[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1186 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1186

   To provide for a reduction in the backlog of claims for benefits 
            pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 4, 2003

  Mr. Edwards introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for a reduction in the backlog of claims for benefits 
            pending with 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. SHORT TITLE.

     This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

     Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There are more than 25,000,000 honorably discharged 
        veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States.
            (2) There are more than 500,000 veterans who have claims 
        pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans' 
        benefits, and approximately 100,000 of such claims are more 
        than one year old without resolution.
            (3) The Nation's veterans are dying at a rate of more than 
        1,000 veterans a day.
            (4) The National Association of County Veterans Service 
        Officers is an organization that includes approximately 2,400 
        full-time employees and whose members are present in 37 States.
            (5) Members of the National Association of County Veterans 
        Service Officers stand ready to partner with the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs in order to eliminate the backlog of claims 
        for veterans' benefits.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

     In this Act:
            (1) The term ``claimant'' means an individual applying for, 
        or submitting a claim for, any benefit under the laws 
        administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) The term ``County Veterans Service Officer'' means any 
        person employed by or funded by any county, parish, borough, or 
        territory whose job it is to assist veterans and eligible 
        dependents in the application for, administration of, or 
        receipt of benefits under any Federal, State, or County 
        veterans benefit program.
            (3) The term ``injury or illness claim'' means a claim for 
        benefits that is documented as being service-connected.
            (4) The term ``presumptive claim'' means a claim for 
        benefits that is presumptively connected to a specific tour of 
        duty or to specific types of military assignment.
            (5) The term ``statutory claims'' means those claims for 
        benefits defined in section 5101 of title 38, United States 
        Code.
            (6) The term ``specific claims'' includes statutory claims, 
        presumptive claims, and injury or illness claims.
            (7) The term ``ready to be rated'' means that there is 
        sufficient information to evaluate the claimed disability and 
        to assign a rating based on degree of disability.
            (8) The term ``State'' has the meaning given that term in 
        section 101(20) of title 38, United States Code.

SEC. 4. REDUCTION OF BACKLOG OF VETERANS' CLAIMS.

    (a) Referral of Claims to County Veterans Service Officers.--(1) 
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall identify the backlog of 
veterans' claims as of the date of the enactment of this Act and shall 
categorize those claims into types of specific claims. As part of such 
categorization, the Secretary shall identify the pending claims that 
require development. The Secretary shall refer those claims requiring 
development to a County Veterans Service Office for development.
    (2) The Secretary shall choose a County Veterans Service Office for 
development of a claim based upon the office's geographical proximity 
to the claimant.
    (3) A claim referred to a County Veterans Service Office for 
development shall be accompanied by specification from the Secretary of 
the information that is required to develop the claim and the 
information that is needed to make the claim ready to rate.
    (b) Filing of Claims With County Veterans Service Officers.--Claims 
for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs may be submitted to County Veterans Service Officers. Receipt 
of such a claim by a County Veterans Service Officer under this Act 
shall be treated for all purposes as receipt of the claim by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS.

    (a) Development of Claims by County Veterans Service Officer.--When 
a County Veterans Service Officer receives a claim referred under 
section 4(a) or receives a claim under section 4(b), that officer shall 
make personal contact with the claimant, explain the situation, and 
develop the claim.
    (b) Authority To Fully Develop Claim.--A County Veterans Service 
Officer to whom a claim is referred under section 4(a) or who receives 
a claim under section 4(b) shall have the authority to fully develop 
the claim and to transmit the claim to the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs when the claim is ready to be rated.
    (c) Procedure.--Once a claim referred to in subsection (b) has been 
fully developed, the claim shall be transmitted back to the Secretary 
with the information developed in accordance with the specification 
under section 4(a)(3) and a statement from the County Veterans Service 
Officer indicating that the claim is ready to rate.
    (d) Fully Developed Claims.--For purposes of this section, a claim 
shall be considered to be fully developed when the County Veterans 
Service Officer has obtained all items that that officer determines are 
necessary to substantiate the claim and all items that the Secretary 
has specifically specified to be developed in connection with the 
claim.

SEC. 6. INFORMATION SHARING.

     Veterans' information contained in the Benefits Delivery Network 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be accessible to County 
Veterans Service Offices in order to provide County Veterans Service 
Offices with online access to client information contained in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs database. Such information shall be used 
by County Veterans Service Offices to develop veterans' claims under 
this Act and for no other purpose.

SEC. 7. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Funding for purposes of this Act shall be 
allocated by grant to the States based on the population of veterans in 
the respective States. Funds allocated to a State under this Act shall 
be directed to County Veterans Service Offices within the State through 
the State department of veterans affairs (or the equivalent).
    (b) State Overhead.--A State department of veterans affairs may 
retain from any such grant for any fiscal year an amount equal to the 
expenses incurred by that State for administrative overhead in 
administering grants for that year, except that the amount so retained 
in any fiscal year may not exceed 3 percent of the amount of the grant 
to that State for that fiscal year.
    (c) Funds for Education and Training.--A portion of the funding 
received by a State under this Act for any fiscal year, as determined 
by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in agreement with County Veterans 
Service Offices, shall be used for County Veterans Service Officers to 
attend educational programs sponsored by or equivalent to the National 
Association of County Veterans Service Officers annual continuing 
education and accreditation training.
    (d) Limitation on Federal Funding.--Federal funds under this Act 
may not be used to provide more than 50 percent of the total costs of 
County Veterans Service Offices and shall be used to expand existing 
programs, not to supplant existing local government funding.
    (e) Establishment of New CVSO Programs.--(1) In the case of a State 
that as of the date of the enactment of this Act does not have a County 
Veterans Service Officer program, Federal funding under this Act may be 
used by units of local government in such State to establish such a 
program to assist veterans and their dependents in filing applications 
for veterans benefits and for the purposes specified in this Act.
    (2) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if a unit of local 
government chooses not to establish a County Veterans Service Officers 
program as described in that paragraph, the services specified in this 
Act for the State may be performed, at the election of the chief 
executive officer of the State, through--
            (A) the State department of veterans affairs (or the 
        equivalent); or
            (B) another official or agency of the State designated by 
        the chief executive officer of the State for that purpose.
    (3) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if both units of local 
government and the State government elect not to use some or all of the 
funds, the unused amount shall revert back to the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs and shall be reallocated to those State department of veterans 
affairs (or the equivalent) in which County Veterans Service Officers 
programs exist to further expand services to veterans in those States 
in support of the veterans claims backlog reduction services under this 
Act.
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