Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4412 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the ability of veterans to access and submit disability benefit questionnaire forms of the Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 4, 2020 Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the ability of veterans to access and submit disability benefit questionnaire forms of the Department of Veterans Af- fairs, 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 ‘‘Veterans Benefits 4 Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4412.IS S4412 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4412 IS SEC. 2. PUBLICATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF DISABILITY 1 BENEFIT QUESTIONNAIRE FORMS OF DE- 2 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5101 of title 38, United 4 States Code, is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub- 6 section (e); and 7 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 8 lowing new subsection (d): 9 ‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary shall publish in a central loca- 10 tion on the internet website of the Department disability 11 benefit questionnaire forms, or such successor forms relat- 12 ing to non-Department medical providers submitting evi- 13 dence regarding a disability of a claimant. 14 ‘‘(2) Subject to section 6103 of this title, if the Sec- 15 retary updates a form described in paragraph (1), the Sec- 16 retary shall— 17 ‘‘(A) accept the previous version of the form 18 filed by a claimant if— 19 ‘‘(i) the claimant provided to the non-De- 20 partment medical provider the previous version 21 of the form before the date on which the up- 22 dated version of the form was made available; 23 and 24 ‘‘(ii) the claimant files the previous version 25 of the form during the one-year period following 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4412.IS S4412 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4412 IS the date the form was completed by the non- 1 Department medical provider; 2 ‘‘(B) request from the claimant any other infor- 3 mation that the updated version of the form re- 4 quires; and 5 ‘‘(C) apply the laws and regulations required to 6 adjudicate the claim as if the claimant filed the up- 7 dated version of the form. 8 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may waive any interagency ap- 9 proval process required to approve a modification to a dis- 10 ability benefit questionnaire form if such requirement only 11 applies by reason of the forms being made public under 12 paragraph (1). 13 ‘‘(4) Not less frequently than once each year through 14 2026, the Inspector General of the Department shall sub- 15 mit to Congress a report on the findings of the Inspector 16 General with respect to the use of the forms described in 17 paragraph (1).’’. 18 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in section 19 5101 of title 38, United States Code, as added by sub- 20 section (a), may be construed to require the Secretary of 21 Veterans Affairs to develop any new information tech- 22 nology system or otherwise require the Secretary to make 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4412.IS S4412 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4412 IS any significant changes to the internet website of the De- 1 partment of Veterans Affairs. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:11 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4412.IS S4412 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS