I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1471
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the processes by which
a veteran may appeal decisions affecting the provision of benefits under
the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2025
Mr. G
OTTHEIMERintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the
processes by which a veteran may appeal decisions affect-
ing the provision of benefits under the laws administered
by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘VA Appeals Reform 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO SYSTEM FOR ADJUDICATION 1
OF CLAIMS FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE LAWS 2
ADMINISTERED BY THE SECRETARY OF VET-3
ERANS AFFAIRS. 4
(a) D
UTYTOASSIST; SUPPLEMENTAL CLAIMS; EX-5
PEDITEDTREATMENT OFCERTAINCLAIMS.—Chapter 51 6
of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 7
(1) in section 5103A— 8
(A) by redesignating subsections (b) 9
through (i) as subsections (c) through (j), re-10
spectively; 11
(B) by inserting after subsection (a) the 12
following new subsection: 13
‘‘(b) A
SSISTANCEUPONREQUEST OF THE CLAIM-14
ANT.—As part of the assistance provided under subsection 15
(a), the Secretary shall, not later than 90 days after the 16
claimant makes a request for assistance under this sub-17
section, provide any of the following documents: 18
‘‘(1) The veteran’s claims file. 19
‘‘(2) A paginated copy of each component of 20
each document in the evidence of record that the 21
Secretary determines is relevant to the claim. 22
‘‘(3) The contact information of the individual 23
adjudicating the claim. 24
‘‘(4) The contact information and curriculum 25
vitae of any independent medical expert described in 26
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section 5109 of this title offering an advisory med-1
ical opinion in connection with the claim. 2
‘‘(5) A copy of any correspondence relating to 3
the claim between— 4
‘‘(A) one or more employees of the Depart-5
ment; and 6
‘‘(B) an employee of the Department and 7
any other individual. 8
‘‘(6) Upon the request of the claimant, a copy 9
of any document relevant to the claim that the 10
claimant adequately identifies and authorizes the 11
Secretary to obtain that is in the possession of— 12
‘‘(A) the Secretary; or 13
‘‘(B) the head of any Federal department 14
or agency.’’. 15
(C) in subsection (f) (as so redesignated), 16
by adding at the end the following new para-17
graph: 18
‘‘(3) The duty of the Secretary to provide assistance 19
under this section to a claimant with respect to a claim 20
under this section shall continue until such time as the 21
agency of original jurisdiction schedules a hearing to adju-22
dicate the claim.’’; and 23
(D) in subsection (i) (as so redesignated), 24
by striking ‘‘except when new and relevant evi-25
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dence is presented or secured, as’’ and inserting 1
‘‘except as provided under the conditions’’; 2
(2) in section 5104(b)— 3
(A) in paragraph (2), by inserting before 4
the period at the end ‘‘, including citations to 5
applicable page numbers.’’; 6
(B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, in-7
cluded as an appendix’’ after ‘‘regulations’’; 8
(C) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘denial’’ 9
and all that follows through the end of the 10
paragraph and inserting ‘‘denial— 11
‘‘(A) an identification of elements not sat-12
isfied leading to the denial; and 13
‘‘(B) a summary of the rights of the vet-14
eran to appeal such denial.’’; and 15
(D) in paragraph (7), by inserting ‘‘, in-16
cluding the diagnostic codes used in the deter-17
mination of the disability percentage and a cita-18
tion to the applicable regulation’’ after ‘‘com-19
pensation’’; 20
(3) in section 5104B, by amending subsection 21
(c) to read as follows: 22
‘‘(c) E
VIDENTIARYRECORD FORREVIEW.—(1) In 23
the course of a higher-level review, the veteran may sup-24
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plement the evidentiary record before the higher-level re-1
viewer. 2
‘‘(2) If, during review of the agency of original juris-3
diction decision, the higher-level reviewer identifies an 4
error on the part of the agency of original jurisdiction that 5
constitutes a failure to satisfy its duties under section 6
5103A of this title, and that error occurred prior to the 7
agency of original jurisdiction decision being reviewed, the 8
higher-level reviewer shall return the claim to the agency 9
of original jurisdiction.’’; 10
(4) in section 5108, by amending subsection (a) 11
to read as follows: 12
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall readjudicate 13
a supplemental claim, taking into consideration all of the 14
evidence of record when, with respect to such supple-15
mental claim— 16
‘‘(1) new and material evidence is presented or 17
secured; 18
‘‘(2) the Board of Veterans Appeals identifies a 19
clear and unmistakable error on the part of the 20
agency of original jurisdiction; or 21
‘‘(3) a law or regulation enacted after the date 22
of the denial of the original claim permits the vet-23
eran to bring such supplemental claim.’’; 24
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(5) in section 5109A, by adding at the end the 1
following new subsection: 2
‘‘(f) In this section, the term ‘clear and unmistakable 3
error’ includes, with respect to a decision by the Secretary, 4
any of the following: 5
‘‘(1) Any error of law, fact, or application of 6
law to fact— 7
‘‘(A) that is manifest on the face of such 8
decision; and 9
‘‘(B) affected the outcome of such decision. 10
‘‘(2) The misinterpretation or misapplication of 11
a statute, regardless of whether such decision other-12
wise complies with regulations issued by the Sec-13
retary in effect as of the date of such decision. 14
‘‘(3) The misinterpretation or misapplication of 15
an unambiguous regulation, regardless of whether 16
such decision otherwise complies with the regulations 17
described in paragraph (2).’’; and 18
(6) by striking section 5109B and inserting the 19
following new section 5109B: 20
‘‘§ 5109B. Expedited treatment of returned and re-21
manded claims 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall take such 23
actions as may be necessary to provide for the expeditious 24
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treatment by the Veterans Benefits Administration of any 1
claim that is— 2
‘‘(1) returned by a higher-level adjudicator 3
under section 5104B of this title; or 4
‘‘(2) remanded by the Board of Veterans’ Ap-5
peals. 6
‘‘(b) D
EADLINE.—(1) Except as provided in para-7
graph (2), with respect to any claim described in sub-8
section (a), the Secretary shall take the actions under such 9
subsection not later than 90 days after the date on 10
which— 11
‘‘(A) a higher-level adjudicator returned such 12
claim; or 13
‘‘(B) the Board of Veterans’ Appeals remanded 14
such claim. 15
‘‘(2) The Board of may, upon motion of the claimant, 16
extend the deadline under paragraph (1) if the Board de-17
termines there is good cause for such extension.’’. 18
(b) A
TTORNEYFEES FORFILING OFNOTICE OFIN-19
TENTTOAPPEALCERTAINDECISIONS.—Section 5904(c) 20
of title 38, United States Code is amended— 21
(1) in paragraph (4)— 22
(A) by striking the enumerator and insert-23
ing ‘‘(4)(A)’’; and 24
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(B) by striking ‘‘under this paragraph’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘under this subparagraph’’; and 2
(2) by adding at the end, the following new sub-3
paragraph: 4
‘‘(B) A reasonable fee, not to exceed the lesser of 5
$200 or 20 percent of the initial payment from the claim-6
ant to the attorney, may be charged or paid in connection 7
with the filing of a notice of intent to appeal a decision 8
by the Secretary under section 511 of this title affecting 9
the provision of benefits to a claimant.’’. 10
(c) A
PPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 11
J
UDGES; PERFORMANCE REVIEWS; SCHEDULINGCON-12
FERENCES.—Chapter 71 of title 38, United States Code, 13
is amended as follows: 14
(1) In section 7101— 15
(A) in subsection (c)(1)— 16
(i) by amending subparagraph (A) to 17
read as follows: 18
‘‘(A) The Chairman may from time to time designate 19
a retired officer of the Armed Forces who previously 20
served as a military judge (as defined in section 801 of 21
title 10 (article 1 of the Uniform Code of Military Jus-22
tice)) to serve as an acting member of the Board. Except 23
as provided in subparagraph (B), any such designation 24
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shall be for a period not to exceed 180 days, as determined 1
by the Chairman.’’; and 2
(ii) by adding at the end the following 3
new subparagraph: 4
‘‘(E) An individual designated pursuant to subpara-5
graph (A) shall complete a program of training with re-6
spect to the laws administered by the Secretary that the 7
Secretary determines appropriate.’’; and 8
(B) in subsection (d)— 9
(i) in subparagraph (F), by striking ‘‘; 10
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 11
(ii) by redesignating subparagraph 12
(G) as subparagraph (H); and 13
(iii) by inserting after subparagraph 14
(F), the following new subparagraph: 15
‘‘(G) the number of decisions of the Board re-16
manded or returned to the Board, disaggregated by 17
the Board member who issued the final decision so 18
remanded or returned; and’’. 19
(2) In section 7101A— 20
(A) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘shall 21
be’’ and all that follows through the end of the 22
paragraph and inserting ‘‘shall be— 23
‘‘(A) an administrative law judge appointed 24
under section 3105 of title 5; and 25
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‘‘(B) a member in good standing of the bar of 1
a State.’’; and 2
(B) in subsection (c)(1)— 3
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 4
‘‘Not less than one year after the job per-5
formance standards under subsection (f) 6
are initially established, and not less often 7
than once every three years thereafter’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘Under the conditions de-9
scribed in subparagraph (C)’’; and 10
(ii) by adding at the end the following 11
new subparagraph: 12
‘‘(C) The performance review panel shall review the 13
job performance of a member of the Board— 14
‘‘(i) not less than one year after the job per-15
formance standards under subsection (f) are initially 16
established; 17
‘‘(ii) not less often than once every three years 18
after such standards are established; and 19
‘‘(iii) when, during any 12-month period, the 20
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims or a higher 21
authority remands to the Board more than 60 per-22
cent of the decisions issued by such member.’’. 23
(3) In section 7102— 24
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(A) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-1
section (d); and 2
(B) by inserting after subsection (b) the 3
following new subsection: 4
‘‘(c) In the case of a decision of the Board that is 5
remanded to the Board by the Court of Appeals for Vet-6
erans Claims or a higher authority, any subsequent pro-7
ceeding associated with the decision so remanded may not 8
be assigned to the member of the Board who issued such 9
decision.’’. 10
(4) In section 7105— 11
(A) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘; sched-12
uling conferences’’ after ‘‘Filing of ap-13
peal’’; 14
(B) by redesignating subsections (c) and 15
(d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 16
(C) by inserting after subsection (b) the 17
following new subsection: 18
‘‘(c)(1) Not later than 90 days after a veteran files 19
a notice of disagreement under subsection (a), the Board 20
of Veterans Appeals shall hold, by picture and voice trans-21
mission, a conference with such veteran and the represent-22
ative of such veteran, if any, to schedule such hearing. 23
‘‘(2) During the conference under paragraph (1), the 24
Board shall— 25
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‘‘(A) provide the veteran— 1
‘‘(i) not fewer than 30 days for such vet-2
eran to request a hearing; 3
‘‘(ii) not fewer than 30 days to secure 4
counsel for such hearing; 5
‘‘(iii) not fewer than 60 days for such vet-6
eran to submit to the Board the specific deter-7
minations or findings of the Board with which 8
the claimant disagrees; 9
‘‘(iv) not fewer than 120 days for such vet-10
eran to submit evidence relating to the deter-11
minations described in clause (iii); 12
‘‘(v) information relating to the rules gov-13
erning an appeal under this chapter; and 14
‘‘(vi) contact information for a representa-15
tive of the Board, including an electronic mail 16
address; and 17
‘‘(B) schedule a tentative date for such hearing. 18
‘‘(3) The Secretary may, upon motion of the veteran, 19
extend the deadlines described in clauses (i) through (iv) 20
of subparagraph (A) for good cause, including the failure 21
of the Secretary to provide requested relevant or material 22
information.’’. 23
(5) In section 7107— 24
(A) in subsection (a)— 25
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(i) by striking ‘‘two separate dockets’’ 1
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘one 2
docket’’; and 3
(ii) in paragraph (3)— 4
(I) by striking ‘‘(A)’’; 5
(II) by striking ‘‘, except that 6
cases’’ and all that follows through 7
‘‘are assigned’’; and 8
(III) by striking subparagraph 9
(B); and 10
(B) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘, if ap-11
plicable’’ before the period at the end; and 12
(C) by adding at the end the following new 13
subsection: 14
‘‘(f) H
EARINGTRANSCRIPTS.—The Board, upon the 15
request of the veteran and at no cost to such veteran, pro-16
vide such veteran with a copy of the transcript of the hear-17
ing and a digital recording of any picture and voice trans-18
mission considered during such hearing.’’. 19
(6) In section 7111, by adding at the end the 20
following new subsection: 21
‘‘(g) In this section, the term ‘clear and unmistakable 22
error’ includes, with respect to a decision of the Board, 23
any of the following: 24
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‘‘(1) Any error of law, fact, or application of 1
law to fact— 2
‘‘(A) that is manifest on the face of such 3
decision; and 4
‘‘(B) affected the outcome of such decision. 5
‘‘(2) The misinterpretation or misapplication of 6
a statute, regardless of whether such decision other-7
wise complies with regulations issued by the Sec-8
retary in effect as of the date of such decision. 9
‘‘(3) The misinterpretation or misapplication of 10
an unambiguous regulation, regardless of whether 11
such decision otherwise complies with the regulations 12
described in paragraph (2).’’; 13
(7) By adding at the end the following new sec-14
tion (and conforming the table of chapters at the be-15
ginning of such chapter accordingly): 16
‘‘§ 7114. Program to establish electronic case manage-17
ment and filing system 18
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish an 19
electronic filing and case management system for the pur-20
poses of processing appeals under this chapter. 21
‘‘(b) E
LEMENTS.—The system required by subsection 22
(a) shall include— 23
‘‘(1) an internet database of documents relating 24
to appeals under this chapter; 25
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‘‘(2) subject to subsection (d), a mechanism by 1
which attorneys approved by the Office of the Gen-2
eral Counsel of the Department to represent a vet-3
eran before the Board of Veterans Appeals may ac-4
cess such internet database to an extent the Sec-5
retary determines appropriate; and 6
‘‘(3) a mechanism by which a veteran, or the 7
attorney or representative of a veteran, can submit 8
to the Board of Veterans Appeals documents relat-9
ing to an appeal under this chapter, in portable doc-10
ument format or other commercially available for-11
mat, through such internet database. 12
‘‘(c) T
RAINING.—Not later than one year after the 13
date on which the Secretary establishes the program re-14
quired by subsection (a), the Secretary shall make avail-15
able to attorneys described in subsection (b)(2) training 16
on such program. 17
‘‘(d) C
ERTIFICATION OF GOODSTANDING.—As a 18
condition of access to the internet database described in 19
subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may require an attorney 20
to provide to the Secretary a certificate of good standing 21
from a State court or Federal district court. 22
‘‘(e) R
EQUIREDCONSIDERATION.—In carrying out 23
subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider the case man-24
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agement/electronic filing system (CM/ECF) administered 1
by United States District Courts.’’. 2
(d) D
ISCLOSURE OFCERTAINMEDICALRECORDS.— 3
Section 7332(b)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is 4
amended by adding at the end the following new subpara-5
graphs: 6
‘‘(J) To the patient, and the attorney of such 7
patient, if any, for the purposes of using such record 8
in connection with an appeal under chapter 71 of 9
this title. 10
‘‘(K) To the Court of Appeals for Veterans 11
Claims, for purposes of filing an appeal under chap-12
ter 72 of this title.’’. 13
(e) D
EADLINE FORCERTAINMECHANISM.—The Sec-14
retary of Veterans Affairs shall establish the mechanism 15
described in paragraph (3) of subsection (b) of section 16
7112 of title 38, United States Code, as added by sub-17
section (c)(7), by not later than 180 after the date of the 18
enactment of this Act. 19
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES 20
COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS 21
AND UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 22
FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT. 23
(a) U
NITEDSTATESCOURT OFAPPEALS FORVET-24
ERANSCLAIMS.— 25
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(1) EXPANSION.—Section 502 of title 38, 1
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the 2
Federal Circuit’’ and inserting ‘‘Veterans Claims’’. 3
(2) S
COPE OF REVIEW OF CERTAIN CLAIMS .— 4
Section 7261 of such title is amended— 5
(A) in paragraph (4) of subsection (a), by 6
striking ‘‘clearly erroneous’’ and inserting ‘‘ar-7
bitrary and capricious’’; 8
(B) by striking subsection (c); 9
(C) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-10
section (c); and 11
(D) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), 12
by striking ‘‘shall review only questions raised 13
as to compliance with and the validity of the 14
regulation’’ and inserting ‘‘shall review such de-15
cision and the accompanying findings of fact by 16
trial de novo’’. 17
(b) U
NITEDSTATESCOURT OFAPPEALS FOR THE 18
F
EDERALCIRCUIT.— 19
(1) E
XPANSION.—Section 1295(a) of title 28, 20
United States Code, is amended— 21
(A) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘; and’’; 22
(B) in paragraph (14), by striking the pe-23
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 24
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(C) by adding at the end the following new 1
paragraph: 2
‘‘(15) of an appeal from a final decision of the 3
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans 4
Claims.’’. 5
(2) R
EPEAL OF CERTAIN PROVISION .—Section 6
7292 of title 38, United States Code, is repealed. 7
(3) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 7252 8
of such title is amended by striking subsection (c). 9
Æ
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