I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1435 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a pilot program 

to reduce the backlog of claims for benefits pending with the Department 

of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2007 

Mr. BACA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a 

pilot program to reduce the backlog of claims for benefits 

pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Department of Vet5 erans Affairs Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) There are more than 500,000 veterans who 

9 have claims pending with the Department of VetVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:04 Mar 10, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1435.IH H1435

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1 erans Affairs for benefits, and approximately 

2 100,000 of such claims are over one year old without 

3 resolution. 

4 (2) 37 States have established, over time, a na5 tionwide system of County Veterans Service Officers, 

6 which now includes more than 2,400 full-time em7 ployees and numerous part-time employees, to assist 

8 veterans to file claims with the Veterans Administra9 tion, as well as to provide information on the various 

10 State benefits available to veterans. 

11 (3) The County Veterans Service Officers are 

12 an arm of local government and therefore, the De13 partment of Veterans Affairs, the various State Vet14 erans Agencies or Departments, and County Vet15 erans Service Officers should cooperate more closely, 

16 as governmental agencies, and share information so 

17 that all such agencies can better assist the Nation’s 

18 veterans. 

19 (4) The majority of County Veterans Service 

20 Officers are accredited by the Department of Vet21 erans Affairs, or by the appropriate State Depart22 ment of Veterans Affairs, or both, in addition to 

23 being accredited by various veterans’ service organi24 zations. 


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1 (5) These County Veterans Service Officers rep2 resent a highly trained and dedicated work force 

3 that stands ready to assist the Department of Vet4 erans Affairs. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) The term ‘‘claimant’’ means an individual 

8 applying for, or submitting a claim for, any benefit 

9 under the laws administered by the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘County Veterans Service Offi12 cer’’ means any person employed by or funded by 

13 any county, parish, borough, or territory whose job 

14 it is to assist veterans and eligible dependents in the 

15 application for, administration of, or receipt of bene16 fits under any Federal, State, or county veterans 

17 benefit program. 

18 (3) The term ‘‘injury or illness claim’’ means a 

19 claim for benefits that is documented as being serv20 ice-connected. 

21 (4) The term ‘‘presumptive claim’’ means a 

22 claim for benefits that is presumptively connected to 

23 a specific tour of duty or to specific types of military 

24 assignment. 


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1 (5) The term ‘‘statutory claims’’ means those 

2 claims for benefits defined in section 5101 of title 

3 38, United States Code. 

4 (6) The term ‘‘specific claims’’ includes statu5 tory claims, presumptive claims, and injury or illness 

6 claims. 

7 (7) The term ‘‘ready to be rated’’ means that 

8 there is sufficient information to evaluate the 

9 claimed disability and to assign a rating based on 

10 degree of disability. 

11 (8) The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 

12 that term in section 101(20) of title 38, United 

13 States Code. 

14 SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM TO REDUCE BACKLOG OF VET15 ERANS’ CLAIMS. 

16 (a) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Veterans Af17 fairs shall conduct a pilot program to reduce the backlog 

18 of claims for benefits pending with the Department of Vet19 erans Affairs. 

20 (b) SCOPE OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) LOCATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

22 shall conduct the pilot program with the County 

23 Veterans Services Officers located in the following 

24 States: 

25 (A) The State of California. 


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1 (B) The State of Florida. 

2 (C) The State of Ohio. 

3 (D) The State of South Carolina. 

4 (E) The State of Texas. 

5 (2) EXPANSION OF PROGRAM TO OTHER

6 STATES.—The Secretary may expand the pilot pro7 gram to include the County Veterans Services Offi8 cers located in a State not listed in paragraph (1), 

9 upon the request of a County Veterans Services Offi10 cer located in such State. 

11 (3) DURATION OF PROGRAM.—The pilot pro12 gram shall be conducted during the three-year pe13 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

14 Act. 

15 (c) REDUCTION OF BACKLOG OF VETERANS’ 

16 CLAIMS.— 

17 (1) REFERRAL OF CLAIMS TO COUNTY VET18 ERANS SERVICE OFFICERS.— 

19 (A) IDENTIFICATION OF CLAIMS BACK20 LOG.—In conducting the pilot program, the 

21 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall identify the 

22 backlog of veterans’ claims as of the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act and shall categorize those 

24 claims into types of specific claims. As part of 

25 such categorization, the Secretary shall identify 


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1 the pending claims that require further develop2 ment to be considered ready to be rated. 

3 (B) REFERRAL OF CERTAIN CLAIMS.—The 

4 Secretary shall refer those claims identified 

5 under subparagraph (A) as requiring further 

6 development to a County Veterans Service Offi7 cer for such development. 

8 (C) SELECTION OF COUNTY VETERANS

9 SERVICE OFFICER.—In referring a claim under 

10 subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall select a 

11 County Veterans Service Officer for develop12 ment of such claim based upon the Officer’s 

13 geographical proximity to the claimant. 

14 (D) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO DEVELOP

15 CLAIM.—A claim referred to a County Veterans 

16 Service Officer for development under the pilot 

17 program shall be accompanied by specification 

18 from the Secretary of the information that is 

19 required to develop the claim and the informa20 tion that is needed to make the claim ready to 

21 be rated. 

22 (2) FILING OF CLAIMS WITH COUNTY VET23 ERANS SERVICE OFFICERS.—Claims for benefits 

24 under laws administered by the Secretary of Vet25 erans Affairs may be submitted to County Veterans 


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1 Service Officers under the pilot program. Receipt of 

2 such a claim by a County Veterans Service Officer 

3 under the program shall be treated for all purposes 

4 as receipt of the claim by the Secretary of Veterans 

5 Affairs. 

6 (d) DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS.— 

7 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS BY COUNTY VET8 ERANS SERVICE OFFICER.—When a County Vet9 erans Service Officer receives a claim referred under 

10 subsection (c)(1) or receives a claim under sub11 section (c)(2), the officer shall make personal con12 tact with the claimant, explain the situation, and 

13 further develop the claim, with the permission of the 

14 claimant. 

15 (2) COUNTY VETERANS SERVICE OFFICER AS

16 REPRESENTATIVE OF CLAIMANT.—In developing a 

17 claim under this subsection, a County Veterans 

18 Service Officer shall act as the advocate of the 

19 claimant. In the event of a conflict between the 

20 claimant and the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

21 the responsibility of the officer is to represent the 

22 claimant. 

23 (3) AUTHORITY TO FULLY DEVELOP CLAIM.— 

24 A County Veterans Service Officer to whom a claim 

25 is referred under subsection (c)(1) or who receives a 


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1 claim under subsection (c)(2) shall have the author2 ity to fully develop the claim and to transmit the 

3 claim to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs when the 

4 claim is ready to be rated. 

5 (4) PROCEDURE.—Once the claim has been 

6 fully developed, the claim shall be transmitted back 

7 to the Secretary with the information developed in 

8 accordance with the specification under subsection 

9 (c)(1)(D) and a statement from the County Veterans 

10 Service Officer indicating that the claim is ready to 

11 be rated. 

12 (5) FULLY DEVELOPED CLAIMS.—For purposes 

13 of this subsection, a claim shall be considered to be 

14 fully developed when the County Veterans Service 

15 Officer has obtained all items that are necessary and 

16 available to the officer to develop the claim in ac17 cordance with the specification under subsection 

18 (c)(1)(D) and all items that the Secretary of Vet19 erans Affairs has specifically specified to be devel20 oped in connection with the claim. 

21 (6) COOPERATION WITH A VETERANS SERVICE

22 ORGANIZATION.—For purposes of the pilot program, 

23 if a claimant whose claim is being developed under 

24 this section has established a power of attorney 

25 through a veterans service organization, the County 


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1 Veterans Service Officer shall work through and in 

2 cooperation with such veterans service organization 

3 to develop the claim. 

4 (e) INFORMATION SHARING.— 

5 (1) ACCESS TO BENEFITS DELIVERY NET6 WORK.—Under the pilot program, veterans’ informa7 tion contained in the Benefits Delivery Network of 

8 the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be acces9 sible to County Veterans Service Officers in order to 

10 provide County Veterans Service Officers with online 

11 access to client information contained in the Depart12 ment of Veterans Affairs database. 

13 (2) AVAILABILITY OF ELECTRONIC FILES.— 

14 Subject to the requirements of subchapter III of 

15 Chapter 57 of title 38, United States Code, the Sec16 retary shall make available to a County Veterans 

17 Service Officer all appropriate electronic files con18 cerning the claimant for whom the officer is devel19 oping a claim. 

20 (3) USE OF INFORMATION.—Information pro21 vided or made available under this subsection shall 

22 be used by County Veterans Service Officers to de23 velop veterans’ claims under the pilot program and 

24 for no other purpose. 


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1 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the com2 pletion of the pilot program under this section, the Sec3 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the program 

4 containing the following information: 

5 (1) The original backlog number per State par6 ticipating in the program. 

7 (2) The final backlog number per State at the 

8 completion of the program. 

9 (3) The total reduction of the backlog in each 

10 State participating in the program. 

11 (4) The number of claims, per State, referred 

12 by the Department of Veterans Affairs to County 

13 Veterans Service Officers for development. 

14 (5) The number of such claims, per State, re15 turned to the Department of Veterans Affairs as 

16 ready to be rated, after being referred to a County 

17 Veterans Service Officer under subsection (c)(1). 

18 (6) The number of new claims, per State, filed 

19 with a County Veterans Service Officer under sub20 section (c)(2), transmitted to the Department of 

21 Veterans Affairs as fully developed. 

22 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

23 There are authorized to be appropriated, for each 

24 State participating in the pilot program under section 4, 


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1 such sums as may be necessary to carry out the pilot pro2 gram. 

Æ 


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