Veterans Claim Transparency Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7443 To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide the representative of record of a claimant for com- pensation or benefits administered by the Secretary an opportunity to review a proposed determination regarding that claim. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 1, 2020 Mr. ALLRED (for himself and Mr. HAGEDORN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec- retary of Veterans Affairs to provide the representative of record of a claimant for compensation or benefits administered by the Secretary an opportunity to review a proposed determination regarding that claim. 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 ‘‘Veterans Claim Trans- 4 parency Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7443.IH H7443 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7443 IH SEC. 2. OPPORTUNITY FOR REPRESENTATIVE OF RECORD 1 TO REVIEW A PROPOSED DETERMINATION 2 REGARDING A CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION 3 OR BENEFITS ADMINISTERED BY THE SEC- 4 RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing new section: 8 ‘‘§ 5906. Opportunity for representative of record to 9 review a proposed determination regard- 10 ing a claim for compensation or benefits 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In each claim for compensation 12 or benefits under this title in which the claimant has des- 13 ignated a representative of record, the Secretary shall pro- 14 vide that representative of record an opportunity to review 15 the proposed determination of the Secretary before it be- 16 comes final. 17 ‘‘(b) REPRESENTATIVE OF RECORD.—For purposes 18 of this section, a representative of record of a claimant 19 may be— 20 ‘‘(1) a representative of the claimant recognized 21 under section 5902 of this title; or 22 ‘‘(2) an agent or attorney of the claimant recog- 23 nized under section 5904 of this title. 24 ‘‘(c) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall submit notifica- 25 tion in writing to a representative of record that a pro- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7443.IH H7443 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7443 IH posed determination is ready for review under subsection 1 (a). 2 ‘‘(d) PERIOD FOR REVIEW.—Each opportunity to re- 3 view a proposed determination under subsection (a) for 4 a representative of record of a claimant shall be for a pe- 5 riod— 6 ‘‘(1) beginning at the moment the representa- 7 tive receives notification under subsection (b); and 8 ‘‘(2) ending on the earlier of— 9 ‘‘(A) the moment that the claimant or the 10 representative of record indicates to the Sec- 11 retary that the claimant does not dispute the 12 proposed determination; or 13 ‘‘(B) the moment that is 48 hours after 14 the moment described in paragraph (1). 15 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not make a 16 proposed determination, subject to a period of review 17 under this section, final until after the period under sub- 18 section (d).’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 20 at the beginning of chapter 59 of such title is amended 21 by inserting after the item relating to section 5905 the 22 following new item: 23 ‘‘5906. Opportunity for representative of record to review a proposed determina- tion regarding a claim for compensation or benefits.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:01 Jul 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7443.IH H7443 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS