Sponsors (2)
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to set up systems and rules to catch and fix avoidable delays and improve the quality and consistency of decisions on veterans’ claims. It directs the VA to notify employees when they make avoidable deferrals, to study and report where the VA Office of General Counsel can provide clearer or more consistent legal opinions, and to establish Board and VA programs for quality assurance, training, reporting on remands, and error notifications — with required reports and many actions due within one year of enactment.
Develop policies, procedures, and technological capabilities so that each Veterans Benefits Administration employee who commits an avoidable deferral on a claim in the National Work Queue is notified of any avoidable deferrals that employee commits with respect to the same claim.
Complete a study, in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Chairman of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, to identify (A) issues where an OGC opinion would foster consistency in Secretary decisions on claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary and (B) issues raised in appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (filed before enactment) where OGC has given inconsistent opinions in matters involving substantially similar questions of law or fact.
Submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report that includes (A) the findings of the required study, (B) a statement of which issues identified the OGC intends to publish an opinion on, and (C) a timeline for publication of any such opinion.
Add a program to ensure quality in Board of Veterans’ Appeals decisions. The Chairman must develop policies and procedures for measuring quality; maintain data and identify trends on errors (including errors in decisions remanded/returned by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and members whose decisions were vacated); and ensure remand decisions are necessary under law or regulation.
Under that quality program, ensure that, to the maximum extent practicable, any error identified by the Board is corrected before the Board issues the final decision associated with the error.
Primary effects fall on VA staff who adjudicate and manage claims, Board of Veterans' Appeals members and staff, the VA Office of the General Counsel, veterans who file claims and appeals, and congressional oversight committees. Requiring employee notification of avoidable deferrals and adding quality-assurance and training programs should reduce preventable delays and inconsistent decisions, improving timeliness and reliability of claim resolutions for veterans. The OGC study and publication timeline aim to make legal guidance more consistent, which can reduce divergent application of law across appeals and lower remand rates. Implementation will increase VA administrative workload (IT changes, drafting and publishing OGC opinions, establishing training and QA programs, and preparing reports to Congress). Because the measure does not specify additional funding, VA may need to redirect existing resources to meet deadlines, potentially stretching current staff unless Congress provides appropriations later. No changes to veterans’ benefits eligibility or payments are made; the changes are procedural and administrative, improving process, transparency, and accountability.
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Last progress June 12, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on June 12, 2025 by Morgan Luttrell