[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 674 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 674

To require prompt responses from the heads of covered Federal agencies 
 when the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requests information necessary 
   to adjudicate claims for benefits under laws administered by the 
                   Secretary, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 9, 2013

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require prompt responses from the heads of covered Federal agencies 
 when the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requests information necessary 
   to adjudicate claims for benefits under laws administered by the 
                   Secretary, 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 ``Accountability for Veterans Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR PROMPT RESPONSES FROM COVERED AGENCIES WHEN 
              SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REQUESTS INFORMATION 
              NECESSARY TO ADJUDICATE BENEFITS CLAIMS.

    (a) Initial Requests for Information.--Whenever the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs submits a request to the head of a covered agency for 
information that the Secretary determines is necessary to adjudicate a 
claim for a benefit under a law administered by the Secretary, the head 
of the covered agency shall, not later than 30 days after receiving the 
request from the Secretary--
            (1) furnish the Secretary with the information requested; 
        or
            (2) submit to the Secretary--
                    (A) an explanation as to why the head is unable to 
                furnish the Secretary with the requested information 
                within 30 days; and
                    (B) an estimate as to when the head will furnish 
                the Secretary with the requested information.
    (b) Continuous Resubmittal of Requests.--In each case in which the 
Secretary has submitted or resubmitted under this section a request to 
the head of a covered agency for information that the Secretary 
determines is necessary to adjudicate a claim for a benefit under a law 
administered by the Secretary, has received under this section in 
response to such request an estimate as to when the head will furnish 
the Secretary with the requested information, has not received such 
information on or before the date that is 15 days after the estimated 
date, and still requires such information to adjudicate the claim, the 
Secretary shall resubmit such request and the head of the covered 
agency receiving such request shall, not later than 30 days after 
receiving the resubmitted request from the Secretary--
            (1) furnish the Secretary with the information requested; 
        or
            (2) submit to the Secretary--
                    (A) an explanation as to why the head has been 
                unable to furnish the Secretary with the requested 
                information; and
                    (B) an estimate as to when the head will furnish 
                the Secretary with the requested information.
    (c) Notice to Claimants.--
            (1) In general.--Each time the Secretary receives an 
        explanation and a time estimate under subsection (a)(2) or 
        (b)(2) from the head of a covered agency regarding information 
        the Secretary requested to adjudicate a claim of a claimant, 
        the Secretary shall, not later than 45 days after the Secretary 
        submitted or resubmitted the request, notify the claimant--
                    (A) that the Secretary requires information from 
                the covered agency to adjudicate the claim;
                    (B) in the case of receiving a time estimate under 
                subsection (a)(2), that the covered agency was unable 
                to furnish the information to the Secretary within 30 
                days of the request for the information;
                    (C) in the case of receiving a time estimate under 
                subsection (b)(2), that the covered agency was unable 
                to furnish the information to the Secretary before the 
                previously estimated date; and
                    (D) of the current estimate of the head of the 
                covered agency of the date by which the head will 
                furnish the Secretary with the information requested.
            (2) Manner.--Notice provided under paragraph (1) shall be 
        made by mail or by electronic means.
    (d) Records.--The Secretary shall keep records of the time it takes 
to receive--
            (1) responses from heads of covered agencies under this 
        section; and
            (2) the information requested from the heads of covered 
        agencies under this section.
    (e) Semiannual Reports.--Not less frequently than once every six 
months, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
House of Representatives a report that summarizes the records kept 
under subsection (d) regarding the most recent six-month period.
    (f) Covered Agency Defined.--In this section, the term ``covered 
agency'' includes the following:
            (1) The Department of Defense.
            (2) The Social Security Administration.
            (3) The National Archives and Records Administration.
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