21st Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act
Latest action · Mar 6, 2014 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMar 6, 2014
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
21st Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act - Revises or adds provisions concerning the submission of veterans' claims for benefits administered through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including by:
- modifying the Transition Assistance Program to enable online participation;
- adding a requirement to encourage claimants to use appropriate forms;
- requiring specified communications to users of the eBenefits website;
- extending through FY2020 VA authority for the retroactive dating of awards upon the filing of fully developed claims;
- requiring claim decisions to explain the benefits of filing claim appeals within 180 days;
- requiring the use of a specified VA form in regional offices for filing notices of disagreement with claim decisions; and
- requiring hearings before the Board of Veterans' Appeals to be conducted, as the Board considers appropriate or, upon request by an appellant, as the appellant considers appropriate, in person or through picture and voice transmission by electronic or other means.
Revises or adds provisions concerning the practices of VA regional offices, including by:
- requiring the Comptroller General to complete an audit of Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) regional offices,
- requiring the VA Secretary to complete a study on service-connected disabilities that worsen with age,
- extending the authority for the performance of medical disability examinations by contract physicians,
- requiring the Secretary to develop and implement a plan to establish a uniform mail processing and scanning system throughout the regional offices,
- requiring the VA Inspector General to conduct a review of the practices of regional offices regarding the use of suspense dates during the disability claim assessment process,
- requiring the Secretary to submit semiannual reports on progress in implementing the Veterans Benefits Management System,
- requiring the Secretary to submit an annual report on VBA capacity to process benefits claims,
- requiring the Secretary to include in each Monday Morning Workload Report the number of claims for benefits that have been received by a regional office and that are pending a decision, and
- requiring the Secretary to make the VA reports entitled "Appeals Pending" and "Appeals Workload By Station" available to the public on a VA website.
Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD), the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Archivist of the United States to appoint individuals to act as liaisons with the VA to expedite the timely provision to the VA Secretary of information required to process veterans benefits claims.
Requires the DOD and VA Secretaries to jointly submit a report that sets forth a time line with milestones for achieving interoperability between DOD's and VA's electronic health records systems.
Cosponsors 21
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 6, 2014 to Jun 26, 2014, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-LA | David Vitter | Original | Mar 6, 2014 |
| R-KS | Jerry Moran | Original | Mar 6, 2014 |
| D-MT | Jon Tester | Original | Mar 6, 2014 |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Original | Mar 6, 2014 |
| D-PA | Robert P. Casey Jr. | Original | Mar 6, 2014 |
| R-AK | Lisa Murkowski | Mar 13, 2014 | |
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Mar 26, 2014 | |
| D-MD | Benjamin L. Cardin | Mar 27, 2014 | |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Apr 7, 2014 | |
| D-MT | John E. Walsh | Apr 8, 2014 | |
| R-SD | John Thune | Apr 10, 2014 | |
| R-PA | Patrick J. Toomey | Apr 10, 2014 | |
| R-KS | Pat Roberts | May 1, 2014 | |
| D-AR | Mark L. Pryor | May 14, 2014 | |
| D-CO | Michael F. Bennet | Jun 4, 2014 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 6, 2014Introduced in Senate
- Mar 6, 2014Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1751 | A bill to improve authorities for performance of medical disabilities examinations by contract physicians for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. | Related bill | Nov 20, 2013 |
| HR 2423 | Disabled Veterans' Access to Medical Exams Improvement Act | Related bill | Jul 17, 2013 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
- Accounting and auditing
- Administrative remedies
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Defense
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Disability and paralysis
- Disability assistance
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Health information and medical records
- Health personnel
- Internet and video services
- Internet, web applications, social media
- Licensing and registrations
- Medical tests and diagnostic methods
- Military medicine
- National Archives and Records Administration
- Performance measurement
- Public contracts and procurement
- Social Security Administration
- Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
- Veterans' medical care
- Veterans' pensions and compensation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 6, 2014Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.