[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 939 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 939

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to treat certain misfiled 
 documents as motions for reconsideration of decisions by the Board of 
               Veterans' Appeals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2013

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. Begich) 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 treat certain misfiled 
 documents as motions for reconsideration of decisions by the Board of 
               Veterans' Appeals, 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. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN MISFILED DOCUMENTS AS MOTIONS FOR 
              RECONSIDERATION OF DECISIONS BY BOARD OF VETERANS' 
              APPEALS.

    Section 7103 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsection (c):
    ``(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), if a person adversely 
affected by a final decision of the Board, who has not filed a notice 
of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims 
under section 7266(a) of this title within the period set forth in that 
section, files a document with the Board or the agency of original 
jurisdiction referred to in section 7105(b)(1) of this title that 
expresses disagreement with such decision not later than 120 days after 
the date of such decision, such document shall be treated as a motion 
for reconsideration of such decision under subsection (a).
    ``(2) A document described in paragraph (1) shall not be treated as 
a motion for reconsideration of the decision under paragraph (1) if--
            ``(A) the Board or the agency of original jurisdiction 
        referred to in paragraph (1)--
                    ``(i) receives the document described in paragraph 
                (1);
                    ``(ii) determines that such document expresses an 
                intent to appeal the decision to the United States 
                Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and
                    ``(iii) forwards such document to the United States 
                Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and
            ``(B) the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans 
        Claims receives such document within the period set forth by 
        section 7266(a) of this title.''.
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