[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1546 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1546

To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise certain administrative 
provisions relating to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             October 14 (legislative day, October 13), 1993

   Mr. Rockefeller (for himself, Mr. DeConcini, Mr. Graham, and Mr. 
   Daschle) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise certain administrative 
provisions relating to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Court of Veterans Appeals 
Improvement Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. CONFIRMATION OF CHIEF JUDGE.

    Section 7253(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
striking out ``The judges'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``The chief 
judge and the associate judges''.

SEC. 3. MAILING OF NOTICES OF APPEAL TO THE COURT OF VETERANS APPEALS.

    (a) In General.--Section 7266(a) of title 38, United States Code, 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a)(1) In order to obtain review by the Court of Veterans Appeals 
of a final decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, a person 
adversely affected by such decision shall file a notice of appeal with 
the Court within 120 days after the date on which notice of the 
decision is mailed pursuant to section 7104(e) of this title.
    ``(2) An appellant shall file a notice of appeal under this section 
by delivering or mailing the notice to the Court.
    ``(3) A notice of appeal shall be deemed to be received by the 
Court as follows:
            ``(A) On the date of receipt by the Court, if the notice is 
        delivered.
            ``(B) On the date of the United States Post Service 
        postmark stamped on the cover in which the notice is posted, if 
        the notice is mailed.
    ``(4) For a notice of appeal mailed to the Court to be deemed to be 
received under paragraph (3)(B) on a particular date, the United States 
Postal Service postmark on the cover in which the notice is posted must 
be legible. The Court shall determine the legibility of any such 
postmark and the Court's determination as to legibility shall be final 
and not subject to review by any other Court.''.
    (b) Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take 
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to 
notices of appeal that are delivered or mailed to the United States 
Court of Veterans Appeals on or after that date.

SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF REVIEW BY COURT OF VETERANS APPEALS.

    (a) Availability.--Section 402 of the Veterans' Judicial Review Act 
(38 U.S.C. 7251 note) is amended by striking out ``in which a notice of 
disagreement'' and all that follows through the end of the section and 
inserting in lieu thereof ``in which the Board of Veterans' Appeals 
makes a final decision under section 7104 of title 38, United States 
Code, on or after November 18, 1988.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--(1) The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect as of November 18, 1988, and apply to cases in which the 
Board of Veterans' Appeals makes a final decision under section 7104 of 
title 38, United States Code, on or after that date.
    (2)(A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a person referred to in 
subparagraph (B) shall be entitled to obtain review by the Court of 
Veterans Appeals of a final decision referred to in clause (ii) of that 
subparagraph if the person files a notice of appeal with the Court of 
Veterans Appeals with respect to that decision not later than 180 days 
after the notification date referred to in subparagraph (C).
    (B) Subparagraph (A) applies to a person who--
            (i) filed a notice of disagreement with the Board of 
        Veterans' Appeals before November 18, 1988; and
            (ii) received a final decision by the Board on the matter 
        subject to the notice of disagreement on or after such date.
    (C) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, to the maximum extent 
practicable, notify each person referred to in subparagraph (B) of the 
eligibility of the person to file a notice of appeal with the Court 
under subparagraph (A). The date of such notification shall be deemed 
to be--
            (i) the date of such notification, in the case of actual 
        notification; or
            (ii) the date of the postmark stamped on the cover in which 
        the notification is posted, if the notice is mailed.

SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES UNDER CONTINGENT FEE 
              AGREEMENTS.

    Section 5905(d)(2)(A) of title 38, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
            ``(A) A fee agreement referred to in paragraph (1) of this 
        subsection is one under which the total amount of the fee 
        payable to the attorney (i) is to be paid to the attorney by 
        the Secretary directly from any past-due benefits awarded on 
        the basis of the claim, and (ii) is contingent on whether or 
        not the matter is resolved in a manner favorable to the 
        claimant.''.

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