In the Senate of the United States,
September 25 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.
Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representa-
tives (H.R. 4864) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend title 38, United
States Code, to reaffirm and clarify the duty of the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to assist claimants for benefits under laws
administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes.’’, do
pass with the following
AMENDMENT:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Claims Assist-
ance Act of 2000’’.
HR 4864 EAS
‘‘§ 5103A. Duty to assist claimants
‘‘(a) DUTY TO ASSIST.—(1) The Secretary shall make
reasonable efforts to assist a claimant in obtaining evidence
necessary to substantiate the claimant’s claim for a benefit
under a law administered by the Secretary.
‘‘(2) The Secretary is not required to provide assist-
ance to a claimant under this section if no reasonable possi-
bility exists that such assistance would aid in substan-
tiating the claim.
‘‘(3) The Secretary may defer providing assistance
under this section pending the submission by the claimant
of essential information missing from the claimant’s appli-
cation.
‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING RECORDS.—(1) As
part of the assistance provided under subsection (a), the
Secretary shall make reasonable efforts to obtain relevant
records (including private records) that the claimant ade-
quately identifies to the Secretary and authorizes the Sec-
retary to obtain.
‘‘(2) Whenever the Secretary, after making such rea-
sonable efforts, is unable to obtain all of the relevant records
sought, the Secretary shall notify the claimant that the Sec-
retary is unable to obtain records with respect to the claim.
Such a notification shall—
‘‘(A) identify the records the Secretary is unable
to obtain;
HR 4864 EAS
‘‘(B) briefly explain the efforts that the Secretary
made to obtain those records; and
‘‘(C) describe any further action to be taken by
the Secretary with respect to the claim.
‘‘(3) Whenever the Secretary attempts to obtain records
from a Federal department or agency under this subsection
or subsection (c), the efforts to obtain those records shall
continue until the records are obtained unless it is reason-
ably certain that such records do not exist or that further
efforts to obtain those records would be futile.
‘‘(c) 
OBTAINING
RECORDS
FOR
COMPENSATION
CLAIMS.—In the case of a claim for disability compensa-
tion, the assistance provided by the Secretary under sub-
section (b) shall include obtaining the following records if
relevant to the claim:
‘‘(1) The claimant’s service medical records and,
if the claimant has furnished the Secretary informa-
tion sufficient to locate such records, other relevant
records pertaining to the claimant’s active military,
naval, or air service that are held or maintained by
a governmental entity.
‘‘(2) Records of relevant medical treatment or ex-
amination of the claimant at Department health-care
facilities or at the expense of the Department, if the
HR 4864 EAS
claimant furnishes information sufficient to locate
those records.
‘‘(3) Any other relevant records held by any Fed-
eral department or agency that the claimant ade-
quately identifies and authorizes the Secretary to ob-
tain.
‘‘(d) MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
FOR COMPENSATION
CLAIMS.—(1) In the case of a claim for disability com-
pensation, the assistance provided by the Secretary under
subsection (a) shall include providing a medical examina-
tion or obtaining a medical opinion when such an examina-
tion or opinion is necessary to make a decision on the
claim.
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall treat an examination or opin-
ion as being necessary to make a decision on a claim for
purposes of paragraph (1) if the evidence of record before
the Secretary, taking into consideration all information
and lay or medical evidence (including statements of the
claimant)—
‘‘(A) contains competent evidence that the claim-
ant has a current disability, or persistent or recur-
rent symptoms of disability; and
‘‘(B) indicates that the disability or symptoms
may be associated with the claimant’s active military,
naval, or air service; but
HR 4864 EAS
‘‘(C) does not contain sufficient medical evidence
for the Secretary to make a decision on the claim.
‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe
regulations to carry out this section.
‘‘(f) 
RULE
WITH
RESPECT
TO
DISALLOWED
CLAIMS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to re-
quire the Secretary to reopen a claim that has been dis-
allowed except when new and material evidence is presented
or secured, as described in section 5108 of this title.
‘‘(g) OTHER ASSISTANCE NOT PRECLUDED.—Nothing
in this section shall be construed as precluding the Sec-
retary from providing such other assistance under sub-
section (a) to a claimant in substantiating a claim as the
Secretary considers appropriate.’’.
(b) REENACTMENT OF RULE FOR CLAIMANT’S LACK-
ING A MAILING ADDRESS.—Chapter 51 of such title is fur-
ther amended by adding at the end the following new sec-
tion:
‘‘§ 5126. Benefits not to be denied based on lack of
mailing address
‘‘Benefits under laws administered by the Secretary
may not be denied a claimant on the basis that the claimant
does not have a mailing address.’’.
HR 4864 EAS
SEC. 4. DECISION ON CLAIM.
Section 5107 of title 38, United States Code, is amend-
ed to read as follows:
‘‘§ 5107. Claimant responsibility; benefit of the doubt
‘‘(a) CLAIMANT RESPONSIBILITY.—Except as other-
wise provided by law, a claimant has the responsibility to
present and support a claim for benefits under laws admin-
istered by the Secretary.
‘‘(b) BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.—The Secretary shall
consider all information and lay and medical evidence of
record in a case before the Secretary with respect to benefits
under laws administered by the Secretary. When there is
an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence
regarding any issue material to the determination of a mat-
ter, the Secretary shall give the benefit of the doubt to the
claimant.’’.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF CHARGES FOR RECORDS FUR-
NISHED BY OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS
AND AGENCIES.
Section 5106 of title 38, United States Code, is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The
cost of providing information to the Secretary under this
section shall be borne by the department or agency pro-
viding the information.’’.
HR 4864 EAS
SEC. 6. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.
The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 51
of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting before the item relating to sec-
tion 5101 the following new item:
‘‘5100. Definition of ‘claimant’.’’;
(2) by striking the items relating to sections
5102 and 5103 and inserting the following:
‘‘5102. Application forms furnished upon request; notice to claimants of incom-
plete applications.
‘‘5103. Notice to claimants of required information and evidence.
‘‘5103A. Duty to assist claimants.’’;
(3) by striking the item relating to section 5107
and inserting the following:
‘‘5107. Claimant responsibility; benefit of the doubt.’’;
and
(4) by adding at the end the following new item:
‘‘5126. Benefits not to be denied based on lack of mailing address.’’.
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as specifically provided oth-
erwise, the provisions of section 5107 of title 38, United
States Code, as amended by section 4 of this Act, apply
to any claim—
(1) filed on or after the date of the enactment of
this Act; or
(2) filed before the date of the enactment of this
Act and not final as of that date.
HR 4864 EAS
(b) RULE FOR CLAIMS THE DENIAL OF WHICH BE-
CAME FINAL AFTER THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR VET-
ERANS CLAIMS DECISION IN THE MORTON CASE.—(1) In
the case of a claim for benefits denied or dismissed as de-
scribed in paragraph (2), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall, upon the request of the claimant or on the Secretary’s
own motion, order the claim readjudicated under chapter
51 of such title, as amended by this Act, as if the denial
or dismissal had not been made.
(2) A denial or dismissal described in this paragraph
is a denial or dismissal of a claim for a benefit under the
laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
that—
(A) became final during the period beginning on
July 14, 1999, and ending on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act; and
(B) was issued by the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs or a court because the claim was not well
grounded (as that term was used in section 5107(a)
of title 38, United States Code, as in effect during
that period).
(3) A claim may not be readjudicated under this sub-
section unless a request for readjudication is filed by the
claimant, or a motion is made by the Secretary, not later
than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.