II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4412 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the ability of veterans 

to access and submit disability benefit questionnaire forms of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 4, 2020 

Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. ROUNDS) 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 improve the 

ability of veterans to access and submit disability benefit 

questionnaire forms of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

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 Benefits 

5 Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF DISABILITY 

2 BENEFIT QUESTIONNAIRE FORMS OF DE3 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5101 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub7 section (e); and 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol9 lowing new subsection (d): 

10 ‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary shall publish in a central loca11 tion on the internet website of the Department disability 

12 benefit questionnaire forms, or such successor forms relat13 ing to non-Department medical providers submitting evi14 dence regarding a disability of a claimant. 

15 ‘‘(2) Subject to section 6103 of this title, if the Sec16 retary updates a form described in paragraph (1), the Sec17 retary shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) accept the previous version of the form 

19 filed by a claimant if— 

20 ‘‘(i) the claimant provided to the non-De21 partment medical provider the previous version 

22 of the form before the date on which the up23 dated version of the form was made available; 

24 and 

25 ‘‘(ii) the claimant files the previous version 

26 of the form during the one-year period following 


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1 the date the form was completed by the non2 Department medical provider; 

3 ‘‘(B) request from the claimant any other infor4 mation that the updated version of the form re5 quires; and 

6 ‘‘(C) apply the laws and regulations required to 

7 adjudicate the claim as if the claimant filed the up8 dated version of the form. 

9 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may waive any interagency ap10 proval process required to approve a modification to a dis11 ability benefit questionnaire form if such requirement only 

12 applies by reason of the forms being made public under 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(4) Not less frequently than once each year through 

15 2026, the Inspector General of the Department shall sub16 mit to Congress a report on the findings of the Inspector 

17 General with respect to the use of the forms described in 

18 paragraph (1).’’. 

19 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in section 

20 5101 of title 38, United States Code, as added by sub21 section (a), may be construed to require the Secretary of 

22 Veterans Affairs to develop any new information tech23 nology system or otherwise require the Secretary to make 


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1 any significant changes to the internet website of the De2 partment of Veterans Affairs. 

Æ 


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