[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1778-S1779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SPECTER (by request):
  S. 1745. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide 
flexibility in the order in which the Board of Veterans' Appeals hears 
and considers appeals; to the Committee on Veteran's Affairs.


                  veterans' appeals board legislation

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, as chairman of the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs, I have today introduced, at the request of the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs, S. 1745, a proposed bill to provide flexibility in 
the order in which the Board of Veterans' Appeals of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs hears and considers appeals. The Acting Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs submitted this legislation to the President of the 
Senate by letter dated August 7, 1997.
  My introduction of this measure is in keeping with the policy which I 
have adopted of generally introducing--so that there will be specific 
bills to which my colleagues and others may direct their attention and 
comments--all Administration-proposed draft legislation referred to the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Thus, I reserve the right to support or 
oppose the provisions of, as well as any amendment to, this 
legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that additional material be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1745

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. EXCEPTION TO DOCKET ORDER CONSIDERATION

       Section 7107(a) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Except as provided in 
     subsection (f)'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
     paragraph (2) and subsection (f)'';
       (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
       (3) by inserting the following:
       ``(2) The Board may consider and decide an appeal later 
     than its place on the docket would normally require if such 
     delay is necessary to provide the appellant a hearing.''.

     SEC. 2. SCHEDULING OF FIELD HEARINGS.

       (a) Section 7107(d) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(2) A hearing to be held within an area served by a 
     regional office of the Department shall (except as provided 
     in paragraph (3)) be scheduled to be held in accordance with 
     that case's place on the docket referred to in subsection (a) 
     relative to the other cases for which a hearing is scheduled 
     to be held in that area.''.
       (b) The amendment made by subsection (a) applies to 
     requests for a hearing received by the Department on or after 
     the date of enactment.

     SEC. 3. ADVANCEMENT ON THE HEARING DOCKET.

       Section 7107(d) of title 38, United States Code, is amended 
     by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:
       ``(3) A hearing to be held within an area served by a 
     regional office of the Department may, for cause shown, be 
     advanced on motion for an earlier hearing. Any such motion 
     shall set forth succinly the grounds upon which it is based 
     and may not be granted unless the case involves 
     interpretation of law of general application affecting other 
     claims or for other sufficient cause shown.''.
                                                                    ____



                            The Secretary of Veterans Affairs,

                                       Washington, August 7, 1997.
     Hon. Albert Gore, Jr.,
     President of the Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: Transmitted herewith is a draft bill to 
     amend title 38, United States Code, to provide flexibility in 
     the order in which the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) 
     hears and considers appeals. This proposed legislation would 
     reduce delays in the issuance of Board decisions caused by 
     late requests for field hearings. I request that this draft 
     bill be referred to the appropriate committee for prompt 
     consideration and enactment.
       Current 38 U.S.C. Sec. 7107(a) requires the Board to 
     consider and decide each appeal in regular order according to 
     its place upon the docket. Furthermore, 38 U.S.C. 
     Sec. 7107(b) requires the Board to afford an appellant an 
     opportunity for a hearing before deciding his or her appeal. 
     An appellant may request that a hearing before the Board be 
     held at the Board's principal location in Washington, D.C., 
     or at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility within 
     the area served by a VA regional office. 38 U.S.C. 
     Sec. 7107(d)(1). A hearing to be held within an area served 
     by a regional office must be scheduled to be held in the 
     order in which requests for hearings within that area are 
     received by VA. 38 U.S.C. Sec. 7107(d)(2).
       The order in which appeals must be scheduled for hearing in 
     a given area and the order in which they must be considered 
     and decided sometimes conflict. Such conflict arises when VA 
     receives appellants' requests for hearings in an area in an 
     order different from the order in which those appeals were 
     docketed for consideration. (An appeal is docketed when the 
     Board receives from the agency of original jurisdiction a 
     copy of the substantive appeal.) For example, appellant A, 
     whose appeal is high on the consideration docket, may request 
     a field hearing in a given area long after many other 
     appellants, whose appeals rank lower on the consideration 
     docket, have already requested a hearing in that area. Not 
     only must hearings for the lower ranking appeals be scheduled 
     to be held before appellant A's hearing, but consideration 
     and decision on every appeal ranking lower than appellant A's 
     appeal must await consideration and decision on appellant 
     A's appeal. The result is delay for all.
       Aggravating this situation are two facts: First, limits on 
     Board resources often constrain the Board to hold hearings at 
     a given field facility infrequently, sometimes as seldom as 
     once a year. Thus, a long time may pass before a requested 
     hearing is actually held. Second, the long time elapsing 
     between the initiation of and decision on an appeal, caused 
     by a large appeal backlog, gives ample opportunity for 
     appellants ranking high on the consideration docket to 
     request a field hearing after lower ranking appellants have 
     already requested one.
       Our draft bill would alleviate the delays caused by this 
     situation. Section 1 would create an exception to the docket-
     order consideration requirement for certain cases in which a 
     hearing is requested. Section 1 would permit the Board to 
     consider cases lower on the consideration docket before a 
     case in which the appellant has requested a hearing that, due 
     to resource shortfalls or the lateness of the request, cannot 
     be held promptly. Section 2 would provide that a field 
     hearing be scheduled to be held in accordance with that 
     case's place on the consideration docket relative to other 
     cases for

[[Page S1779]]

     which a hearing is requested within that area. Under that 
     provision, field hearings would be scheduled to be held in 
     the same order in which the cases will be considered and 
     decided. This change would apply to hearing requests received 
     by VA on or after the date of enactment.
       Section 3 would permit the Board to advance a case on the 
     hearing docket upon motion for cause shown, the same standard 
     for which a case may be advanced on the consideration docket 
     under 38 U.S.C. Sec. 7107(a)(2). Although current section 
     7107(d)(3) permits the Secretary to advance a case on the 
     hearing docket if the Secretary knows that the appellant is 
     seriously ill or under severe financial hardship, advancement 
     on the hearing docket on that basis does not necessarily 
     result in advancement of the case on the consideration 
     docket. By making the standard for advancement on either 
     docket the same, advancement on either docket would result in 
     advancement on the other docket.
       Enactment of this proposed legislation would result in no 
     significant costs or savings.
       The Office of Management and Budget advises that there is 
     no objection to the submission of this proposal from the 
     standpoint of the Administration's program.
           Sincerely yours,
                                                  Hershel W. Gober
                                                 Acting Secretary.
       Enclosure.
                                 ______