I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1039
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an agreement
with a federally funded research and development center for an assess-
ment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits
under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY6, 2025
Mr. B
ARRETT(for himself, Mr. BOST, and Ms. BUDZINSKI) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter
into an agreement with a federally funded research and
development center for an assessment of notice letters
that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits under
laws administered by the Secretary, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Clear Communication 4
for Veterans Claims Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF NOTICES THAT THE 1
SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SENDS 2
TO CLAIMANTS. 3
(a) A
GREEMENT.—Not later than 30 days after the 4
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-5
erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 6
an FFRDC for an assessment of notices that the Sec-7
retary sends to claimants. 8
(b) A
SSESSMENT.—An FFRDC that enters to an 9
agreement under subsection (a) shall submit to the Sec-10
retary a written assessment of such notices. The assess-11
ment shall include the following: 12
(1) The determination of the FFRDC, made in 13
consultation with covered entities, whether each such 14
notice may be feasibly altered to reduce paper con-15
sumption by, and costs to, the Federal Government. 16
(2) The recommendations of the FFRDC re-17
garding how the Secretary may make such notices 18
clearer to claimants, better organized, and more con-19
cise. 20
(c) R
EPORT; IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 21
days after the Secretary receives the assessment under 22
subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 23
(1) submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-24
fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a 25
copy of such assessment; and 26
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(2) implement the recommendations in the as-1
sessment that are in compliance with the laws ad-2
ministered by the Secretary. 3
(d) D
EADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-4
retary shall complete the implementation of such rec-5
ommendations pursuant to subsection (c)(2) by not later 6
than one year after the date on which the Secretary com-7
mences such implementation. 8
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) The term ‘‘FFRDC’’ means a federally 10
funded research and development center. 11
(2) The term ‘‘covered entities’’ includes— 12
(A) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 13
(B) an expert in laws administered by the 14
Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 15
(C) a veterans service organization recog-16
nized under section 5902 of title 38, United 17
States Code; 18
(D) an entity that advocates for veterans; 19
and 20
(E) an entity that advocates for the sur-21
vivors of veterans. 22
(3) The terms ‘‘claimant’’ and ‘‘notice’’ have 23
the meanings given such terms in section 5100 of 24
title 38, United States Code. 25
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SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN HOUSING LOAN FEES. 1
The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 2
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘June 9, 3
2034’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘June 23, 4
2034’’. 5
Æ
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