[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1451 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1451

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs to adjudicate and pay survivor's benefits without 
    requiring the filing of a formal claim, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2015

  Ms. Hirono 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 authorize the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs to adjudicate and pay survivor's benefits without 
    requiring the filing of a formal claim, 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 ``Veterans' Survivors Claims 
Processing Automation Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED PAYMENT OF SURVIVOR'S BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 5101(a)(1) of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``A specific'' and inserting ``(A) Except 
        as provided in subparagraph (B), a specific''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
    ``(B)(i) The Secretary may pay benefits under chapters 13 and 15 
and sections 2302, 2307, and 5121 of this title to a survivor of a 
veteran who has not filed a formal claim if the Secretary determines 
that the record contains sufficient evidence to establish the 
entitlement of the survivor to such benefits.
    ``(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph and section 5110 of this 
title, the date on which a survivor of a veteran notifies the Secretary 
of the death of the veteran shall be treated as the date of the receipt 
of the survivor's application for benefits described in clause (i).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to claims for benefits based on a death occurring on 
or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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