Opinion ID: 3049466
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Agent Orange Act of 1991

Text: After the district court invalidated the VA regulation, Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102- 4, 105 Stat. 11 (1991), 38 U.S.C. § 1116. The Agent Orange Act was originally codified at 38 U.S.C. § 316, but six months later Congress renumbered § 316 of title 38 as § 1116. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 1116 (2002); Department of Veterans Affairs Codification Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-83, § 5(a), 105 Stat. 378 (1991). Because the relevant portion of the Consent Decree at issue in this action refers to 38 U.S.C. § 316(b), we will refer to § 316 and § 1116 interchangeably. NEHMER v. USDVA 8739 The Agent Orange Act requires the Secretary of the VA to conduct new rulemaking proceedings to determine which diseases are sufficiently associated with exposure to Agent Orange so that veterans with approved diseases receive a presumption of service-connection. 38 U.S.C. § 1116.2 Section 1116(b) states that (1) Whenever the Secretary determines, on the basis of sound medical and scientific evidence, that a positive association exists between (A) the exposure of humans to an herbicide agent, and (B) the occur- rence of a disease in humans, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations providing that a presumption of service connection is warranted for that disease for the purposes of this section. (2) In making determinations for the purpose of this subsection, the Secretary shall take into account (A) reports received by the Secretary from the National Academy of Sciences under section 3 of the Agent Orange Act of 1991, and (B) all other sound medical and scientific information and analyses available to the Secretary. Id. § 1116(b). To develop the scientific information upon which to base service-connected determinations, § 3 of the Agent Orange Act directed the Secretary “to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences for the Academy to perform the services covered by this section[,]” and under that 2 For background regarding how the VA ordinarily processes veterans’ disability claims, and how a presumption of “service-connected” provides an alternative route for proving entitlement to disability benefits, see Mark Brown, Science for Judges IV: Agent Orange Revisited and Human Behavior Research: The Role of Science in Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Compensation Policies for Environmental and Occupational Illnesses and Injuries, 13 J.L. & POL’Y 593, 593-99 (2005). 8740 NEHMER v. USDVA agreement the Academy was to “review and summarize the scientific evidence, and assess the strength thereof, concerning the association between exposure to [dioxin] . . . and each disease suspected to be associated with such exposure.” Agent Orange Act, § 3(b)-(c). Moreover, the Academy was to submit its first report no later than 18 months after the enactment of the Agent Orange Act, and, thereafter submit “periodic written reports . . . at least once every two years (as measured from the date of the first report).” Id. § 3(g)(1)-(2). Furthermore, under the Agent Orange Act, when the Secretary received a report from the Academy, he was required to determine within 60 days “whether a presumption of service connection is warranted for each disease covered by the report,” and if he determined that a “presumption is warranted,” he was required to issue proposed regulations within 60 days setting forth his determination and to issue final regulations within 90 days after proposing them. 38 U.S.C. § 1116(c)(1)(A), (c)(2). Finally, § 2(a) of the Agent Orange Act, as originally enacted, set forth a sunset date for the operation of the provisions that required the Secretary to issue regulations designating service-connected diseases in response to the scientists’ reports. 38 U.S.C. § 316(e), 38 U.S.C.A. § 1116(e) (1992) (“Subsections (b) through (d) shall cease to be effective 10 years after the first day of the fiscal year in which the [Academy] transmits to the Secretary the first report under section 3 of the Agent Orange Act of 1991.”). Because § 2(a), codified as § 316(e) or § 1116(e), provided that its sunset date would be 10 years after the first day of the fiscal year in which the Academy transmitted its first report to the Secretary, and the first report was transmitted on July 27, 1993, the original effective sunset date was September 30, 2002. NEHMER v. USDVA 8741