II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2296 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to employ at least three decision 

review officers at each regional office of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2014 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to employ at 

least three decision review officers at each regional office 

of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Appeals Im5 provement Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Section 7101(a) of title 38, United States 

2 Code, requires that the Board of Veterans’ Appeals 

3 have such number of members and staff as may be 

4 found necessary in order to conduct hearings and 

5 dispose of appeals properly before the Board in a 

6 timely manner. 

7 (2) The supporting information submitted along 

8 with the budget under section 1105 of title 31, 

9 United States Code, for fiscal year 2015 for the De10 partment of Veterans Affairs states that appeals re11 ceived by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals are ex12 pected to increase by 52 percent from the 47,763 

13 appeals received in 2011 to 72,786 by the end of 

14 2015. 

15 (3) The annual report of the Board of Vet16 erans’ Appeals for Fiscal Year 2012 indicates that 

17 with 64 members, the Board was able to issue 

18 44,300 decisions in that fiscal year. 

19 (4) The Board also noted in such report that 

20 there is a direct and proportional correlation be21 tween the number of members and staff of the 

22 Board and the number of decisions they can issue. 


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1 SEC. 3. MINIMUM NUMBER OF DECISION REVIEW OFFICERS 

2 AT REGIONAL OFFICES OF DEPARTMENT OF 

3 VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet6 erans Affairs shall ensure that not fewer than three deci7 sion review officers are employed by the Department of 

8 Veterans Affairs at each regional office of the Depart9 ment. 

10 (b) NOTICE.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which the 

12 number of decision review officers employed by the 

13 Department at a regional office of the Department 

14 declines to fewer than three after the date that is 

15 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

16 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Vet17 erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

18 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 

19 notice of such decline. 

20 (2) CONTENTS.—Notice submitted under para21 graph (1) with respect to a regional office of the De22 partment shall include the following: 

23 (A) The number of decision review officers 

24 employed by the Department at such regional 

25 office. 


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1 (B) A plan to increase the number of deci2 sion review officers at such regional office to at 

3 least three, including an estimate of when at 

4 least three decision review officers will be em5 ployed at such regional office. 

6 (C) A description of the measures that the 

7 Secretary plans to take to ensure that appeals 

8 properly before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals 

9 that would normally be disposed of by decision 

10 review officers at such regional office are dis11 posed of in a timely manner during the period 

12 in which fewer than three decision review offi13 cers are employed at such regional office. 

14 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

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

16 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet17 erans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ 

18 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af19 fairs of the House of Representatives a report on the abil20 ity of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals to conduct hearings 

21 and dispose of appeals properly before the Board in a 

22 timely manner. 

23 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required by subsection 

24 (a) shall include the following: 


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1 (1) Whether the number of members of the 

2 Board is sufficient to conduct hearings and dispose 

3 of appeals properly before the Board in a timely 

4 manner. 

5 (2) An assessment of the feasibility and advis6 ability of increasing the number of decision review 

7 officers by 10, 15, and 25 percent from the number 

8 of review officers employed by the Department on 

9 the day before the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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