II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1286 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to reduce the backlog of appeals 

of decisions of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs by facilitating pro 

bono legal assistance for veterans before the United States Court of 

Veterans Appeals and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, to provide the 

Secretary with authority to address unreasonably delayed claims, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2015 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. 

BENNET, Mr. BROWN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. UDALL, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) 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 reduce the backlog 

of appeals of decisions of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs by facilitating pro bono legal assistance for veterans 

before the United States Court of Veterans Appeals and 

the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, to provide the Secretary 

with authority to address unreasonably delayed claims, 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Appeals As3 sistance and Improvement Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROGRAM OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SUP5 PORT OF PROGRAMS THAT FURNISH LEGAL 

6 ASSISTANCE TO VETERANS SEEKING REVIEW 

7 BY UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 

8 VETERANS CLAIMS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing new section: 

12 ‘‘§ 5906. Program of financial assistance for support 

13 of programs that furnish legal assistance 

14 to veterans seeking review by United 

15 States Court of Appeals for Veterans 

16 Claims 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Court of Ap18 peals for Veterans Claims shall establish a program for 

19 the provision of financial assistance (through grant or con20 tract made, to the maximum extent feasible) to facilitate 

21 the furnishing of legal and other assistance, without 

22 charge, through programs described in subsection (b), for 

23 veterans and other persons who are unable to afford the 

24 cost of legal representation in connection with decisions 

25 to which section 7252(a) of this title may apply or with 


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1 other proceedings in the United States Court of Appeals 

2 for Veterans Claims. 

3 ‘‘(b) PROGRAMS DESCRIBED.—Programs described 

4 in this subsection are programs that furnish case screen5 ing and referral, training and education for attorney and 

6 related personnel, and encouragement and facilitation of 

7 pro bono representation by members of the bar and law 

8 school clinical and other appropriate programs, such as 

9 veterans service organizations, and through defraying ex10 penses incurred in providing representation to persons de11 scribed in subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(c) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION.—(1) The 

13 United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims shall 

14 carry out subsection (a) by entering into an interagency 

15 agreement with the Legal Services Corporation. The 

16 agreement shall specify that the Corporation shall carry 

17 out the financial assistance program described in sub18 section (a). 

19 ‘‘(2) Grants or contracts awarded under the financial 

20 assistance program described in subsection (a) shall be 

21 made by the Legal Services Corporation pursuant to a re22 imbursable payment from the Court in accordance with 

23 this section. 

24 ‘‘(3) The Legal Services Corporation may receive a 

25 reimbursable payment from the Court for the purpose of 


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1 providing the financial assistance described in subsection 

2 (a). 

3 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—No funds ap4 propriated or otherwise made available to carry out this 

5 section may be used for the payment of attorney’s fees. 

6 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

8 $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2018.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

10 at the beginning of chapter 59 is amended by inserting 

11 after the item relating to section 5905 the following new 

12 item: 

‘‘5906. Program of financial assistance for support of programs that furnish 

legal assistance to veterans seeking review by United States 

Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. PROGRAM OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SUP14 PORT OF PROGRAMS THAT FURNISH LEGAL 

15 ASSISTANCE TO VETERANS SEEKING REVIEW 

16 BY BOARD OF VETERANS’ APPEALS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 

18 States Code, as amended by section 2(a), is further 

19 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 5907. Program of financial assistance for support 

2 of programs that furnish legal assistance 

3 to veterans seeking review by Board of 

4 Veterans’ Appeals 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

6 program for the provision of financial assistance (through 

7 grant or contract made, to the maximum extent feasible) 

8 to facilitate the furnishing of legal and other assistance, 

9 without charge, through programs described in subsection 

10 (b), to veterans and other persons who are unable to af11 ford the cost of legal representation in connection with de12 cisions to which section 7104 of this title may apply or 

13 with other proceedings of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

14 ‘‘(b) PROGRAMS DESCRIBED.—Programs described 

15 in this subsection are programs that furnish case screen16 ing and referral, training and education for attorney and 

17 related personnel, and encouragement and facilitation of 

18 pro bono representation by members of the bar and law 

19 school clinical and other appropriate programs, such as 

20 veterans service organizations, and through defraying ex21 penses incurred in providing representation to persons de22 scribed in subsection (a). 

23 ‘‘(c) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION.—(1) The Sec24 retary shall carry out subsection (a) by entering into an 

25 interagency agreement with the Legal Services Corpora26 tion. The agreement shall specify that the Corporation 


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1 shall carry out the financial assistance program described 

2 in subsection (a). 

3 ‘‘(2) Grants or contracts awarded under the financial 

4 assistance program described in subsection (a) shall be 

5 made by the Legal Services Corporation pursuant to a re6 imbursable payment from the Secretary in accordance 

7 with this section. 

8 ‘‘(3) The Legal Services Corporation may receive a 

9 reimbursable payment from the Secretary for the purpose 

10 of providing the financial assistance described in sub11 section (a). 

12 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—No funds ap13 propriated or otherwise made available to carry out this 

14 section may be used for the payment of attorney’s fees. 

15 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

17 $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2018.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

19 at the beginning of chapter 59, as amended by section 

20 2(b), is further amended by inserting after the item relat21 ing to section 5906 the following new item: 

‘‘5907. Program of financial assistance for support of programs that furnish 

legal assistance to veterans seeking review by Board of Veterans’ Appeals.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED TREATMENT OF UNREASONABLY DE2 LAYED CLAIMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7112 of title 38, United 

4 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘§ 7112. Expedited treatment of remanded or unrea6 sonably delayed claims 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such 

8 actions as may be necessary to provide for the expeditious 

9 treatment by the Board of any claim that— 

10 ‘‘(1) is remanded to the Secretary by the Court 

11 of Appeals for Veterans Claims; or 

12 ‘‘(2) has been subjected to unreasonable or ex13 cessive delay. 

14 ‘‘(b) UNREASONABLE OR EXCESSIVE DELAY.—For 

15 purposes of this section, a claim shall be presumed to have 

16 been subjected to unreasonable or excessive delay if the 

17 claim has been pending before the Board for eight years 

18 or more.’’. 

19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

20 at the beginning of chapter 71 of such title is amended 

21 by striking the item relating to section 7112 and inserting 

22 the following new item 7112: 

‘‘7112. Expedited treatment of remanded or unreasonably delayed claims.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES 

2 REVIEW OF APPEALS OF DECISIONS OF SEC3 RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REGARDING 

4 CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

7 of the United States shall— 

8 (1) complete a review of the processing of ap9 peals of decisions of the Secretary of Veterans Af10 fairs regarding claims for compensation under chap11 ters 11 and 13 of title 38, United States Code; and 

12 (2) submit to Congress a report on the review 

13 completed under paragraph (1). 

14 (b) ELEMENTS.—The review required by subsection 

15 (a)(1) shall include the following: 

16 (1) Assessment of the regional offices of the 

17 Department of Veterans Affairs, the Board of Vet18 erans’ Appeals, and the United States Court of Ap19 peals for Veterans Claims. 

20 (2) Examination of prolonged delays in proc21 essing appeals described in subsection (a)(1) and as22 sessment of whether reviews of such appeals are 

23 meeting statutory requirements for timeliness. 

24 (3) Recommendations for such legislative and 

25 administrative action as the Comptroller General 


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1 considers appropriate to improve the processing of 

2 such appeals. 

Æ 


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