[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 217 (Friday, November 8, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 88686-88688]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25965]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 1

RIN 2900-AS18


Extending Deadline for Debtor To Request a Waiver

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs proposes to amend the time 
period that a debtor has to request a waiver from 180 days to one year. 
This action is necessary because the Cleland Dole Act, which was signed 
into law December of 2022, gives a debtor up to one year to request a 
waiver. This rulemaking would go into effect December 2024 in 
accordance with section 254 of the Cleland Dole Act.

[[Page 88687]]


DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 7, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted through www.regulations.gov. 
Except as provided below, comments received before the close of the 
comment period will be available at www.regulations.gov for public 
viewing, inspection, or copying, including any personally identifiable 
or confidential business information that is included in a comment. We 
post the comments received before the close of the comment period on 
www.regulations.gov as soon as possible after they have been received. 
VA will not post on Regulations.gov public comments that make threats 
to individuals or institutions or suggest that the commenter will take 
actions to harm an individual. VA encourages individuals not to submit 
duplicative comments; however, we will post comments from multiple 
unique commenters even if the content is identical or nearly identical 
to other comments. Any public comment received after the comment 
period's closing date is considered late and will not be considered in 
the final rulemaking. In accordance with the Providing Accountability 
Through Transparency Act of 2023, a 100 word Plain-Language Summary of 
this proposed rule is available at Regulations.gov, under RIN 2900-
AS18.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Lambert, ADAS Office of 
Financial Policy, 047G, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420 
(202) 461-6173. (This is not a toll-free telephone number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 5302(a)(1) of title 38 of the U.S. 
Code, authorizes VA to not recover debts related to benefits payments 
or overpayments where recovery would be against equity and good 
conscience, and an application for waiver relief is made within 180 
days. In 2022, Congress changed the deadline by which to file a waiver 
request from 180 days to one year. VA proposes to amend its regulations 
in 38 CFR 1.963 to reflect the expanded deadline by which to file a 
waiver. To implement this change, we propose to revise the text in 
paragraph (b)(2) of 38 CFR 1.963.

Executive Orders 12866, 13563 and 14094

    Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) directs 
agencies to assess the costs and benefits of available regulatory 
alternatives and, when regulation is necessary, to select regulatory 
approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential economic, 
environmental, public health and safety effects, and other advantages; 
distributive impacts; and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving 
Regulation and Regulatory Review) emphasizes the importance of 
quantifying both costs and benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, 
and promoting flexibility. Executive Order 14094 (Executive Order on 
Modernizing Regulatory Review) supplements and reaffirms the 
principles, structures, and definitions governing contemporary 
regulatory review established in Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 
1993 (Regulatory Planning and Review), and Executive Order 13563 of 
January 18, 2011 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review). The 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has determined that this 
rulemaking is a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 
12866, section 3(f)(1), as amended by Executive Order 14094. The 
Regulatory Impact Analysis associated with this rulemaking can be found 
as a supporting document at www.regulations.gov.

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)

    The Secretary hereby certifies that this proposed rule will not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 
U.S.C. 601-612). The factual basis for this certification is based on 
the fact that the proposed rule only effects individual Veteran 
debtors, not small entities. In addition, the proposed rule gives 
debtors more time to request a waiver which will not have a negative 
economic impact on the debtors. Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), 
the initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements of 5 
U.S.C. 603 and 604 do not apply.

Unfunded Mandates

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and 
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by 
State, local, and Tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the 
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for 
inflation) in any one year. This proposed rule will have no such effect 
on State, local, and Tribal governments, or on the private sector.

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)

    This proposed rule contains no provisions constituting a collection 
of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3501-3521).

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 1

    Administrative practice and procedure, Disability benefits, 
Penalties, Pensions, Wages.

Signing Authority

    Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved and signed 
this document on October 22, 2024, and authorized the undersigned to 
sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for 
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.

Luvenia Potts,
Regulation Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy & 
Management, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs proposes to amend 38 CFR part 1 as set forth below:

PART 1--GENERAL PROVISIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 1 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  38 U.S.C. 5101, and as noted in specific sections.

0
2. Amend Sec.  1.963 by revising paragraph (b)(2) and the section 
authority citation to read as follows:


Sec.  1.963  Waiver; other than loan guaranty.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) Except as otherwise provided herein, if made within one year 
following the date of a notice of indebtedness issued on or after April 
1, 1983, by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the debtor. The one 
year period may be extended if the individual requesting waiver 
demonstrated to the Chairperson of the Committee on Waivers and 
Compromises that, as a result of an error by either the Department of 
Veterans Affairs or the postal authorities, or due to other 
circumstances beyond the debtor's control, there was a delay in such 
individual's receipt of the notification of indebtedness beyond the 
time customarily required for mailing (including forwarding). If the 
requester does substantiate that there was such a delay in the receipt 
of the notice of indebtedness, the Chairperson shall direct that the 
one year period be computed from the date of the requester's actual 
receipt of the notice of indebtedness.


[[Page 88688]]


(38 U.S.C. 5302; Pub. L. 117-328, Title II, Subtitle E, sec. 254 
(Dec. 29, 2022), unless otherwise noted.)

[FR Doc. 2024-25965 Filed 11-7-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P