text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
       This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
  Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2002''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
       Congress finds the following:
              (1) There are over 25,000,000 honorably discharged veterans 
          of the Armed Forces of the United States.
              (2) There are over 500,000 veterans who have claims pending 
          with the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans' benefits, 
          and approximately 100,000 of such claims are over one year old 
          without resolution.
              (3) The Nation's veterans are dying at a rate of over 1,000 
          veterans a day.
              (4) It is the responsibility of the United States 
          Government to live up to the promises to the Nation's veterans 
          that were made and accepted.
              (5) The National Association of County Veterans Service 
          Officers is an organization that includes approximately 2,400 
          full-time employees and whose members are present in 37 States.
              (6) Members of the National Association of County Veterans 
          Service Officers stand ready to partner with the Department of 
          Veterans Affairs in order to eliminate the backlog of claims 
          for veterans' benefits.
  
  SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
  
       In this Act:
              (1) The term ``claimant'' means an individual applying for, 
          or submitting a claim for, any benefit under the laws 
          administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
              (2) The term ``County Veterans Service Officer'' means any 
          person employed by or funded by any county, parish, borough, or 
          territory whose job it is to assist veterans and eligible 
          dependents in the application for, administration of, or 
          receipt of benefits under any Federal, State, or County 
          veterans' benefit program.
              (3) The term ``injury or illness claim'' means a claim for 
          benefits that is documented as being service-connected.
              (4) The term ``presumptive claim'' means a claim for 
          benefits that is presumptively connected to a specific tour of 
          duty or to specific types of military assignment.
              (5) The term ``statutory claims'' means those claims for 
          benefits defined in section 5101 of title 38, United States 
          Code.
              (6) The term ``specific claims'' includes statutory claims, 
          presumptive claims, and injury or illness claims.
              (7) The term ``ready to be rated'' means that there is 
          sufficient information to evaluate the claimed disability and 
          to assign a rating based on degree of disability.
              (8) The term ``State'' has the meaning given that term in 
          section 101(20) of title 38, United States Code.
  
  SEC. 4. REDUCTION OF BACKLOG OF VETERANS' CLAIMS.
  
      (a) Referral of Claims to County Veterans Service Officers.--
              (1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall identify the 
          backlog of veterans' claims as of the date of the enactment of 
          this Act and shall categorize those claims into types of 
          specific claims. As part of such categorization, the Secretary 
          shall identify the pending claims that require development. The 
          Secretary shall refer those claims requiring development to a 
          County Veterans Service Office for development.
              (2) The Secretary shall choose a County Veterans Service 
          Office for development of a claim based upon the office's 
          geographical proximity to the claimant.
              (3) A claim referred to a County Veterans Service Office 
          for development shall be accompanied by specification from the 
  Secretary of the information that is required to develop the claim and 
  the information that is needed to make the claim ready to rate.
      (b) Filing of Claims With County Veterans Service Officers.--Claims 
  for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans 
  Affairs may be submitted to County Veterans Service Officers. Receipt 
  of such a claim by a County Veterans Service Officer under this Act 
  shall be treated for all purposes as receipt of the claim by the 
  Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
  
  SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT OF CLAIMS.
  
      (a) Development of Claims by County Veterans Service Officer.--When 
  a County Veterans Service Officer receives a claim referred under 
  section 4(a) or receives a claim under section 4(b), that officer shall 
  make personal contact with the claimant, explain the situation, and 
  develop the claim.
      (b) Authority to Fully Develop Claim.--A County Veterans Service 
  Officer to whom a claim is referred under section 4(a) or receives a 
  claim under section 4(b) shall have the authority to fully develop the 
  claim and to transmit the claim to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
  when the claim is ready to be rated.
      (c) Procedure.--Once the claim has been fully developed, the claim 
  shall be transmitted back to the Secretary with the information 
  developed in accordance with the specification under section 3(a)(3) 
  and a statement from the County Veterans Service Officer indicating 
  that the claim is ready to rate.
      (d) Fully Developed Claims.--For purposes of this section, a claim 
  shall be considered to be fully developed when the County Veterans 
  Service Officer has obtained all items that that officer determines are 
  necessary to substantiate the claim and all items that the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs has specifically specified to be developed in 
  connection with the claim.
  
  SEC. 6. INFORMATION SHARING.
  
       Veterans' information contained in the Benefits Delivery Network 
  of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be accessible to County 
  Veterans Service Offices in order to provide County Veterans Service 
  Offices with online access to client information contained in the 
  Department of Veterans Affairs database. Such information shall be used 
  by such offices to develop veterans' claims under this Act and for no 
  other purpose.
  
  SEC. 7. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.
  
      (a) In General.--Funding for purposes of this Act shall be 
  allocated by grant to the States based on the population of veterans in 
  the respective States. Funds allocated to a State under this Act shall 
  be directed to County Veterans Service Offices within the State through 
  the State Department of Veterans Affairs (or the equivalent).
      (b) State Overhead.--A State Department of Veterans Affairs may 
  retain from any such grant for any fiscal year an amount equal to the 
  expenses incurred by that State for administrative overhead in 
  administering grants for that year, except that the amount so retained 
  in any fiscal year may not exceed 3 percent of the amount of the grant 
  to that State for that fiscal year.
      (c) Funds for Education and Training.--A portion of the funding 
  received by a State under this Act for any fiscal year, as determined 
  by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in agreement with County Veterans 
  Service Offices, shall be used for County Veterans Service Officers to 
  attend educational programs sponsored by or equivalent to the National 
  Association of County Veterans Service Officers annual continuing 
  education and accreditation training.
      (d) Limitation on Federal Funding.--Federal funds under this Act 
  may not be used to provide more than 50 percent of the total costs for 
  County Veterans Service Offices and shall be used to expand existing 
  programs, not to supplant existing local government funding.
      (e) Establishment of New Cvso Programs.--(1) In the case of a State 
  that as of the date of the enactment of this Act does not have a County 
  Veterans Service Officer program, Federal funding under this Act may be 
  used by units of local government to establish such a program to assist 
  veterans and their dependents in filing applications for veterans 
  benefits and for the purposes specified in this Act.
      (2) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if a unit of local 
  government chooses not to establish a County Veterans Service Officers 
  program as described in that paragraph, the State department of 
  veterans affairs (or the equivalent) may elect to perform the services 
  as specified in this Act for that State.
      (3) In a State covered by paragraph (1), if both units of local 
  government and the State government elect not to use some or all of the 
  funds, the unused amount shall revert back to the Secretary of Veterans 
  Affairs and shall be reallocated to those State department of veterans 
  affairs (or the equivalent) in which County Veterans Service Officers 
  programs exist to further expand services to veterans in those States 
  in support of the veterans claims backlog reduction services under this 
  Act.
  
  SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
  
       There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs to carry out this Act $70,000,000 for each of fiscal 
  years 2003, 2004, and 2005.
target: Department of Veterans Affairs Claims Backlog Reduction Act of 2002 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) identify the current backlog of veterans' claims for benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs and to categorize those claims; and (2) identify claims that need further development and refer them to a geographically appropriate County Veterans Service Office. Allows veterans' claims to be submitted to County Veterans Service Officers (in lieu of the Department) and authorizes the Officers to fully develop such claims. Requires appropriate information sharing between the Department's Benefits Delivery Network and the Offices.Requires funding provided by this Act to be allocated to States based on their respective populations of veterans and allocates such funds to the appropriate Office. Prohibits Federal funding from exceeding 50 percent of the costs of Office operations. Allows funding to be used to establish Officer programs in States that do not have one.
feat_title: To provide for reduction in the backlog of claims for benefits pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs.