[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1751 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1751

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise the procedures for 
 providing claimants and their representatives with copies of Board of 
 Veterans' Appeals decisions and to protect the right of claimants to 
  appoint veterans service organizations as their representatives in 
           claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 1996

Mr. Simpson (by request) 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 the procedures for 
 providing claimants and their representatives with copies of Board of 
 Veterans' Appeals decisions and to protect the right of claimants to 
  appoint veterans service organizations as their representatives in 
           claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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

SECTION 1. PROVISION OF COPIES OF BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS DECISIONS.

    (a) Providing the Decisions.--Section 7104(e) of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by--
            (1) striking out ``mail'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``send''; and
            (2) adding at the end of the subsection the following: 
        ``For the purposes of this subsection, the Board may send a 
        copy of its written decision by any means reasonably calculated 
        to provide the claimant and the claimant's authorized 
        representative (if any) with a copy of the decision within the 
        same time a copy of the decision sent by first-class mail would 
        be expected to reach them.''
    (b) Beginning of the Appeal Period.--Section 7266(a)(1) of title 
38, United States Code, is amended by--
            (1) striking out ``person'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``claimant'';
            (2) striking out ``mailed'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``sent''; and
            (3) inserting ``to the claimant's authorized representative 
        or, if none, to the claimant'' following ``title''.

SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF A VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATION AS A CLAIMANT'S 
              REPRESENTATIVE.

    (a) Power of Attorney Naming a Veterans Service Organization.--
Section 5902 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by--
            (1) redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (2) inserting the following new subsection (c):
    ``(c)(1) Unless a claimant specifically indicates his or her desire 
to appoint only a recognized representative of an organization listed 
in or approved under subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary may, 
for any purpose, treat a claimant's power of attorney naming such an 
organization, a specific office of such an organization, or a 
recognized representative of such an organization as an appointment of 
the entire organization.
    ``(2) Whenever the Secretary is required or permitted to notify a 
claimant's representative, and the claimant has named in a power of 
attorney an organization listed in or approved under subsection (a) of 
this section, a specific office of such an organization, or a 
recognized representative of such an organization without specifically 
indicating a desire to appoint only a recognized representative of the 
organization, the Secretary shall notify the organization at the 
address designated by the organization for the purpose of receiving 
each kind of notification.''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendments made by this section apply to 
any power of attorney filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs 
regardless of the date of its execution.
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