Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1039 Compare Versions

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Old	New		Differences
	1	+	I
1	2		119THCONGRESS
2	3		1
3	4		STSESSION H. R. 1039
4		-	AN ACT
	5	+	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an agreement
	6	+	with a federally funded research and development center for an assess-
	7	+	ment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits
	8	+	under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes.
	9	+	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
	10	+	FEBRUARY6, 2025
	11	+	Mr. B
	12	+	ARRETT(for himself, Mr. BOST, and Ms. BUDZINSKI) introduced the
	13	+	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
	14	+	A BILL
5	15		To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter
6	16		into an agreement with a federally funded research and
7	17		development center for an assessment of notice letters
8	18		that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits under
9	19		laws administered by the Secretary, and for other pur-
10		-	poses. 2
11		-	•HR 1039 EH
	20	+	poses.
12	21		Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
13	22		tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
14	23		SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
15	24		This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clear Communication 4
16	25		for Veterans Claims Act’’. 5
17		-	SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF NOTICES THAT THE 6
18		-	SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SENDS 7
19		-	TO CLAIMANTS. 8
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	28	+	•HR 1039 IH
	29	+	SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF NOTICES THAT THE 1
	30	+	SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SENDS 2
	31	+	TO CLAIMANTS. 3
20	32		(a) A
21		-	GREEMENT.—Not later than 30 days after the 9
22		-	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-10
23		-	erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 11
24		-	an FFRDC for an assessment of notices that the Sec-12
25		-	retary sends to claimants. 13
	33	+	GREEMENT.—Not later than 30 days after the 4
	34	+	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-5
	35	+	erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 6
	36	+	an FFRDC for an assessment of notices that the Sec-7
	37	+	retary sends to claimants. 8
26	38		(b) A
27		-	SSESSMENT.—An FFRDC that enters to an 14
28		-	agreement under subsection (a) shall submit to the Sec-15
29		-	retary a written assessment of such notices. The assess-16
30		-	ment shall include the following: 17
31		-	(1) The determination of the FFRDC, made in 18
32		-	consultation with covered entities, whether each such 19
33		-	notice may be feasibly altered to reduce paper con-20
34		-	sumption by, and costs to, the Federal Government. 21
35		-	(2) The recommendations of the FFRDC re-22
36		-	garding how the Secretary may make such notices 23
37		-	clearer to claimants, better organized, and more con-24
38		-	cise. 25 3
39		-	•HR 1039 EH
40		-	(c) REPORT; IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 1
41		-	days after the Secretary receives the assessment under 2
42		-	subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 3
43		-	(1) submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-4
44		-	fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a 5
45		-	copy of such assessment; and 6
46		-	(2) implement the recommendations in the as-7
47		-	sessment that are in compliance with the laws ad-8
48		-	ministered by the Secretary. 9
	39	+	SSESSMENT.—An FFRDC that enters to an 9
	40	+	agreement under subsection (a) shall submit to the Sec-10
	41	+	retary a written assessment of such notices. The assess-11
	42	+	ment shall include the following: 12
	43	+	(1) The determination of the FFRDC, made in 13
	44	+	consultation with covered entities, whether each such 14
	45	+	notice may be feasibly altered to reduce paper con-15
	46	+	sumption by, and costs to, the Federal Government. 16
	47	+	(2) The recommendations of the FFRDC re-17
	48	+	garding how the Secretary may make such notices 18
	49	+	clearer to claimants, better organized, and more con-19
	50	+	cise. 20
	51	+	(c) R
	52	+	EPORT; IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 21
	53	+	days after the Secretary receives the assessment under 22
	54	+	subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 23
	55	+	(1) submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-24
	56	+	fairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a 25
	57	+	copy of such assessment; and 26
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	61	+	(2) implement the recommendations in the as-1
	62	+	sessment that are in compliance with the laws ad-2
	63	+	ministered by the Secretary. 3
49	64		(d) D
50		-	EADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-10
51		-	retary shall complete the implementation of such rec-11
52		-	ommendations pursuant to subsection (c)(2) by not later 12
53		-	than one year after the date on which the Secretary com-13
54		-	mences such implementation. 14
	65	+	EADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-4
	66	+	retary shall complete the implementation of such rec-5
	67	+	ommendations pursuant to subsection (c)(2) by not later 6
	68	+	than one year after the date on which the Secretary com-7
	69	+	mences such implementation. 8
55	70		(e) D
56		-	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 15
57		-	(1) The term ‘‘FFRDC’’ means a federally 16
58		-	funded research and development center. 17
59		-	(2) The term ‘‘covered entities’’ includes— 18
60		-	(A) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 19
61		-	(B) an expert in laws administered by the 20
62		-	Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 21
63		-	(C) a veterans service organization recog-22
64		-	nized under section 5902 of title 38, United 23
65		-	States Code; 24 4
66		-	•HR 1039 EH
67		-	(D) an entity that advocates for veterans; 1
68		-	and 2
69		-	(E) an entity that advocates for the sur-3
70		-	vivors of veterans. 4
71		-	(3) The terms ‘‘claimant’’ and ‘‘notice’’ have 5
72		-	the meanings given such terms in section 5100 of 6
73		-	title 38, United States Code. 7
74		-	SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN LIMITS ON PAYMENTS OF 8
75		-	PENSION. 9
76		-	Section 5503(d)(7) of title 38, United States Code, 10
77		-	is amended by striking ‘‘November 30, 2031’’ and insert-11
78		-	ing ‘‘December 31, 2031’’. 12
79		-	Passed the House of Representatives April 7, 2025.
80		-	Attest:
81		-	Clerk. 119
82		-	TH
83		-	CONGRESS
84		-	1
85		-	ST
86		-	S
87		-	ESSION
88		-
89		-	H. R. 1039
90		-	AN ACT
91		-	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek
92		-	to enter into an agreement with a federally fund-
93		-	ed research and development center for an as-
94		-	sessment of notice letters that the Secretary
95		-	sends to claimants for benefits under laws ad-
96		-	ministered by the Secretary, and for other pur-
97		-	poses.
	71	+	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
	72	+	(1) The term ‘‘FFRDC’’ means a federally 10
	73	+	funded research and development center. 11
	74	+	(2) The term ‘‘covered entities’’ includes— 12
	75	+	(A) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 13
	76	+	(B) an expert in laws administered by the 14
	77	+	Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 15
	78	+	(C) a veterans service organization recog-16
	79	+	nized under section 5902 of title 38, United 17
	80	+	States Code; 18
	81	+	(D) an entity that advocates for veterans; 19
	82	+	and 20
	83	+	(E) an entity that advocates for the sur-21
	84	+	vivors of veterans. 22
	85	+	(3) The terms ‘‘claimant’’ and ‘‘notice’’ have 23
	86	+	the meanings given such terms in section 5100 of 24
	87	+	title 38, United States Code. 25
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	90	+	•HR 1039 IH
	91	+	SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN HOUSING LOAN FEES. 1
	92	+	The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 2
	93	+	United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘June 9, 3
	94	+	2034’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘June 23, 4
	95	+	2034’’. 5
	96	+	Æ
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