| 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. 831 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans |
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| 6 | 6 | | Affairs to improve telephone communication by the Department of Vet- |
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| 7 | 7 | | erans Affairs, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH4, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. S |
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| 11 | 11 | | ULLIVAN(for himself and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; |
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| 12 | 12 | | which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec- |
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| 15 | 15 | | retary of Veterans Affairs to improve telephone commu- |
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| 16 | 16 | | nication by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and |
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| 17 | 17 | | for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Representing VA with 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Accuracy Act’’ or the ‘‘REP VA Act’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Mar 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S831.IS S831 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •S 831 IS |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION 1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (a) I |
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| 29 | 29 | | NGENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 38, United 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | lowing new section: 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | ‘‘§ 6321. Telephone communication 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ‘‘(a) C |
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| 34 | 34 | | ALLSASSOCIATEDWITHDEPARTMENT.—Not 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary shall ensure 8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | that any call made to a veteran by an employee or con-9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | tractor of the Department regarding services or benefits 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | furnished by the Department— 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | ‘‘(1) is made from a single, well-known tele-12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | phone number; and 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘(2) uses caller identification branding that in-14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | dicates to the veteran that the call is from or on be-15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | half of the Department. 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ‘‘(b) C |
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| 45 | 45 | | ALLCENTERS FORHEALTHCAREAPPOINT-17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | MENTS ANDREFERRALS.— 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 48 | 48 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | 2026, the Secretary shall ensure that the Veterans 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | Health Administration has at least one call center in 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | each of the time zones specified in paragraph (2) to 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | address concerns regarding appointments and refer-23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | rals for health care under the laws administered by 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | the Secretary. 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •S 831 IS |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘(2) TIME ZONES SPECIFIED.—The time zones 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | specified in this paragraph are the following: 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘‘(A) Eastern time. 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(B) Central time. 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(C) Mountain time. 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(D) Pacific time. 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ‘‘(E) Alaska time. 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ‘‘(F) Hawaii time. 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(3) C |
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| 67 | 67 | | LARIFICATION.—The Secretary is not re-9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | quired to ensure that the Veterans Health Adminis-10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | tration has a call center in any location generally 11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | within a time zone specified in paragraph (2) that 12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | does not follow daylight time.’’. 13 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (b) C |
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| 73 | 73 | | LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | at the beginning of chapter 63 of such title is amended 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | by adding at the end the following new item: 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | ‘‘6321. Telephone communication.’’. |
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| 77 | 77 | | Æ |
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| 79 | 79 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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