COVID–19 Benefits for Active Duty Servicemembers, the Reserve Components, and their Survivors Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7728 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish presumptions of service- connection for members of the Armed Forces who contract COVID– 19 under certain circumstances, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 22, 2020 Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee (for himself, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. BOST, and Mr. BERGMAN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish presump- tions of service-connection for members of the Armed Forces who contract COVID–19 under certain cir- cumstances, 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 ‘‘COVID–19 Benefits 4 for Active Duty Servicemembers, the Reserve Compo- 5 nents, and their Survivors Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7728 IH SEC. 2. PRESUMPTIONS OF SERVICE-CONNECTION FOR 1 MEMBERS OF ARMED FORCES WHO CON- 2 TRACT CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 UNDER 3 CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter VI of chapter 11 of 5 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 6 end the following new section: 7 ‘‘§ 1164. Presumptions of service-connection for 8 Coronavirus Disease 2019 9 ‘‘(a) PRESUMPTIONS GENERALLY.—(1) For purposes 10 of laws administered by the Secretary and subject to sec- 11 tion 1113 of this title, if symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 12 2019 (in this section referred to as ‘COVID–19’) de- 13 scribed in subsection (d) manifest within one of the mani- 14 festation periods described in paragraph (2) in an indi- 15 vidual who served in a qualifying period of duty described 16 in subsection (b)— 17 ‘‘(A) infection with severe acute respiratory 18 syndrome coronavirus 2 (in this section referred to 19 as ‘SARS–CoV–2’) shall be presumed to have oc- 20 curred during the qualifying period of duty; 21 ‘‘(B) COVID–19 shall be presumed to have 22 been incurred during the qualifying period of duty; 23 and 24 ‘‘(C) if the individual becomes disabled or dies 25 as a result of COVID–19, it shall be presumed that 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7728 IH the individual became disabled or died during the 1 qualifying period of duty for purposes of establishing 2 that the individual served in the active military, 3 naval, or air service. 4 ‘‘(2)(A) The manifestation periods described in this 5 paragraph are the following: 6 ‘‘(i) During a qualifying period of duty de- 7 scribed in subsection (b), if that period of duty was 8 more than 48 continuous hours in duration. 9 ‘‘(ii) Within 14 days after the individual’s com- 10 pletion of a qualifying period of duty described in 11 subsection (b). 12 ‘‘(iii) An additional period prescribed under 13 subparagraph (B). 14 ‘‘(B)(i) If the Secretary determines that a manifesta- 15 tion period of more than 14 days after completion of a 16 qualifying period of service is appropriate for the presump- 17 tions under paragraph (1), the Secretary may prescribe 18 that additional period by regulation. 19 ‘‘(ii) A determination under clause (i) shall be made 20 in consultation with the Director of the Centers for Dis- 21 ease Control and Prevention. 22 ‘‘(b) QUALIFYING PERIOD OF DUTY DESCRIBED.— 23 A qualifying period of duty described in this subsection 24 is a period of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7728 IH ‘‘(1) active duty; or 1 ‘‘(2) the following duty or training not covered 2 by paragraph (1) performed under orders issued on 3 or after March 13, 2020, during the national emer- 4 gency declared by the President under the National 5 Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.): 6 ‘‘(A) Training duty under title 10. 7 ‘‘(B) Full-time National Guard duty (as 8 defined in section 101 of title 10). 9 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION OF PRESUMPTIONS FOR TRAINING 10 DUTY.—When, pursuant to subsection (a), COVID–19 is 11 presumed to have been incurred during a qualifying period 12 of duty described in subsection (b)(2)— 13 ‘‘(1) COVID–19 shall be deemed to have been 14 incurred in the line of duty during a period of active 15 military, naval, or air service; and 16 ‘‘(2) where entitlement to benefits under this 17 title is predicated on the individual who was disabled 18 or died being a veteran, benefits for disability or 19 death resulting from COVID–19 as described in sub- 20 section (a) shall be paid or furnished as if the indi- 21 vidual was a veteran, without regard to whether the 22 period of duty would constitute active military, 23 naval, or air service under section 101 of this title. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7728 IH ‘‘(d) SYMPTOMS OF COVID–19.—For purposes of 1 subsection (a), symptoms of COVID–19 are those symp- 2 toms that competent medical evidence demonstrates are 3 experienced by an individual affected and directly related 4 to COVID–19. 5 ‘‘(e) MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS AND OPINIONS.—If 6 there is a question of whether the symptoms experienced 7 by an individual described in paragraph (1) of subsection 8 (a) during a manifestation period described in paragraph 9 (2) of such subsection are attributable to COVID–19 re- 10 sulting from infection with SARS–CoV–2 during the 11 qualifying period of duty, in determining whether a med- 12 ical examination or medical opinion is necessary to make 13 a decision on the claim within the meaning of section 14 5103A(d) of this title, a qualifying period of duty de- 15 scribed in subsection (b) of this section shall be treated 16 as if it were active military, naval, or air service for pur- 17 poses of section 5103A(d)(2)(B) of this title.’’. 18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 19 at the beginning of such subchapter is amended by adding 20 at the end the following new item: 21 ‘‘1164. Presumptions of service-connection for Coronavirus Disease 2019.’’. (c) EMERGENCY DESIGNATIONS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section is designated as 23 an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7728 IH of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 1 U.S.C. 933(g)). 2 (2) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the Senate, 3 this section is designated as an emergency require- 4 ment pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 5 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent resolution on 6 the budget for fiscal year 2018. 7 (3) TERMINATION OF DESIGNATIONS.—The 8 designations under paragraphs (1) and (2) shall ter- 9 minate on the earlier of— 10 (A) the date of the end of the national 11 emergency declared by the President under the 12 National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et 13 seq.); and 14 (B) the date that is three years after the 15 date of the enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7728.IH H7728 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS