[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 37 (Wednesday, February 25, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 10001-10003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03889]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 3

RIN 2900-AP26


Automobile or Other Conveyance and Adaptive Equipment Certificate 
of Eligibility for Veterans or Members of the Armed Forces With 
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Interim final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its 
adjudication regulation regarding certificates of eligibility for 
financial assistance in the purchase of an automobile or other 
conveyance and adaptive equipment. The amendment authorizes automatic 
issuance of a certificate of eligibility for financial assistance in 
the purchase of an automobile or other conveyance and adaptive 
equipment to all veterans with service-connected amyotrophic lateral 
sclerosis (ALS) and members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty 
with ALS.

DATES: Effective Date: This interim final rule is effective February 
25, 2015.
    Comment Date: Comments must be received by VA on or before April 
27, 2015.
    Applicability Date: The provisions of this regulatory amendment 
apply to all applications for a certificate of eligibility for an 
automobile or other conveyance and adaptive equipment allowance pending 
before VA on or received after February 25, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted through 
www.Regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to Director, Regulation 
Policy and Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Ave. NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 
273-9026. Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response 
to ``RIN 2900-AP26--Automobile or Other Conveyance and Adaptive 
Equipment Certificate of Eligibility for Veterans or Members of the 
Armed Forces With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Connected to Military 
Service.'' Copies of comments received will be available for public 
inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room 
1068, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 461-4902 for an 
appointment. (This is not a toll free number.) In addition, during the 
comment period,

[[Page 10002]]

comments may be viewed online through the Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) at www.Regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randy A. McKevitt, Legal Consultant, 
Regulations Staff (211D), Compensation Service, Veterans Benefits 
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20420, (202) 461-9700. (This is not a toll-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a document published in the Federal 
Register on December 20, 2011 (76 FR 78823), VA amended its regulations 
pertaining to the percent disability evaluation assignable for service-
connected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As of January 19, 2012, 
the effective date of that amendment, 38 CFR 4.124a, diagnostic code 
8017, provides a 100-percent disability evaluation for veterans with 
service-connected ALS. VA determined that assigning a 100-percent 
evaluation in all cases eliminates the need to unnecessarily reevaluate 
veterans with ALS repeatedly over a short period of time as the 
condition worsens and inevitably progresses to total disability. The 
change was necessary to adequately compensate veterans who suffer from 
this progressive, untreatable, and fatal disease. However, the change 
did not specifically address entitlement to certificates of eligibility 
for financial assistance in the purchase of an automobile or other 
conveyance and adaptive equipment.
    Section 3901(1), title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.), provides 
specific criteria for determining eligibility for an automobile and 
adaptive equipment allowance. To be eligible for an automobile and 
adaptive equipment allowance, a veteran must be in receipt of 
compensation under chapter 11 of title 38 U.S.C. for (or a member of 
the Armed Forces serving on active duty must have) loss or permanent 
loss of use of one or both feet; loss or permanent loss of use of one 
or both hands; permanent impairment of vision of both eyes with central 
visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of 
corrective glasses or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if 
there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to 
such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends an 
angular distance no greater than twenty degrees in the better eye; or a 
severe burn injury. 38 U.S.C. 3901(1). These disabilities must be the 
result of an injury incurred or disease contracted in or aggravated by 
active military, naval, or air service. Id.
    VA's automobile and adaptive equipment allowance eligibility 
regulation, 38 CFR 8.808 Automobiles or other conveyances and adaptive 
equipment; certification, which was promulgated to implement 38 U.S.C. 
3901 and 3902, includes the same criteria for entitlement to a 
certificate of eligibility as 38 U.S.C. 3901. Because ALS is a rapidly 
progressive, totally debilitating, and irreversible disease, VA has 
determined that progression of ALS will routinely, and quickly, satisfy 
these existing certificate of eligibility criteria. This interim final 
rule permits VA to determine entitlement to a certificate of 
eligibility for an automobile or other conveyance and adaptive 
equipment as soon as a veteran establishes service connection for ALS, 
or a member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty is diagnosed 
with ALS, eliminating the need for additional development and reducing 
wait times. By streamlining the eligibility process, this regulatory 
amendment will allow veterans with service-connected ALS and members of 
the Armed Forces serving on active duty with ALS to receive and utilize 
to maximum advantage the automobile or other conveyance and adaptive 
equipment benefit, without unnecessary delay.
    From the standpoint of entitlement to a certificate of eligibility 
for automobile or other conveyance and adaptive equipment qualification 
procedures, the effect of this regulatory amendment is to allocate 
resources more efficiently and ensure a better lifestyle for veterans 
with service-connected ALS and members of the Armed Forces serving on 
active duty with ALS who want to purchase and adapt an automobile or 
other conveyance and adaptive equipment so they can remain mobile as 
long as possible. In this regard, as the ALS progresses, the need for 
assistive devices adapting an automobile or other conveyance and 
adaptive equipment so that the veteran or member of the Armed Forces 
serving on active duty can continue to be mobile, including attending 
examinations and treatment by medical personnel, while remaining in 
their home for as long as possible, will be greatly assisted. Without 
these benefits, a veteran or member of the Armed Forces serving on 
active duty may be required to be institutionalized sooner than 
otherwise necessary to receive medical treatment.
    Thus, there exists an immediate need for VA to focus this 
regulatory change upon the entitlement for a certificate of eligibility 
for automobile or other conveyance and adaptive equipment process. 
Because the prognosis of the progression of ALS is typically 
established after a brief period of observation, in most cases less 
than 3 months, VA has determined that it is fair and reasonable to 
provide a certificate of eligibility for automobile or other conveyance 
and adaptive equipment upon determination of service connection for ALS 
in a veteran or on diagnosis and receipt of an application from a 
member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty.
    VA, therefore, intends to establish entitlement for a certificate 
of eligibility for automobile or other conveyance and adaptive 
equipment eligibility for eligible veterans with service-connected ALS 
and members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty with ALS. VA is 
doing so by adding a new provision to 38 CFR 3.808, which governs 
eligibility for entitlement for a certificate of eligibility for 
automobile or other conveyance and adaptive equipment under 38 U.S.C. 
3901 and 3902. This new provision adds ALS as a qualifying disability 
for eligibility to this benefit and will allow eligible individuals to 
access this benefit without further development and delay. VA 
incorporates this new category of criteria in Sec.  3.808 as new 
paragraph (b)(5). Current paragraph (b)(5) will be redesignated as 
paragraph (b)(6).

Administrative Procedure Act

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and (d)(3), we find that there is 
good cause to dispense with advance public notice and opportunity to 
comment on this rule and good cause to publish this rule with an 
immediate effective date. This interim final rule is necessary to 
implement immediately the Secretary's decision to establish entitlement 
for a certificate of eligibility for automobile or other conveyance and 
adaptive equipment for all veterans with service-connected ALS and 
members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty with ALS. Delay in 
the implementation of this rule would be impracticable and contrary to 
the public interest, particularly to veterans and members of the Armed 
Forces serving on active duty.
    Because the survival period for persons suffering from ALS is 
generally 18-48 months or less from the onset of symptoms, any delay in 
establishing entitlement for a certificate of eligibility for 
automobile or other conveyance and adaptive equipment eligibility is 
extremely detrimental to veterans and members of the Armed Forces 
serving on active duty who are currently afflicted with ALS. Any delay 
in implementation until after a public-comment period could delay 
modifying the regulated certificate of eligibility

[[Page 10003]]

process, depriving ALS veterans and members of the Armed Forces serving 
on active duty with ALS of quick and efficient access to automobile or 
other conveyance and adaptive equipment benefits.
    For the foregoing reasons, the Secretary is issuing this rule as an 
interim final rule with immediate effect.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This interim final rule contains no provisions constituting a 
collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501-3521).

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Secretary hereby certifies that this interim final rule will 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 601-612. This interim final rule will not affect any small 
entities. Only VA beneficiaries will be directly affected. Therefore, 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), this interim final rule is exempt from the 
final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements of section 604.

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563

    Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess the 
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, when 
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize 
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public 
health and safety effects, and other advantages; distributive impacts; 
and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory 
Review) emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and 
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility. 
Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) defines a 
``significant regulatory action,'' which requires review by the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB), unless OMB waives such review, as ``any 
regulatory action that is likely to result in a rule that may: (1) Have 
an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely 
affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, 
productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or 
safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or communities; (2) 
Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action 
taken or planned by another agency; (3) Materially alter the budgetary 
impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs or the 
rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel legal 
or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President's 
priorities, or the principles set forth in this Executive Order.''
    The economic, interagency, budgetary, legal, and policy 
implications of this regulatory action have been examined, and it has 
been determined not to be a significant regulatory action under 
Executive Order 12866. VA's impact analysis can be found as a 
supporting document at http://www.regulations.gov, usually within 48 
hours after the rulemaking document is published. Additionally, a copy 
of the rulemaking and its impact analysis are available on VA's Web 
site at http://www.va.gov/orpm/, by following the link for VA 
Regulations Published From FY 2004 Through FYTD.

Unfunded Mandates

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and 
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by 
State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the 
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for 
inflation) in any 1 year. This interim final rule will have no such 
effect on State, local, and tribal governments, or on the private 
sector.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers and titles for 
the programs affected by this document are 64.100, Automobiles and 
Adaptive Equipment for Certain Disabled Veterans and Members of the 
Armed Forces and 64.109, Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected 
Disability.

Signing Authority

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this 
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document 
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as 
an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jose D. 
Riojas, Chief of Staff, approved this document on February 12, 2015, 
for publication.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 3

    Administrative practice and procedure, Claims, Disability benefits, 
Health care, Pensions, Veterans.

    Dated: February 20, 2015.
William F. Russo,
Acting Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of 
the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, VA amends 38 CFR part 3 as 
follows:

PART 3--ADJUDICATION

Subpart A--Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity 
Compensation

0
1. The authority citation for part 3, subpart A continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), unless otherwise noted.


0
2. Amend Sec.  3.808 by redesignating paragraph (b)(5) as paragraph 
(b)(6) and adding a new paragraph (b)(5) to read as follows:


Sec.  3.808  Automobiles or other conveyances and adaptive equipment; 
certification.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (5) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2015-03889 Filed 2-24-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P