Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2008/07/15/E8-15996/eligibility-reporting-requirements
Timestamp: 2017-09-23 16:41:30
Document Index: 34285467

Matched Legal Cases: ['§\u20093', '§\u20093', '§\u20093', '§\u20093', '§\u20093', '§\u20093']

A Rule by the Veterans Affairs Department on 07/15/2008
This amendment is effective July 15, 2008.
73 FR 40465
40465-40467 (3 pages)
2900-AM89
E8-15996
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E8-15996 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E8-15996
This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations regarding eligibility verification reports for certain parents receiving dependency and indemnity compensation. This amendment is necessary to conform the regulation to statutory provisions.
Maya Ferrandino, Regulations Staff (211D), Compensation and Pension Service, Veterans Benefits Start Printed Page 40466Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420, (727) 319-5847. (This is not a toll-free number.)
VA has two income-based benefit programs: pension and parents' dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC). VA may require a beneficiary of these programs to submit an eligibility verification report (EVR) in order to determine or verify entitlement under these programs. See 38 U.S.C. 1315, 1506; 38 CFR 3.256, 3.277, 3.661. The authorizing statute for allowing VA to require an EVR from a parents' DIC beneficiary, section 1315(e), provides an exception for parents who have attained 72 years of age and have been paid DIC during two consecutive calendar years.
In the past, VA has interpreted section 1315(e) as allowing VA the discretion to continue requiring EVRs from this category of parents' DIC beneficiaries. See 60 FR 25877, 25877-78 (May 15, 1995). However, on current review, we have determined that the statute does not allow VA to require EVRs from this group, and we are, therefore, amending the implementing regulation, § 3.256(b)(3), to state that VA will not request an EVR from these beneficiaries. This regulatory amendment does not change the requirement that parents' DIC beneficiaries who have attained 72 years of age and have been paid DIC during two consecutive calendar years must report material changes in income to VA. See 38 U.S.C. 1315(e) and 38 CFR 3.256(a).
This final rule is an interpretative rule and the changes made by this rule merely reflect VA's interpretation of statutory requirements. The primary purpose of the amendment is to implement VA's statutory interpretation of 38 U.S.C. 1315 and to align § 3.256 to the statute. Section 553(b) of title 5, U.S. Code, does not apply to interpretive rules. Accordingly, there is a basis for dispensing with prior notice and opportunity to comment. Moreover, under section 553(d), interpretive rules do not require 30 days prior notice before they may become effective. Therefore, because the amendment to § 3.256 is an interpretive rule, the amendment may have an immediate effect. Accordingly, there is a basis for dispensing with the delayed effective date provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(d).
This document contains no provisions constituting a new collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) assigns a control number for each collection of information it approves. VA may not sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Control number 2900-0101 has been assigned for the collection of information under § 3.256.
The amendments to § 3.256 in this final rule remain within the scope of the approved collections of information. This document will not increase the information burden, nor is it a complete discontinuance because VA will continue to request EVRs from individuals who do not meet the exception requirements under section 1315(e). The amendments are a slight modification that applies to the narrow group of people who meet the exception. Any reduction in the burdens imposed by this approved collection will be identified and addressed in the extension request that VA must submit to OMB before July 31, 2008.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program numbers and titles for this proposal are 64.102, Compensation for Service-Connected Deaths for Veterans' Dependents and 64.110, Veterans Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for Service-Connected Death.
Approved: June 12, 2008.
2. Revise § 3.256(b)(3) introductory text to read as follows:
(3) Except for a parent who has attained 72 years of age and has been Start Printed Page 40467paid dependency and indemnity compensation during two consecutive calendar years, the Secretary shall require an eligibility verification report from individuals receiving parents' dependency and indemnity compensation under the following circumstances:
[FR Doc. E8-15996 Filed 7-14-08; 8:45 am]