[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3193 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3193

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to reestablish the duty of the 
  Department of Veterans Affairs to assist claimants for benefits in 
 developing claims and to clarify the burden of proof for such claims.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 1999

   Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Filner, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. 
   Shows, Ms. Carson, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Abercrombie, and Mr. Holden) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to reestablish the duty of the 
  Department of Veterans Affairs to assist claimants for benefits in 
 developing claims and to clarify the burden of proof for such claims.

    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 ``Duty to Assist Veterans Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. DUTY OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ASSIST CLAIMANTS.

    (a) Duty To Assist.--(1) Chapter 51 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after section 5103 the following new 
section:
``Sec. 5103A. Duty to assist claimants
    ``(a) The Secretary shall assist a person who submits a claim for a 
benefit under a law administered by the Secretary in developing 
information pertinent to a decision on the claim.
    ``(b) The assistance that shall be provided by the Secretary under 
subsection (a) before a decision on the claim is rendered shall include 
the following:
            ``(1) Requesting information as described in section 5106 
        of this title.
            ``(2) Informing the claimant of the information and medical 
        or lay evidence needed in order to fully develop the claim.
            ``(3) Requesting information identified or referenced by 
        the claimant if the claimant has executed a release of 
        information authorizing the Secretary to obtain the 
        information.
            ``(4) Informing the claimant if the Secretary is unable to 
        obtain pertinent evidence such as service medical records or 
        other evidence identified by the claimant.
            ``(5) Providing a medical examination for the purposes of 
        determining the current disability of any veteran who is unable 
        to afford medical care as determined under section 1722(a) of 
        this title.
            ``(6) Any other assistance the Secretary considers 
        necessary and appropriate to assure the proper development of 
        the claim.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 5103 the 
following new item:

``5103A. Duty to assist claimants.''.
    (b) Burden of Proof.--(1) Subsection (a) of section 5107 of such 
title is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) A person who submits a claim for a benefit under a law 
administered by the Secretary shall have the burden of proving 
eligibility for that benefit. That burden may be satisfied by meeting 
the requirements of any presumption provided by law or regulation 
applicable to the claim.''.
    (2) Subsection (b) of that section is amended by striking ``each'' 
in the first sentence.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to any claim filed with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on or 
after July 14, 1999.
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