I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1264
To provide for reduction in the backlog of claims for benefits pending with 
the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2003
Mr. BACA (for himself, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA, Mr. TERRY, Mr. 
SOUDER, Mr. FROST, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. LOWEY, and Mr. RAHALL) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet-
erans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To provide for reduction in the backlog of claims for benefits 
pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following:
(1) There are over 25,000,000 honorably dis-
charged veterans of the Armed Forces of the United 
States. 
(2) There are over 500,000 veterans who have 
claims pending with the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs for veterans’ benefits, and approximately 
100,000 of such claims are over one year old without 
resolution. 
(3) The Nation’s veterans are dying at a rate 
of over 1,000 veterans a day. 
(4) It is the responsibility of the United States 
Government to live up to the promises to the Na-
tion’s veterans that were made and accepted. 
(5) The National Association of County Vet-
erans Service Officers is an organization that in-
cludes approximately 2,400 full-time employees and 
whose members are present in 37 States. 
(6) Members of the National Association of 
County Veterans Service Officers stand ready to 
partner with the Department of Veterans Affairs in 
order to eliminate the backlog of claims for veterans’ 
benefits. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘claimant’’ means an individual 
applying for, or submitting a claim for, any benefit 
under the laws administered by the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs. 
(2) The term ‘‘County Veterans Service Offi-
cer’’ means any person employed by or funded by 
any county, parish, borough, or territory whose job 
it is to assist veterans and eligible dependents in the 
application for, administration of, or receipt of bene-
fits under any Federal, State, or County veterans 
benefit program. 
(3) The term ‘‘injury or illness claim’’ means a 
claim for benefits that is documented as being serv-
ice-connected. 
(4) The term ‘‘presumptive claim’’ means a 
claim for benefits that is presumptively connected to 
a specific tour of duty or to specific types of military 
assignment. 
(5) The term ‘‘statutory claims’’ means those 
claims for benefits defined in section 5101 of title 
38, United States Code. 
(6) The term ‘‘specific claims’’ includes statu-
tory claims, presumptive claims, and injury or illness 
claims.
(7) The term ‘‘ready to be rated’’ means that 
there is sufficient information to evaluate the 
claimed disability and to assign a rating based on 
degree of disability. 
(8) The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 
that term in section 101(20) of title 38, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 4. REDUCTION OF BACKLOG OF VETERANS’ CLAIMS. 
(a) REFERRAL OF CLAIMS TO COUNTY VETERANS 
SERVICE OFFICERS.—
(1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
identify the backlog of veterans’ claims as of the 
date of the enactment of this Act and shall cat-
egorize those claims into types of specific claims. As 
part of such categorization, the Secretary shall iden-
tify the pending claims that require development. 
The Secretary shall refer those claims requiring de-
velopment to a County Veterans Service Office for 
development. 
(2) The Secretary shall choose a County Vet-
erans Service Office for development of a claim 
based upon the office’s geographical proximity to the 
claimant. 
(3) A claim referred to a County Veterans Serv-
ice Office for development shall be accompanied by
specification from the Secretary of the information 
that is required to develop the claim and the infor-
mation that is needed to make the claim ready to 
rate. 
(b) FILING OF CLAIMS WITH COUNTY VETERANS 
SERVICE OFFICERS.—Claims for benefits under laws ad-
ministered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may be 
submitted to County Veterans Service Officers. Receipt of 
such a claim by a County Veterans Service Officer under 
this Act shall be treated for all purposes as receipt of the 
claim by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 
SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS. 
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS BY COUNTY VET-
ERANS SERVICE OFFICER.—When a County Veterans 
Service Officer receives a claim referred under section 4(a) 
or receives a claim under section 4(b), that officer shall 
make personal contact with the claimant, explain the situ-
ation, and develop the claim. 
(b) AUTHORITY
TO FULLY DEVELOP CLAIM.—A 
County Veterans Service Officer to whom a claim is re-
ferred under section 4(a) or receives a claim under section 
4(b) shall have the authority to fully develop the claim 
and to transmit the claim to the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs when the claim is ready to be rated.
(c) PROCEDURE.—Once the claim has been fully de-
veloped, the claim shall be transmitted back to the Sec-
retary with the information developed in accordance with 
the specification under section 3(a)(3) and a statement 
from the County Veterans Service Officer indicating that 
the claim is ready to rate. 
(d) FULLY DEVELOPED CLAIMS.—For purposes of 
this section, a claim shall be considered to be fully devel-
oped when the County Veterans Service Officer has ob-
tained all items that that officer determines are necessary 
to substantiate the claim and all items that the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs has specifically specified to be devel-
oped in connection with the claim. 
SEC. 6. INFORMATION SHARING. 
Veterans’ information contained in the Benefits De-
livery Network of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
shall be accessible to County Veterans Service Offices in 
order to provide County Veterans Service Offices with on-
line access to client information contained in the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs database. Such information shall 
be used by such offices to develop veterans’ claims under 
this Act and for no other purpose. 
SEC. 7. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Funding for purposes of this Act 
shall be allocated by grant to the States based on the pop-
ulation of veterans in the respective States. Funds allo-
cated to a State under this Act shall be directed to County 
Veterans Service Offices within the State through the 
State Department of Veterans Affairs (or the equivalent). 
(b) STATE OVERHEAD.—A State Department of Vet-
erans Affairs may retain from any such grant for any fis-
cal year an amount equal to the expenses incurred by that 
State for administrative overhead in administering grants 
for that year, except that the amount so retained in any 
fiscal year may not exceed 3 percent of the amount of the 
grant to that State for that fiscal year. 
(c) FUNDS FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—A por-
tion of the funding received by a State under this Act for 
any fiscal year, as determined by the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs in agreement with County Veterans Service 
Offices, shall be used for County Veterans Service Officers 
to attend educational programs sponsored by or equivalent 
to the National Association of County Veterans Service 
Officers annual continuing education and accreditation 
training. 
(d) LIMITATION ON FEDERAL FUNDING.—Federal 
funds under this Act may not be used to provide more 
than 50 percent of the total costs for County Veterans 
Service Offices and shall be used to expand existing pro-
grams, not to supplant existing local government funding.
(e) ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW CVSO PROGRAMS.—
(1) In the case of a State that as of the date of the enact-
ment of this Act does not have a County Veterans Service 
Officer program, Federal funding under this Act may be 
used by units of local government to establish such a pro-
gram to assist veterans and their dependents in filing ap-
plications for veterans benefits and for the purposes speci-
fied in this Act. 
(2) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if a unit 
of local government chooses not to establish a County Vet-
erans Service Officers program as described in that para-
graph, the State department of veterans affairs (or the 
equivalent) may elect to perform the services as specified 
in this Act for that State. 
(3) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if both units 
of local government and the State government elect not 
to use some or all of the funds, the unused amount shall 
revert back to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and shall 
be reallocated to those State department of veterans af-
fairs (or the equivalent) in which County Veterans Service 
Officers programs exist to further expand services to vet-
erans in those States in support of the veterans claims 
backlog reduction services under this Act.
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