I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2383 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to use electronic communication to provide required notice to 
claimants for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2011 
Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to use electronic commu-
nication to provide required notice to claimants for bene-
fits under laws administered by the Secretary, and for 
other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Modernizing Notice 
to Claimants Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF USE OF ELECTRONIC COMMU-
NICATION TO PROVIDE NOTICE TO CLAIM-
ANTS FOR BENEFITS UNDER LAWS ADMINIS-
TERED BY THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AF-
FAIR. 
Section 5103 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘Upon receipt of a com-
plete or substantially complete application, the’’ 
and inserting ‘‘The’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘notify’’ and inserting 
‘‘provide to’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘by the most expeditious 
means available, including electronic commu-
nication or notification in writing’’ before ‘‘of 
any information’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
following new paragraphs: 
‘‘(4) Nothing in this section shall require the Sec-
retary to provide notice for a subsequent claim that is filed 
while a previous claim is pending if the notice previously 
provided for such pending claim provides notice of the in-
formation and evidence necessary to substantiate such 
subsequent claim. 
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‘‘(5) This section shall not apply to any claim or issue 
where the Secretary may award the benefit sought based 
on the evidence of record.’’. 
SEC. 3. DUTY TO ASSIST CLAIMANTS IN OBTAINING PRI-
VATE RECORDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5103A(b) of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) 
ASSISTANCE
IN
OBTAINING
PRIVATE 
RECORDS.—(1) As part of the assistance provided under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall make reasonable efforts 
to obtain relevant private records if the claimant requests 
assistance, in a manner prescribed by the Secretary, in 
obtaining such records. 
‘‘(2)(A) Whenever the Secretary, after making such 
reasonable efforts, is unable to obtain all of the relevant 
records sought, the Secretary shall notify the claimant 
that the Secretary is unable to obtain records with respect 
to the claim. Such a notification shall— 
‘‘(i) identify the records the Secretary is unable 
to obtain; 
‘‘(ii) briefly explain the efforts that the Sec-
retary made to obtain such records; and 
‘‘(iii) explain that the Secretary will decide the 
claim based on the evidence of record but that this 
section does not prohibit the submission of records 
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at a later date if such submission is otherwise al-
lowed. 
‘‘(B) The Secretary shall make not less than two re-
quests to a custodian of a private record in order for an 
effort to obtain relevant private records to be treated as 
reasonable under this section. 
‘‘(3) This section shall not apply if the evidence of 
record allows for the Secretary to award the benefit 
sought. 
‘‘(4) Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, 
the Secretary shall encourage claimants to submit relevant 
private medical records of the claimant to the Secretary 
if such submission does not burden the claimant. 
‘‘(5) The claimant may waive any requirements under 
this section.’’. 
(b) PUBLIC RECORDS.—Section 5103A(c) of such 
title is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) OBTAINING
RECORDS
FOR
COMPENSATION 
CLAIMS.—(1) In the case of a claim for disability com-
pensation, the assistance provided by the Secretary under 
this section shall include obtaining the following records 
if relevant to the claim: 
‘‘(A) The claimant’s service medical records 
and, if the claimant has furnished the Secretary in-
formation sufficient to locate such records, other rel-
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