Hear our Heroes Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3866 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of service- connection for certain veterans with tinnitus or hearing loss, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 19, 2019 Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. KHANNA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a pre- sumption of service-connection for certain veterans with tinnitus or hearing loss, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hear our Heroes Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3866.IH H3866 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3866 IH SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE-CONNECTION FOR 1 HEARING LOSS AND TINNITUS. 2 Section 1112 of title 38, United States Code, is 3 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 4 section: 5 ‘‘(d)(1) For purposes of section 1110 of this title, and 6 subject to the provisions of section 1113 of this title, diag- 7 nosed hearing loss, tinnitus, or both of a veteran described 8 in paragraph (2) shall be considered to have been incurred 9 in or aggravated by the active military, naval, or air serv- 10 ice of the veteran, notwithstanding that there is no record 11 of evidence of such hearing loss or tinnitus, as the case 12 may be, during the period of such service. 13 ‘‘(2) A veteran described in this paragraph is a vet- 14 eran who while on active military, naval, or air service— 15 ‘‘(A) was assigned to a military occupational 16 specialty or equivalent described in paragraph (3); 17 or 18 ‘‘(B) served in combat. 19 ‘‘(3) A military occupational specialty or equivalent 20 referred to in paragraph (2)(A) is a military occupational 21 specialty or equivalent in which individuals assigned to 22 such military occupational specialty or equivalent in the 23 active military, naval, or air service are or were likely to 24 be exposed to a sufficiently high level of acoustic trauma 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3866.IH H3866 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3866 IH as to result in permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, or both, 1 as determined by the Secretary.’’. 2 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION TO SCHEDULE FOR RATES FOR DIS- 3 ABILITY COMPENSATION. 4 Pursuant to section 1155 of title 38, United States 5 Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall adjust the 6 schedule of rating disabilities to establish a minimum dis- 7 ability rating for a veteran who requires a hearing aid be- 8 cause of a service-connected disability, including pursuant 9 to section 1112(d) of such title, as amended by section 10 2. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:30 Jul 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3866.IH H3866 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS