I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2201
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve claims, made under
laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, regarding mili-
tary sexual trauma, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH18, 2025
Mrs. K
IM(for herself, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. BACON, and Ms. HOULAHAN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet-
erans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve claims,
made under laws administered by the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs, regarding military sexual trauma, 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 ‘‘Improving VA Train-4
ing for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act’’. 5
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•HR 2201 IH
SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF CLAIMS BASED ON MILITARY 1
SEXUAL TRAUMA UNDER LAWS ADMINIS-2
TERED BY THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AF-3
FAIRS. 4
(a) T
RAINING FOREMPLOYEESWHOPROCESSSUCH 5
C
LAIMS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 7
1166 of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 8
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘mem-9
bers of teams established under subsection (a) 10
are trained’’ and inserting ‘‘each employee of 11
the Department who processes such a claim, 12
communicates with a claimant regarding evi-13
dence supporting such a claim, or decides such 14
a claim, receives annual sensitivity training and 15
training’’; and 16
(B) by adding at the end the following new 17
paragraphs: 18
‘‘(4) The Secretary shall ensure that training received 19
by an employee under this subsection is appropriate for 20
how much experience the employee has with such claims. 21
‘‘(5) The Secretary shall update training under this 22
subsection not less than once annually.’’. 23
(2) R
EPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 24
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 25
Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on 26
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•HR 2201 IH
Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Rep-1
resentatives a report regarding— 2
(A) training provided under such sub-3
section before such date; and 4
(B) plans of the Secretary to carry out the 5
amendments made by paragraph (1). 6
(b) E
XPANSION OFDUTY TOASSIST INOBTAINING 7
R
ECORDS FOR A COMPENSATION CLAIM.—Section 8
5103A(c) of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 9
(1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-10
graph (3); and 11
(2) by inserting, after paragraph (1), the fol-12
lowing new paragraph (2): 13
‘‘(2) In the case of a claim under section 1166 of 14
this title, the assistance provided by the Secretary under 15
this section shall include— 16
‘‘(A) if there is no credible supporting evidence 17
of a military sexual trauma in the evidence of 18
record, obtaining the service personnel record of the 19
claimant; and 20
‘‘(B) obtaining the service medical record of the 21
claimant.’’. 22
(c) S
ENSITIVITYTRAINING FOR CERTAINCON-23
TRACTEDHEALTHCAREPROFESSIONALS: REPORT; IM-24
PROVEMENTS.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 25
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•HR 2201 IH
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Af-1
fairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 2
of the Senate and House of Representatives a report on— 3
(1) sensitivity training required for health care 4
professionals (including individuals who commu-5
nicate with veterans to schedule examinations), con-6
tracted under section 504 of the Veterans’ Benefits 7
Improvements Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–275; 8
38 U.S.C. 5101 note), to perform examinations of 9
veterans who make claims under section 1166 of 10
title 38, United States Code; and 11
(2) the plan of the Secretary to— 12
(A) improve such sensitivity training; and 13
(B) ensure that a veteran who makes such 14
a claim is not retraumatized during such an ex-15
amination by such a contracted health care pro-16
fessional. 17
Æ
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