[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1063 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1063

  To amend chapter 72 of title 38, United States Code, to improve the 
   administration of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans 
                                Claims.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 19, 2001

 Mr. Rockefeller (by request) introduced the following bill; which was 
     read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend chapter 72 of title 38, United States Code, to improve the 
   administration of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans 
                                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 ``United States Court of Appeals for 
Veterans Claims Administration Improvement Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. REGISTRATION FEES.

    (a) Section 7285(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
adding the following sentence at the end: ``In order to defray the 
expenses of judicial conferences convened pursuant to section 7286 of 
this title, the Court may also impose a registration fee on the active 
participation at such conferences by persons described in that 
section.''.
    (b) Section 7285(b) of such title is amended by--
            (1) inserting ``conducting investigations and proceedings, 
        including'' in paragraph (1) after ``(1)'';
            (2) inserting a comma after ``counsel'' in paragraph (1); 
        and
            (3) striking ``administrative costs for the implementation 
        of the standards of proficiency prescribed for practice before 
        the Court'' in paragraph (2) and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``the expenses of judicial conferences convened pursuant to 
        section 7286 of this title and other activities and programs 
        that are designed to support and foster bench and bar 
        communication and relationships or the study, understanding, 
        public commemoration, or improvement of veterans law or of the 
        work of the Court.''.
    (c)(1) The heading for such section is amended by striking 
``Practice fee'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``Registration fees''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 72 of such 
title is amended by striking ``Practice fee.'' and inserting in lieu 
thereof ``Registration fees.'' in the item related to section 7285.

SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITIES.

    (a) Subchapter III of chapter 72 of title 38, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting after section 7286 the following new section:
``Sec. 7287. Administration
    ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Court of Appeals 
for Veterans Claims may exercise, for purposes of management, 
administration, and expenditure of funds, the authorities provided for 
such purposes by any provision of law (including any limitation with 
respect to such provision) applicable to a court of the United States 
as defined in section 451 of title 28, except to the extent that such 
provision of law is inconsistent with a provision of this chapter.''.
    (b) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by inserting after the item related to section 7286 the 
following new item:

``7287. Administration.''.
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