IIB 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1607 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 28, 2015 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 
disability compensation evaluation procedure of the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs for veterans with mental 
health conditions related to military sexual trauma, and 
for other purposes. 
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. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ruth Moore Act of 
2015’’. 
SEC. 2. REPORTS ON CLAIMS FOR DISABILITIES INCURRED 
OR 
AGGRAVATED 
BY 
MILITARY 
SEXUAL 
TRAUMA. 
(a) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter VI of chapter 11 
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 1164. Reports on claims for disabilities incurred or 
aggravated by military sexual trauma 
‘‘(a) REPORTS.—Not later than December 1, 2015, 
and each year thereafter through 2019, the Secretary shall 
submit to Congress a report on covered claims submitted 
during the previous fiscal year. 
‘‘(b) ELEMENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 
shall include the following: 
‘‘(1) The number of covered claims submitted 
to or considered by the Secretary during the fiscal 
year covered by the report. 
‘‘(2) Of the covered claims listed under para-
graph (1), the number and percentage of such 
claims— 
‘‘(A) submitted by each sex; 
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‘‘(B) that were approved, including the 
number and percentage of such approved claims 
submitted by each sex; and 
‘‘(C) that were denied, including the num-
ber and percentage of such denied claims sub-
mitted by each sex. 
‘‘(3) Of the covered claims listed under para-
graph (1) that were approved, the number and per-
centage, listed by each sex, of claims assigned to 
each rating percentage. 
‘‘(4) Of the covered claims listed under para-
graph (1) that were denied— 
‘‘(A) the three most common reasons given 
by the Secretary under section 5104(b)(1) of 
this title for such denials; and 
‘‘(B) the number of denials that were 
based on the failure of a veteran to report for 
a medical examination. 
‘‘(5) The number of covered claims that, as of 
the end of the fiscal year covered by the report, are 
pending and, separately, the number of such claims 
on appeal. 
‘‘(6) For the fiscal year covered by the report, 
the average number of days that covered claims take 
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to complete beginning on the date on which the 
claim is submitted. 
‘‘(7) A description of the training that the Sec-
retary provides to employees of the Veterans Bene-
fits Administration specifically with respect to cov-
ered claims, including the frequency, length, and 
content of such training. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered claims’ means claims 
for disability compensation submitted to the Sec-
retary based on a covered mental health condition 
alleged to have been incurred or aggravated by mili-
tary sexual trauma. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘covered mental health condition’ 
means post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, de-
pression, or other mental health diagnosis described 
in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statis-
tical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the 
American Psychiatric Association that the Secretary 
determines to be related to military sexual trauma. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ means, 
with respect to a veteran, psychological trauma, 
which in the judgment of a mental health profes-
sional, resulted from a physical assault of a sexual 
nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harass-
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ment which occurred during active military, naval, 
or air service.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 
by adding at the end the following new item: 
‘‘1164. Reports on claims for disabilities incurred or aggravated by military sex-
ual trauma.’’. 
(3) INITIAL REPORT.—The Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall submit to Congress an initial re-
port described in section 1164 of title 38, United 
States Code, as added by paragraph (1), by not later 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. Such initial report shall be in addition to the 
annual reports required under such section begin-
ning in December 2015. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should update 
and improve the regulations of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs with respect to military sexual trauma by— 
(1) ensuring that military sexual trauma is 
specified as an in-service stressor in determining the 
service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder 
by including military sexual trauma as a stressor de-
scribed in section 3.304(f)(3) of title 38, Code of 
Federal Regulations; and 
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