Corps, which shall include proce-12
dures for coordinating with Executive agencies to— 13
‘‘(A) identify digital and cybersecurity 14
needs which may be addressed by the National 15
Digital Reserve Corps; and 16
‘‘(B) assign active reservists to address 17
such needs. 18
‘‘(2) RECRUITMENT AND INITIAL ASSIGN-19
MENTS.—Not later than one year after the date of 20
the enactment of this section, the Administrator 21
shall begin recruiting reservists and assigning active 22
reservists under the Program. 23
‘‘SEC. 10403. ORGANIZATION. 24
‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATION.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Digital Re-1
serve Corps shall be administered by the Adminis-2
trator. 3
‘‘(2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—In carrying out the 4
Program, the Administrator shall— 5
‘‘(A) establish standards for serving as a 6
reservist, including educational attainment, pro-7
fessional qualifications, and background checks; 8
‘‘(B) ensure the standards established 9
under subparagraph (A) are met; 10
‘‘(C) recruit individuals to the National 11
Digital Reserve Corps; 12
‘‘(D) activate and deactivate reservists as 13
necessary; 14
‘‘(E) coordinate with Executive agencies 15
to— 16
‘‘(i) determine the digital and cyberse-17
curity needs which reservists shall be as-18
signed to address; 19
‘‘(ii) ensure reservists have access, re-20
sources, and equipment required to address 21
digital and cybersecurity needs which such 22
reservists are assigned to address; and 23
‘‘(iii) analyze potential assignments 24
for reservists to determine outcomes, de-25
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velop anticipated assignment timelines, and 1
identify Executive agency partners; 2
‘‘(F) ensure reservists acquire and main-3
tain appropriate security clearances; and 4
‘‘(G) determine what additional resources, 5
if any, are required to successfully implement 6
the Program. 7
‘‘(b) NATIONAL DIGITAL RESERVE CORPS PARTICI-8
PATION.— 9
‘‘(1) SERVICE OBLIGATION AGREEMENT.— 10
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual may be-11
come a reservist only if s