A bill to amend section 7105 of title 38, United States Code, to clarify the requirements for notices of disagreement for appellate review of Department of Veterans Affairs activities.

Provides that, if a veteran claimant's filing of a notice of disagreement (a notice of the belief that a veteran's claim decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs is incorrect, together with a request for its appeal) meets minimum statutory requirements, then the notice will be deemed a notice of disagreement with full rights of appeal through the Board of Veterans' Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, notwithstanding its rejection by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Allows for the reevaluation of notices which were found to be defective during the period beginning on March 15, 2002, and ending on the date of enactment of this Act.

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1360 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1360

 To amend section 7105 of title 38, United States Code, to clarify the 
   requirements for notices of disagreement for appellate review of 
               Department of Veterans Affairs activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 26, 2003

 Mr. Graham of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' AffairsYYYYYYY

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 7105 of title 38, United States Code, to clarify the 
   requirements for notices of disagreement for appellate review of 
               Department of Veterans Affairs activities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CLARIFICATION OF NOTICE OF DISAGREEMENT FOR APPELLATE REVIEW 
              OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Clarification.--Section 7105(b) of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(3) A document that meets the requirements of the second sentence 
of paragraph (1) and the first sentence of paragraph (2) shall be 
recognized as a notice of disagreement for purposes of this section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--(1) Except as specifically provided otherwise, 
paragraph (3) of section 7105(b) of title 38, United States Code (as 
added by subsection (a) of this section), shall apply to any document--
            (A) filed under section 7105 of such title on or after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act; or
            (B) filed under section 7105 of such title before the date 
        of the enactment of this Act and not rejected by the Secretary 
        of Veterans Affairs as a notice of disagreement pursuant to 
        section 20.201 of title 38, Code of Federal Regulations, as of 
        that date.
    (2) In the case of a document described in paragraph (3) of this 
subsection, the Secretary shall, upon the request of the claimant or 
the Secretary's own motion, order the document treated as a notice of 
disagreement under section 7105 of such title as if the document had 
not been rejected by the Secretary as a notice of disagreement pursuant 
to section 20.201 of title 38, Code of Federal Regulations.
    (3) A document described in this paragraph is a document that--
            (A) was filed as a notice of disagreement under section 
        7105 of such title during the period beginning on March 15, 
        2002, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act; and
            (B) was rejected by the Secretary as a notice of 
        disagreement pursuant to section 20.201 of title 38, Code of 
        Federal Regulations.
    (4) A document may not be treated as a notice of disagreement under 
paragraph (2) unless a request for such treatment is filed by the 
claimant, or a motion is made by the Secretary, not later than one year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>