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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7816 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7816

 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an 
 agreement with a federally funded research and development center for 
 an assessment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants 
 for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other 
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2024

   Mr. Duarte (for himself, Mr. Bost, Mr. Valadao, Ms. Salazar, Mr. 
D'Esposito, and Ms. Budzinski) introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an 
 agreement with a federally funded research and development center for 
 an assessment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants 
 for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Clear Communication for Veterans 
Claims Act''.

SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF NOTICES THAT THE SECRETARY OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS SENDS TO CLAIMANTS.

    (a) Agreement.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall seek to 
enter into an agreement with an FFRDC for an assessment of notices that 
the Secretary sends to claimants.
    (b) Assessment.--An FFRDC that enters to an agreement under 
subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary a written assessment of 
such notices. The assessment shall include the following:
            (1) The determination of the FFRDC whether each such notice 
        may be feasibly altered to reduce paper consumption by, and 
        costs to, the Federal Government.
            (2) The recommendations of the FFRDC regarding how the 
        Secretary may, in compliance with laws administered by the 
        Secretary, make such notices clearer to claimants, better 
        organized, and more concise.
    (c) Report; Implementation.--Not later than 90 days after the 
Secretary receives the assessment under subsection (b), the Secretary 
shall--
            (1) submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the 
        Senate and House of Representatives a copy of such assessment; 
        and
            (2) implement the recommendations in the assessment.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``FFRDC'' means a federally funded research 
        and development center.
            (2) The terms ``claimant'' and ``notice'' have the meanings 
        given such terms in section 5100 of title 38, United States 
        Code.
                                 <all>
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