[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 732 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 732

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the opportunity for 
  veterans to use video conferencing for hearings before the Board of 
                           Veterans' Appeals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2015

 Mr. Ruiz (for himself, Mrs. Walorski, Ms. Norton, Mr. Cartwright, Ms. 
  Brownley of California, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Jolly, Ms. Kuster, Mr. 
   Honda, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Thompson of California, and Mr. Rangel) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the opportunity for 
  veterans to use video conferencing for hearings before the Board of 
                           Veterans' Appeals.

    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 ``Veterans Access to Speedy Review 
Act''.

SEC. 2. BOARD OF VETERANS' APPEALS VIDEO HEARINGS.

    Section 7107 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (d), by amending paragraph (1) to read as 
        follows:
    ``(1)(A) Upon request for a hearing, the Board shall determine, for 
purposes of scheduling the hearing for the earliest possible date, 
whether a hearing before the Board will be held at its principal 
location or at a facility of the Department or other appropriate 
Federal facility located within the area served by a regional office of 
the Department. The Board shall also determine whether to provide a 
hearing through the use of the facilities and equipment described in 
subsection (e)(1) or by the appellant personally appearing before a 
Board member or panel.
    ``(B) The Board shall notify the appellant of the determinations of 
the location and type of hearing made under subparagraph (A). Upon 
notification, the appellant may request a different location or type of 
hearing as described in such subparagraph. If so requested, the Board 
shall grant such request and ensure that the hearing is scheduled at 
the earliest possible date without any undue delay or other prejudice 
to the appellant.''; and
            (2) in subsection (e), by amending paragraph (2) to read as 
        follows:
    ``(2) Any hearing provided through the use of the facilities and 
equipment described in paragraph (1) shall be conducted in the same 
manner as, and shall be considered the equivalent of, a personal 
hearing''.
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