H.R. 5870 — Introduced in House

I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5870 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 2, 2023Mr. Self (for himself and Mr. McGarvey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to the processing of claims for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the transparency of actions of Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Veteran Appeals Transparency Act of 2023. 2. Options of claimants for benefits under laws administered by Secretary of Veterans Affairs following decision by agency of original jurisdiction Section 5104C(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by striking any of the following and inserting one of the following; and (2) in paragraph (2)(B)— (A) by striking Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a claimant from taking and inserting A claimant may take; (B) by striking in succession; and (C) by striking the period and inserting as long as—; and (D) by adding at the end the following new clauses: (i) the claimant only takes one such action at a time; and (ii) any such action is taken in response to, and not later than one year after, the date of the most recent decision on the claim made by the agency of original jurisdiction . 3. Board of Veterans’ Appeals publication of dates of docket activity Section 7107 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (f) Publication of expected actions On a weekly basis, for each docket, the Board shall publish the docket dates of the cases assigned to a Board member for a decision for that week. .