Sponsors (3)
The bill makes it substantially easier for many veterans and certain DoD employees to obtain VA health care and benefits for toxic/radiation exposures—improving access and evidence for diagnosis—while increasing federal costs, administrative workload, and raising data-privacy and coverage-gap risks.
Veterans and DoD civilian employees who served at listed DOE sites or the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) gain a presumption of toxic/radiation exposure, making it substantially easier for them to access VA/DoD health care and benefits.
Veterans who served at the NTTR since Jan 27, 1951 are specifically covered (including retroactive periods) and can be identified without needing official stationing proof, lowering barriers to enrollment in VA benefits and outreach.
Improved exposure documentation in the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) gives VA and DoD adjudicators, health care providers, and researchers better data to evaluate claims, diagnose and treat toxic-exposure conditions, and target remediation efforts.
Expanding presumptions and retroactive eligibility is likely to increase VA benefit and health-care expenditures, raising costs for taxpayers and placing added pressure on federal budgets.
A surge of new and retroactive claims from broadened presumptions could strain VA claims-processing, medical, and benefits-delivery capacity, creating needs for more staff, funding, and potentially longer wait times during implementation.
Including extensive medical and exposure data in ILER raises privacy and data-security risks if records are improperly accessed, shared, or breached.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Expands DoD exposure records, presumes toxic exposure for personnel at DOE-listed facilities and Nevada Test and Training Range locations, and adds VA presumptions for radiation and certain tumors.
Introduced July 9, 2025 by Jacklyn Sheryl Rosen · Last progress July 9, 2025
Expands Department of Defense exposure records, creates presumptions that certain service members and DoD civilian employees were exposed to toxic substances, and adds new VA presumptions for radiation-related service and certain tumor conditions tied to the Nevada Test and Training Range and locations on the DOE list. It requires DoD to mark service records for potential toxic-exposure locations, give DoD and VA medical staff and researchers access to expanded exposure records, and directs the Air Force to identify personnel who served at the Nevada Test and Training Range since January 27, 1951. The bill ties eligibility for VA benefits to a published DOE list of covered facilities and to locations at the Nevada Test and Training Range where toxic exposure potentially occurred, expands what counts as a radiation-risk activity, and creates a limited presumption that lipomas and tumor-related conditions are service connected for veterans covered by the new Nevada-range presumption.