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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Mar 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S831.IS S831 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 831 IS SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION 1 BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 2 (a) I NGENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 38, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-4 lowing new section: 5 ‘‘§ 6321. Telephone communication 6 ‘‘(a) C ALLSASSOCIATEDWITHDEPARTMENT.—Not 7 later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary shall ensure 8 that any call made to a veteran by an employee or con-9 tractor of the Department regarding services or benefits 10 furnished by the Department— 11 ‘‘(1) is made from a single, well-known tele-12 phone number; and 13 ‘‘(2) uses caller identification branding that in-14 dicates to the veteran that the call is from or on be-15 half of the Department. 16 ‘‘(b) C ALLCENTERS FORHEALTHCAREAPPOINT-17 MENTS ANDREFERRALS.— 18 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 19 2026, the Secretary shall ensure that the Veterans 20 Health Administration has at least one call center in 21 each of the time zones specified in paragraph (2) to 22 address concerns regarding appointments and refer-23 rals for health care under the laws administered by 24 the Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Mar 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S831.IS S831 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 831 IS ‘‘(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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Mar 18, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S831.IS S831 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB