IIB 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6961 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 19 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve hearings 
before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals regarding claims 
involving military sexual trauma. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT FOR TRAINING ON CLAIMS IN-
VOLVING MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA PRIOR 
TO ASSIGNMENT OF CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 7102 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary shall ensure that there is of-
fered to each member of the Board an annual training 
on military sexual trauma and proceedings that concern 
a claim for compensation based on military sexual trauma 
experienced by a veteran. 
‘‘(2) A proceeding that concerns a claim specified in 
paragraph (1) may not be assigned to an individual mem-
ber of the Board or to a panel of members unless the indi-
vidual member, or each member of the panel, as the case 
may be, has completed the annual training most recently 
offered to that member pursuant to such paragraph. 
‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘military sexual 
trauma’ has the meaning given that term in section 
1166(c) of this title.’’. 
(b) FIRST TRAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs shall ensure that each member of the Board of Vet-
erans’ Appeals is offered the first annual training under 
section 7102(c) of title 38, United States Code, as amend-
ed by subsection (a), by not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
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(c) APPLICABILITY.—The limitation under section 
7102(c)(2) of title 38, United States Code, as added by 
subsection (a), shall apply with respect to the assignment 
of proceedings on or after the date that is 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 2. REVIEW OF LANGUAGE AND PRACTICES USED IN 
CONNECTION WITH CLAIMS INVOLVING MILI-
TARY SEXUAL TRAUMA. 
(a) BOARD OF VETERANS’ APPEALS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 7112 of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(A) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘(a) 
REMANDED 
CLAIMS.—’’ before ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
subsections: 
‘‘(b) CLAIMS INVOLVING MILITARY SEXUAL TRAU-
MA.—The Board shall promptly determine whether a no-
tice of disagreement filed with the Board is a covered case. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered case’ means a case— 
‘‘(A) that concerns a claim for compensa-
tion based on military sexual trauma; and 
‘‘(B) for which the appellant has requested 
a hearing in the notice of disagreement filed 
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with the Board pursuant to section 7105 of this 
title. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 1166 of this 
title.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 
(A) SECTION HEADING.—The heading of 
such section is amended by striking ‘‘re-
manded’’ and inserting ‘‘certain’’. 
(B) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of 
sections at the beginning of chapter 71 of such 
title is amended by striking the item relating to 
section 7112 and inserting the following: 
‘‘7112. Expedited treatment of certain claims.’’. 
(b) AUDIT
AND MODIFICATION
OF DENIAL LET-
TERS.— 
(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall conduct an audit of the language used 
in letters sent to individuals to explain the decision 
by the Secretary to deny covered claims. Not later 
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary shall modify the letters to en-
sure that— 
(A) the letters use trauma-informed lan-
guage; and 
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