In the Senate of the United States,

September 25 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 4864) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend title 38, United

States Code, to reaffirm and clarify the duty of the Secretary

of Veterans Affairs to assist claimants for benefits under laws

administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes.’’, do

pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Claims Assist3 ance Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF ‘‘CLAIMANT’’

2 FOR PURPOSES OF VETERANS CLAIMS.

3 Chapter 51 of title 38, United States Code, is amended

4 by inserting before section 5101 the following new section:

5 ‘‘§ 5100. Definition of ‘claimant’

6 ‘‘For purposes of this chapter, the term ‘claimant’

7 means any individual applying for, or submitting a claim

8 for, any benefit under the laws administered by the Sec9 retary.’’.

10 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO CLAIMANTS.

11 (a) REAFFIRMATION AND CLARIFICATION OF DUTY TO

12 ASSIST.—Chapter 51 of title 38, United States Code, is fur13 ther amended by striking sections 5102 and 5103 and in14 serting the following:

15 ‘‘§ 5102. Application forms furnished upon request;

16 notice to claimants of incomplete applica17 tions

18 ‘‘(a) FURNISHING FORMS.—Upon request made by

19 any person claiming or applying for, or expressing an in20 tent to claim or apply for, a benefit under the laws admin21 istered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall furnish such

22 person, free of all expense, all instructions and forms nec23 essary to apply for that benefit.

24 ‘‘(b) INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS.—If a claimant’s ap25 plication for a benefit under the laws administered by the

26 Secretary is incomplete, the Secretary shall notify the
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1 claimant and the claimant’s representative, if any, of the

2 information necessary to complete the application.

3 ‘‘§ 5103. Notice to claimants of required information

4 and evidence

5 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE.—Upon

6 receipt of a complete or substantially complete application,

7 the Secretary shall notify the claimant and the claimant’s

8 representative, if any, of any information, and any medical

9 or lay evidence, not previously provided to the Secretary

10 that is necessary to substantiate the claim. As part of that

11 notice, the Secretary shall indicate which portion of that

12 information and evidence, if any, is to be provided by the

13 claimant and which portion, if any, the Secretary, in ac14 cordance with section 5103A of this title and any other ap15 plicable provisions of law, will attempt to obtain on behalf

16 of the claimant.

17 ‘‘(b) TIME LIMITATION.—(1) In the case of informa18 tion or evidence that the claimant is notified under sub19 section (a) is to be provided by the claimant, if such infor20 mation or evidence is not received by the Secretary within

21 one year from the date of such notification, no benefit may

22 be paid or furnished by reason of the claimant’s applica23 tion.

24 ‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to any application

25 or claim for Government life insurance benefits.
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1 ‘‘§ 5103A. Duty to assist claimants

2 ‘‘(a) DUTY TO ASSIST.—(1) The Secretary shall make

3 reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in obtaining evidence

4 necessary to substantiate the claimant’s claim for a benefit

5 under a law administered by the Secretary.

6 ‘‘(2) The Secretary is not required to provide assist7 ance to a claimant under this section if no reasonable possi8 bility exists that such assistance would aid in substan9 tiating the claim.

10 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may defer providing assistance

11 under this section pending the submission by the claimant

12 of essential information missing from the claimant’s appli13 cation.

14 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING RECORDS.—(1) As

15 part of the assistance provided under subsection (a), the

16 Secretary shall make reasonable efforts to obtain relevant

17 records (including private records) that the claimant ade18 quately identifies to the Secretary and authorizes the Sec19 retary to obtain.

20 ‘‘(2) Whenever the Secretary, after making such rea21 sonable efforts, is unable to obtain all of the relevant records

22 sought, the Secretary shall notify the claimant that the Sec23 retary is unable to obtain records with respect to the claim.

24 Such a notification shall—

25 ‘‘(A) identify the records the Secretary is unable

26 to obtain;
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1 ‘‘(B) briefly explain the efforts that the Secretary

2 made to obtain those records; and

3 ‘‘(C) describe any further action to be taken by

4 the Secretary with respect to the claim.

5 ‘‘(3) Whenever the Secretary attempts to obtain records

6 from a Federal department or agency under this subsection

7 or subsection (c), the efforts to obtain those records shall

8 continue until the records are obtained unless it is reason9 ably certain that such records do not exist or that further

10 efforts to obtain those records would be futile.

11 ‘‘(c) OBTAINING RECORDS FOR COMPENSATION

12 CLAIMS.—In the case of a claim for disability compensa13 tion, the assistance provided by the Secretary under sub14 section (b) shall include obtaining the following records if

15 relevant to the claim:

16 ‘‘(1) The claimant’s service medical records and,

17 if the claimant has furnished the Secretary informa18 tion sufficient to locate such records, other relevant

19 records pertaining to the claimant’s active military,

20 naval, or air service that are held or maintained by

21 a governmental entity.

22 ‘‘(2) Records of relevant medical treatment or ex23 amination of the claimant at Department health-care

24 facilities or at the expense of the Department, if the
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1 claimant furnishes information sufficient to locate

2 those records.

3 ‘‘(3) Any other relevant records held by any Fed4 eral department or agency that the claimant ade5 quately identifies and authorizes the Secretary to ob6 tain.

7 ‘‘(d) MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS FOR COMPENSATION

8 CLAIMS.—(1) In the case of a claim for disability com9 pensation, the assistance provided by the Secretary under

10 subsection (a) shall include providing a medical examina11 tion or obtaining a medical opinion when such an examina12 tion or opinion is necessary to make a decision on the

13 claim.

14 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall treat an examination or opin15 ion as being necessary to make a decision on a claim for

16 purposes of paragraph (1) if the evidence of record before

17 the Secretary, taking into consideration all information

18 and lay or medical evidence (including statements of the

19 claimant)—

20 ‘‘(A) contains competent evidence that the claim21 ant has a current disability, or persistent or recur22 rent symptoms of disability; and

23 ‘‘(B) indicates that the disability or symptoms

24 may be associated with the claimant’s active military,

25 naval, or air service; but
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1 ‘‘(C) does not contain sufficient medical evidence

2 for the Secretary to make a decision on the claim.

3 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe

4 regulations to carry out this section.

5 ‘‘(f) RULE WITH RESPECT TO DISALLOWED

6 CLAIMS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to re7 quire the Secretary to reopen a claim that has been dis8 allowed except when new and material evidence is presented

9 or secured, as described in section 5108 of this title.

10 ‘‘(g) OTHER ASSISTANCE NOT PRECLUDED.—Nothing

11 in this section shall be construed as precluding the Sec12 retary from providing such other assistance under sub13 section (a) to a claimant in substantiating a claim as the

14 Secretary considers appropriate.’’.

15 (b) REENACTMENT OF RULE FOR CLAIMANT’S LACK16 ING A MAILING ADDRESS.—Chapter 51 of such title is fur17 ther amended by adding at the end the following new sec18 tion:

19 ‘‘§ 5126. Benefits not to be denied based on lack of

20 mailing address

21 ‘‘Benefits under laws administered by the Secretary

22 may not be denied a claimant on the basis that the claimant

23 does not have a mailing address.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. DECISION ON CLAIM.

2 Section 5107 of title 38, United States Code, is amend3 ed to read as follows:

4 ‘‘§ 5107. Claimant responsibility; benefit of the doubt

5 ‘‘(a) CLAIMANT RESPONSIBILITY.—Except as other6 wise provided by law, a claimant has the responsibility to

7 present and support a claim for benefits under laws admin8 istered by the Secretary.

9 ‘‘(b) BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.—The Secretary shall

10 consider all information and lay and medical evidence of

11 record in a case before the Secretary with respect to benefits

12 under laws administered by the Secretary. When there is

13 an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence

14 regarding any issue material to the determination of a mat15 ter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the

16 claimant.’’.

17 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF CHARGES FOR RECORDS FUR18 NISHED BY OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS

19 AND AGENCIES.

20 Section 5106 of title 38, United States Code, is amend21 ed by adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The

22 cost of providing information to the Secretary under this

23 section shall be borne by the department or agency pro24 viding the information.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.

2 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 51

3 of title 38, United States Code, is amended—

4 (1) by inserting before the item relating to sec5 tion 5101 the following new item:

‘‘5100. Definition of ‘claimant’.’’;

6 (2) by striking the items relating to sections

7 5102 and 5103 and inserting the following:

‘‘5102. Application forms furnished upon request; notice to claimants of incomplete applications.

‘‘5103. Notice to claimants of required information and evidence.

‘‘5103A. Duty to assist claimants.’’;

8 (3) by striking the item relating to section 5107

9 and inserting the following:

‘‘5107. Claimant responsibility; benefit of the doubt.’’;

10 and

11 (4) by adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘5126. Benefits not to be denied based on lack of mailing address.’’.

12 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as specifically provided oth14 erwise, the provisions of section 5107 of title 38, United

15 States Code, as amended by section 4 of this Act, apply

16 to any claim—

17 (1) filed on or after the date of the enactment of

18 this Act; or

19 (2) filed before the date of the enactment of this

20 Act and not final as of that date.
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1 (b) RULE FOR CLAIMS THE DENIAL OF WHICH BE2 CAME FINAL AFTER THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR VET3 ERANS CLAIMS DECISION IN THE MORTON CASE.—(1) In

4 the case of a claim for benefits denied or dismissed as de5 scribed in paragraph (2), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

6 shall, upon the request of the claimant or on the Secretary’s

7 own motion, order the claim readjudicated under chapter

8 51 of such title, as amended by this Act, as if the denial

9 or dismissal had not been made.

10 (2) A denial or dismissal described in this paragraph

11 is a denial or dismissal of a claim for a benefit under the

12 laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

13 that—

14 (A) became final during the period beginning on

15 July 14, 1999, and ending on the date of the enact16 ment of this Act; and

17 (B) was issued by the Secretary of Veterans Af18 fairs or a court because the claim was not well

19 grounded (as that term was used in section 5107(a)

20 of title 38, United States Code, as in effect during

21 that period).

22 (3) A claim may not be readjudicated under this sub23 section unless a request for readjudication is filed by the

24 claimant, or a motion is made by the Secretary, not later

25 than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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1 (4) In the absence of a timely request of a claimant

2 under paragraph (3), nothing in this Act shall be construed

3 as establishing a duty on the part of the Secretary of Vet4 erans Affairs to locate and readjudicate a claim described

5 in this subsection.

Attest:

Secretary.

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4864

AMENDMENT