[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7153 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7153


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 18 (legislative day, May 17), 2022

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a 
 plan to modernize the information technology systems of the Veterans 
            Benefits Administration, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Principles of Benefits Automation Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
should increase automation in the processing of claims for benefits 
under the laws administered by the Secretary in accordance with the 
following principles:
            (1) The purpose of automation should be to increase the 
        speed and accuracy of claims processing decisions.
            (2) Automation should be conducted in a manner that 
        enhances the productivity of employees of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs.
            (3) Automation should be carried out in a manner that 
        achieves greater consistency in the processing and rating of 
        claims by relying on patterns of similar evidence in claim 
        files.
            (4) To the greatest extent possible, automation should be 
        carried out by drawing from information in the possession of 
        the Department, other Government agencies, and claimants for 
        benefits.
            (5) Automation of any claims process or determination 
        should not be end-to-end.
            (6) Employees of the Department should continue to make 
        decisions with respect to the approval of claims and the 
        granting of benefits.
            (7) Automation should not be carried out in a manner that 
        reduces or infringes upon--
                    (A) the due process rights of claimants for 
                benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary; 
                or
                    (B) the duties of the Secretary to assist and 
                notify claimants.
            (8) Automation should be carried out while taking all 
        necessary measures to protect the privacy of claimants and 
        their personally identifiable information.
            (9) Automation of claims processing should not eliminate or 
        reduce the Veterans Benefits Administration workforce.

SEC. 3. PLAN FOR MODERNIZATION OF VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 
              INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to appropriate congressional committees a plan for the modernization of 
the information technology systems of the Veterans Benefits 
Administration. The plan shall cover the first fiscal year that begins 
after the date of the enactment of this Act and the subsequent four 
fiscal years and shall include each of the following:
            (1) An identification of any information system to be 
        modernized or retired, if applicable, during the period covered 
        by the plan.
            (2) A description of how the Secretary intends to 
        incorporate the principles referred to in section 2 into the 
        modernization of such information systems.
            (3) An identification of targets, for each fiscal year, by 
        which the Secretary intends to complete the modernization of 
        each information system or major component or functionality of 
        such system identified under paragraph (1).
            (4) Cost estimates for the modernization of each 
        information system identified under paragraph (1) for each 
        fiscal year covered by the plan and in total.
    (b) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Subcommittee 
        on Military Construction, Veterans' Affairs, and Related 
        Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Subcommittee 
        on Military Construction, Veterans' Affairs, and Related 
        Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 17, 2022.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.