II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 674 

To require prompt responses from the heads of covered Federal agencies 

when the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requests information necessary 

to adjudicate claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 9, 2013 

Mr. HELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require prompt responses from the heads of covered Federal agencies when the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

requests information necessary to adjudicate claims for 

benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, 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 ‘‘Accountability for Vet5 erans Act of 2013’’. 


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•S 674 IS

1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR PROMPT RESPONSES FROM 

2 COVERED AGENCIES WHEN SECRETARY OF 

3 VETERANS AFFAIRS REQUESTS INFORMA4 TION NECESSARY TO ADJUDICATE BENEFITS 

5 CLAIMS. 

6 (a) INITIAL REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION.—When7 ever the Secretary of Veterans Affairs submits a request 

8 to the head of a covered agency for information that the 

9 Secretary determines is necessary to adjudicate a claim 

10 for a benefit under a law administered by the Secretary, 

11 the head of the covered agency shall, not later than 30 

12 days after receiving the request from the Secretary— 

13 (1) furnish the Secretary with the information 

14 requested; or 

15 (2) submit to the Secretary— 

16 (A) an explanation as to why the head is 

17 unable to furnish the Secretary with the re18 quested information within 30 days; and 

19 (B) an estimate as to when the head will 

20 furnish the Secretary with the requested infor21 mation. 

22 (b) CONTINUOUS RESUBMITTAL OF REQUESTS.—In 

23 each case in which the Secretary has submitted or resub24 mitted under this section a request to the head of a cov25 ered agency for information that the Secretary determines 

26 is necessary to adjudicate a claim for a benefit under a 


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1 law administered by the Secretary, has received under this 

2 section in response to such request an estimate as to when 

3 the head will furnish the Secretary with the requested in4 formation, has not received such information on or before 

5 the date that is 15 days after the estimated date, and still 

6 requires such information to adjudicate the claim, the Sec7 retary shall resubmit such request and the head of the 

8 covered agency receiving such request shall, not later than 

9 30 days after receiving the resubmitted request from the 

10 Secretary— 

11 (1) furnish the Secretary with the information 

12 requested; or 

13 (2) submit to the Secretary— 

14 (A) an explanation as to why the head has 

15 been unable to furnish the Secretary with the 

16 requested information; and 

17 (B) an estimate as to when the head will 

18 furnish the Secretary with the requested infor19 mation. 

20 (c) NOTICE TO CLAIMANTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each time the Secretary re22 ceives an explanation and a time estimate under 

23 subsection (a)(2) or (b)(2) from the head of a cov24 ered agency regarding information the Secretary re25 quested to adjudicate a claim of a claimant, the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:34 Apr 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S674.IS S674

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1 retary shall, not later than 45 days after the Sec2 retary submitted or resubmitted the request, notify 

3 the claimant— 

4 (A) that the Secretary requires information 

5 from the covered agency to adjudicate the 

6 claim; 

7 (B) in the case of receiving a time estimate 

8 under subsection (a)(2), that the covered agen9 cy was unable to furnish the information to the 

10 Secretary within 30 days of the request for the 

11 information; 

12 (C) in the case of receiving a time estimate 

13 under subsection (b)(2), that the covered agen14 cy was unable to furnish the information to the 

15 Secretary before the previously estimated date; 

16 and 

17 (D) of the current estimate of the head of 

18 the covered agency of the date by which the 

19 head will furnish the Secretary with the infor20 mation requested. 

21 (2) MANNER.—Notice provided under para22 graph (1) shall be made by mail or by electronic 

23 means. 

24 (d) RECORDS.—The Secretary shall keep records of 

25 the time it takes to receive— 


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1 (1) responses from heads of covered agencies 

2 under this section; and 

3 (2) the information requested from the heads of 

4 covered agencies under this section. 

5 (e) SEMIANNUAL REPORTS.—Not less frequently 

6 than once every six months, the Secretary shall submit 

7 to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

8 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep9 resentatives a report that summarizes the records kept 

10 under subsection (d) regarding the most recent six-month 

11 period. 

12 (f) COVERED AGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, 

13 the term ‘‘covered agency’’ includes the following: 

14 (1) The Department of Defense. 

15 (2) The Social Security Administration. 

16 (3) The National Archives and Records Admin17 istration. 

Æ 


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