| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1311 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter into an agreement |
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| 6 | 6 | | with a federally funded research and development center for an assess- |
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| 7 | 7 | | ment of notice letters that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits |
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| 8 | 8 | | under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 10 | 10 | | APRIL5 (legislative day, APRIL4), 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. B |
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| 12 | 12 | | ANKSintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred |
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| 13 | 13 | | to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to seek to enter |
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| 16 | 16 | | into an agreement with a federally funded research and |
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| 17 | 17 | | development center for an assessment of notice letters |
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| 18 | 18 | | that the Secretary sends to claimants for benefits under |
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| 19 | 19 | | laws administered by the Secretary, and for other pur- |
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| 20 | 20 | | poses. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 22 | 22 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 24 | 24 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clear Communication 4 |
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| 25 | 25 | | for Veterans Claims Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | •S 1311 IS |
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| 29 | 29 | | SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF NOTICES THAT THE 1 |
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| 30 | 30 | | SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SENDS 2 |
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| 31 | 31 | | TO CLAIMANTS. 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (a) A |
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| 33 | 33 | | GREEMENT.—Not later than 30 days after the 4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | a federally funded research and development center 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (FFRDC) for an assessment of notices that the Secretary 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | sends to claimants. 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (b) A |
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| 40 | 40 | | SSESSMENT.—A federally funded research and 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | development center that enters to an agreement under 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary a written as-12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | sessment of such notices. The assessment shall include the 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | following: 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (1) The determination of the federally funded 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | research and development center, made in consulta-16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | tion with covered entities, whether each such notice 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | may be feasibly altered to reduce paper consumption 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | by, and costs to, the Federal Government. 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (2) The recommendations of the federally fund-20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ed research and development center regarding how 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | the Secretary may make such notices clearer to 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | claimants, better organized, and more concise. 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (c) R |
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| 55 | 55 | | EPORT; IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 90 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | days after the Secretary receives the assessment under 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 26 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •S 1311 IS |
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| 61 | 61 | | (1) submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | Affairs of the House of Representatives a copy of 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | such assessment; and 4 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (2) commence implementing the recommenda-5 |
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| 66 | 66 | | tions in the assessment that are in compliance with 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | the laws administered by the Secretary. 7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (d) D |
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| 69 | 69 | | EADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | retary shall complete the implementation required by sub-9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | section (c)(2) by not later than one year after the date 10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | on which the Secretary commences such implementation. 11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (e) D |
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| 74 | 74 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (1) C |
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| 76 | 76 | | OVERED ENTITIES.—The term ‘‘covered 13 |
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| 77 | 77 | | entities’’ includes— 14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (A) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 15 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (B) an expert in laws administered by the 16 |
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| 80 | 80 | | Secretary of Veterans Affairs; 17 |
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| 81 | 81 | | (C) a veterans service organization recog-18 |
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| 82 | 82 | | nized under section 5902 of title 38, United 19 |
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| 83 | 83 | | States Code; 20 |
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| 84 | 84 | | (D) an entity that advocates for veterans; 21 |
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| 85 | 85 | | and 22 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (E) an entity that advocates for the sur-23 |
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| 87 | 87 | | vivors of veterans. 24 |
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| 90 | 90 | | •S 1311 IS |
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| 91 | 91 | | (2) CLAIMANT AND NOTICE .—The terms 1 |
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| 92 | 92 | | ‘‘claimant’’ and ‘‘notice’’ have the meanings given 2 |
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| 93 | 93 | | such terms in section 5100 of title 38, United States 3 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Code. 4 |
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| 95 | 95 | | Æ |
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