I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2306

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs for outreach to veterans and their family 

members, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2005

Mr. STRICKLAND (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. CASE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 

FILNER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. 

TOWNS, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. 

JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. WYNN, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. 

HONDA, Ms. HERSETH, and Mr. RUPPERSBERGER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve programs 

of the Department of Veterans Affairs for outreach to 

veterans and their family members, 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 Outreach Act 

5 of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. RESCISSION OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF2 FAIRS MEMORANDUM. 

3 (a) RESCISSION OF MEMORANDUM.—The memo4 randum of the Department of Veterans Affairs dated July 

5 18, 2002, from the Deputy Under Secretary for Health 

6 for Operations and Management with the subject ‘‘Status 

7 of VHA Enrollment and Associated Issues’’ is hereby re8 scinded. Marketing activities of directors of health service 

9 networks (known as ‘‘Veterans Integrated Service Net10 works’’) of the Department of Veterans Affairs to enroll 

11 new veterans within their respective networks shall be car12 ried out without regard to such memorandum. 

13 (b) FUNDING LIMITATION.—No funds available to 

14 the Department of Veterans Affairs may be used to carry 

15 out the memorandum referred to in subsection (a) or oth16 erwise to implement the policy contained in that memo17 randum. 

18 SEC. 3. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES. 

19 (a) ANNUAL PLAN REQUIRED.—Subchapter II of 

20 chapter 77 of title 38, United States Code, is amended 

21 by adding at the end the following new sections: 

22 ‘‘§ 7728. Annual plan on outreach activities 

23 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL PLAN REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 

24 prepare each year a plan for the outreach activities of the 

25 Department for the following year. 
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1 ‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—Each annual plan under sub2 section (a) shall include the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Plans for efforts to identify veterans who 

4 are not enrolled or registered with the Department 

5 for benefits or services under the programs adminis6 tered by the Secretary. 

7 ‘‘(2) Plans for informing veterans and their de8 pendents of modifications of the benefits and serv9 ices under the programs administered by the Sec10 retary, including eligibility for medical and nursing 

11 care and services. 

12 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION IN DEVELOPMENT.—In devel13 oping an annual plan under subsection (a), the Secretary 

14 shall consult with the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) Directors or other appropriate officials of 

16 organizations recognized by the Secretary under sec17 tion 5902 of this title. 

18 ‘‘(2) Directors or other appropriate officials of 

19 State and local education and training programs. 

20 ‘‘(3) The Administration on Aging of the De21 partment of Health and Human Services. 

22 ‘‘(4) Representatives of nongovernmental orga23 nizations that carry out veterans outreach programs. 

24 ‘‘(5) Representatives of State and local veterans 

25 employment organizations. 
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1 ‘‘(6) Businesses and professional organizations. 

2 ‘‘(7) Other individuals and organizations that 

3 assist veterans in adjusting to civilian life. 

4 ‘‘(d) INCORPORATION OF ASSESSMENT OF PREVIOUS

5 ANNUAL PLANS.—In developing an annual plan under 

6 subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into account the 

7 lessons learned from the implementation of previous an8 nual plans under that subsection and program evaluations 

9 from the Office of Policy, Planning, and Preparedness of 

10 the Department. 

11 ‘‘§ 7729. Outreach activities: coordination of activities 

12 within Department 

13 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall establish and maintain pro14 cedures for ensuring the effective coordination of the out15 reach activities of the Department between and among the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(1) The Office of the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(2) The Office of Public Affairs. 

19 ‘‘(3) The Veterans Health Administration. 

20 ‘‘(4) The Veterans Benefits Administration. 

21 ‘‘(5) The National Cemetery Administration. 

22 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall—

23 ‘‘(1) periodically review the procedures main24 tained under subsection (a) for the purpose of ensur-
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1 ing that such procedures meet the requirement in 

2 that subsection; and 

3 ‘‘(2) make such modifications to such proce4 dures as the Secretary considers appropriate in light 

5 of such review in order to better achieve that pur6 pose.’’. 

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

8 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

9 after the item relating to section 7727 the following new 

10 items:

‘‘7728. Annual plan on outreach activities. 

‘‘7729. Outreach activities: coordination of activities within Department.’’.

11 (c) INITIAL ANNUAL PLAN.—The first annual out12 reach activities plan under section 7728 of title 38, United 

13 States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall be prepared 

14 for the first year beginning after the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act. 

16 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR OUTREACH EFFORTS AND 

17 DEDICATED STAFF AT EACH REGIONAL OF18 FICE. 

19 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress and the Department of 

20 Veterans Affairs historically have targeted certain specific 

21 populations for outreach efforts concerning benefits under 

22 laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

23 Groups currently targeted for such outreach efforts and 

24 for which program outreach coordinators have been des-
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1 ignated at each regional office of the Department of Vet2 erans Affairs are the following: 

3 (1) Former prisoners of war. 

4 (2) Women veterans. 

5 (3) Minority veterans. 

6 (4) Active duty personnel. 

7 (5) Homeless veterans. 

8 (6) Elderly veterans. 

9 (7) Recently separated veterans. 

10 (b) ELIGIBLE DEPENDENT DEFINED.—Paragraph 

11 (2) of section 7721(b) of title 38, United States Code, is 

12 amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(2) the term ‘eligible dependent’ means a 

14 spouse, surviving spouse (whether or not remarried), 

15 child (regardless of age or marital status), or parent 

16 of a person who served in the active military, naval, 

17 or air service.’’. 

18 (c) IMPROVED OUTREACH PROGRAM.—Section 7727 

19 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as 

20 follows: 

21 ‘‘§ 7727. Outreach for eligible dependents 

22 ‘‘(a) In carrying out this subchapter, the Secretary 

23 shall ensure that the needs of eligible dependents are fully 

24 addressed. 
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1 ‘‘(b)(1) In order to carry out subsection (a), the Sec2 retary shall assign such employees of the Veterans Bene3 fits Administration as the Secretary considers appropriate 

4 to conduct outreach programs and provide outreach serv5 ices for eligible dependents. In areas where the number 

6 of eligible dependents warrant doing so, the Secretary 

7 shall assign at least one employee in the Veterans Benefits 

8 Administration regional office to serve as a full-time coor9 dinator of outreach programs and services for eligible de10 pendents in that region. 

11 ‘‘(2) Responsibilities of employees assigned to out12 reach functions under paragraph (1) shall include pro13 viding eligible dependents with—

14 ‘‘(A) information about benefits under laws ad15 ministered by the Secretary; and 

16 ‘‘(B) contacting responsible regional office em17 ployees to facilitate—

18 ‘‘(i) assistance in claims preparation and 

19 inquiry resolution; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a dependent of a de21 ceased veteran for whom necessary records are 

22 incomplete, assistance in obtaining such records 

23 and other necessary information concerning the 

24 veteran. 
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1 ‘‘(c)(1) Information provided an eligible dependent 

2 under this section shall include information on how to 

3 apply for benefits for which the dependent may be eligible, 

4 including information about assistance available under 

5 subsection (b) and section 7722(d) of this title. 

6 ‘‘(2) In the case of eligible dependents who are mem7 bers of distinct beneficiary populations (such as survivors 

8 of deceased veterans), the Secretary shall ensure that in9 formation provided under this section includes specific in10 formation about benefits relating to that population. 

11 ‘‘(d) For any geographic area in which there is a sig12 nificant population of eligible dependents whose primary 

13 language is a language other than English, the Secretary 

14 shall make information provided under this subsection 

15 available to those dependents in the dominant language 

16 in that area (in addition to English). 

17 ‘‘(e) Outreach services and assistance shall be pro18 vided for eligible dependents through the same means that 

19 are used for other specially targeted groups. 

20 ‘‘(f) The Secretary shall ensure that the availability 

21 of outreach services and assistance for eligible dependents 

22 under this subchapter is made known through a variety 

23 of means, including the Internet, correspondence of the 

24 Department, announcements in veterans publications, an25 nouncements to the media, telephone directories, direct 
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1 correspondence to congressional offices, military bases, 

2 public affairs offices, military retiree affairs offices, and 

3 United States embassies. 

4 ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall support the Department’s 

5 periodic evaluation under section 527 of this title con6 cerning the Department’s efforts to address the needs of 

7 eligible dependents. 

8 ‘‘(h) The Secretary shall include in the Secretary’s 

9 annual report under section 529 of this title an assessment 

10 of the programs of the Department addressing the infor11 mation and assistance needs of veterans and eligible de12 pendents. The Secretary shall include in each such report 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Information about expenditures, costs, and 

15 workload under the program of the Department di16 rected towards the information and assistance needs 

17 of veterans and eligible dependents. 

18 ‘‘(2) Information about outreach efforts di19 rected toward veterans and eligible dependents. 

20 ‘‘(3) Information about emerging needs within 

21 the program that relate to other provisions of law, 

22 including section 7725 of this title with respect to 

23 language needs of veterans and eligible dependents. 

24 ‘‘(4) Information as to the timeline for imple25 mentation of improvements to meet existing and 
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1 emerging needs of veterans and eligible dependents 

2 in addition to those specified in this section.’’.

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