Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB831 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 03/27/2025

                            II 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION S. 831 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to improve telephone communication by the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH4, 2025 
Mr. S
ULLIVAN(for himself and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to improve telephone commu-
nication by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Representing VA with 4
Accuracy Act’’ or the ‘‘REP VA Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION 1
BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 38, United 3
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
lowing new section: 5
‘‘§ 6321. Telephone communication 6
‘‘(a) C
ALLSASSOCIATEDWITHDEPARTMENT.—Not 7
later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary shall ensure 8
that any call made to a veteran by an employee or con-9
tractor of the Department regarding services or benefits 10
furnished by the Department— 11
‘‘(1) is made from a single, well-known tele-12
phone number; and 13
‘‘(2) uses caller identification branding that in-14
dicates to the veteran that the call is from or on be-15
half of the Department. 16
‘‘(b) C
ALLCENTERS FORHEALTHCAREAPPOINT-17
MENTS ANDREFERRALS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 19
2026, the Secretary shall ensure that the Veterans 20
Health Administration has at least one call center in 21
each of the time zones specified in paragraph (2) to 22
address concerns regarding appointments and refer-23
rals for health care under the laws administered by 24
the Secretary. 25
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‘‘(2) TIME ZONES SPECIFIED.—The time zones 1
specified in this paragraph are the following: 2
‘‘(A) Eastern time. 3
‘‘(B) Central time. 4
‘‘(C) Mountain time. 5
‘‘(D) Pacific time. 6
‘‘(E) Alaska time. 7
‘‘(F) Hawaii time. 8
‘‘(3) C
LARIFICATION.—The Secretary is not re-9
quired to ensure that the Veterans Health Adminis-10
tration has a call center in any location generally 11
within a time zone specified in paragraph (2) that 12
does not follow daylight time.’’. 13
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14
at the beginning of chapter 63 of such title is amended 15
by adding at the end the following new item: 16
‘‘6321. Telephone communication.’’. 
Æ 
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