II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 458 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs to provide the representative of record of a claimant for compensation or benefits administered by the Secretary an opportunity to 

review a proposed determination regarding that claim. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. 

MARKEY, Mr. KING, Mr. REED, Ms. WARREN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Ms. SINEMA, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. MANCHIN, 

Mr. COONS, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. ROUNDS, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

BROWN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PETERS, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) 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 require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide the representative 

of record of a claimant for compensation or benefits 

administered by the Secretary an opportunity to review 

a proposed determination regarding that claim. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Claim Trans5 parency Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OPPORTUNITY FOR REPRESENTATIVE OF RECORD 

2 TO REVIEW A PROPOSED DETERMINATION 

3 REGARDING A CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION 

4 OR BENEFITS ADMINISTERED BY THE SEC5 RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 5906. Opportunity for representative of record to 

10 review a proposed determination regard11 ing a claim for compensation or benefits 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For each claim for compensation 

13 or benefits under this title in which the claimant has des14 ignated a representative of record, the Secretary shall pro15 vide that representative of record an opportunity to review 

16 the proposed determination of the Secretary before it be17 comes final. 

18 ‘‘(b) REPRESENTATIVE OF RECORD.—For purposes 

19 of this section, a representative of record of a claimant 

20 may be— 

21 ‘‘(1) a representative of the claimant recognized 

22 under section 5902 of this title; or 

23 ‘‘(2) an agent or attorney of the claimant recog24 nized under section 5904 of this title. 

25 ‘‘(c) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall submit notifica26 tion in writing to a representative of record that a proVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S458.IS S458

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1 posed determination is ready for review under subsection 

2 (a). 

3 ‘‘(d) PERIOD FOR REVIEW.—Each opportunity to re4 view a proposed determination under subsection (a) for 

5 a representative of record of a claimant shall be for a pe6 riod— 

7 ‘‘(1) beginning at the moment the representa8 tive receives notification under subsection (b); and 

9 ‘‘(2) ending on the earlier of— 

10 ‘‘(A) the moment that the claimant or the 

11 representative of record indicates to the Sec12 retary that the claimant does not dispute the 

13 proposed determination; or 

14 ‘‘(B) the moment that is 48 hours after 

15 the moment described in paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not make a 

17 proposed determination, subject to a period of review 

18 under this section, final until after the period under sub19 section (d).’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 at the beginning of chapter 59 of such title is amended 

22 by inserting after the item relating to section 5905 the 

23 following new item: 

‘‘5906. Opportunity for representative of record to review a proposed determination regarding a claim for compensation or benefits.’’. 

Æ 


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