The Arla Harrell Act
Latest action · Jun 29, 2016 Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-707.
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.
- IntroducedJun 6, 2016
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Arla Harrell Act
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reconsider and make a new determination regarding each claim for disability compensation in connection with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during active military, naval, or air service during World War II that was denied before this bill's enactment. The VA or the Department of Defense (DOD): (1) shall presume that a veteran experienced full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite unless proven otherwise; and (2) may not use information contained in the DOD and VA Chemical Biological Warfare Database or any list of known testing sites for mustard gas or lewisite maintained by the VA or DOD as the sole reason for determining that the veteran did not experience such exposure.
The VA shall report to Congress every 90 days on reconsidered claims that were denied.
The VA and DOD shall jointly establish a policy for processing future claims in connection with such exposure.
The bill requires DOD, for purposes of determining whether a site should be added to the list of DOD sites where mustard gas or lewisite testing occurred, to: (1) investigate and assess sites where the Army Corps of Engineers has uncovered evidence of mustard gas or lewisite testing or where more than two veterans submitted claims in connection with exposure that were denied; and (2) report on experiments conducted by DOD during World War II to assess the effects of mustard gas and lewisite.
The VA shall: (1) investigate and assess VA actions to reach out to individuals who had been exposed in such experiments, the disability compensation claims that were filed, and the percentage of such claims that were denied; and (2) submit a comprehensive list of each location where such an experiment was conducted.
Cosponsors 4
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 7, 2016 to Sep 21, 2016.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-MO | Roy Blunt | Jun 7, 2016 | |
| R-NC | Richard Burr | Jun 21, 2016 | |
| D-MD | Barbara A. Mikulski | Jun 23, 2016 | |
| D-NH | Jeanne Shaheen | Sep 21, 2016 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 29, 2016Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-707.
- Jun 6, 2016Introduced in Senate
- Jun 6, 2016Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 6096 | Arla Harrell Act | Identical bill | Oct 19, 2016 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Chemical and biological weapons
- Conflicts and wars
- Congressional oversight
- Disability and paralysis
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
- Military facilities and property
- Veterans' pensions and compensation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 6, 2016Introduced 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.