A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for presumption of service connection to be established by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs for certain diseases of certain veterans exposed to dioxin or radiation during service in the Armed Forces; to require the Administrator to develop, through process of public participation and subject to judicial review, regulations specifying standards for the presumptions applicable to the resolution of claims for disability compensation based on such exposures; to require that such regulations address certain specified diseases; and to require that all claimants for Veterans' Administration benefits be given the benefit of every reasonable doubt in claims adjudications, and for other purposes.
Veterans' Dioxin and Radiation Exposure Compensation Standards Act - Creates, upon the appropriate findings by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs, a presumption of service-connected disability for compensation purposes for any veteran who was exposed to radiation or toxic chemicals while actively serving in the armed forces under specified conditions and who is now suffering from a disability or disorder symptomatic of such exposure. Maintains such presumption even in the absence of records.
Directs the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to establish guidelines and criteria for resolving claims for benefits resulting from a service-connected death or disability based on a veteran's exposure during service on active duty to: (1) herbicides containing dioxin in Vietnam during the Vietnam era; or (2) ionizing radiation from the detonation of a nuclear device, either in connection with testing or the American occupation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Japan, prior to July 1, 1946.
Sets forth procedures for the development of such regulations, including: (1) opportunities for public hearings and comment; and (2) amendment of such regulations upon the annual reporting of the results of the epidemiological study on the effects of exposure to agent orange required by the Veterans' Health Programs Extension and Improvement Act of 1979.
Became Public Law No: 98-542.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans.
Committee on Veterans requested executive comment from VA, OMB.
Senate Committee on Veterans discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on Veterans discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 636.
Committee on Veterans received executive comment from VA.
Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
Senate incorporated this measure in H.R. 1961 as an amendment.
Senate passed companion measure H.R. 1961 in lieu of this measure by Voice Vote.
Indefinitely postponed by Senate by Voice Vote.
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