Veterans' Compensation and Benefits Improvement Act of 1985

Summary

Veterans' Compensation and Benefits Improvement Act of 1985 - Title I: Disability Compensation and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation - Amends Federal law to increase the rates of: (1) veterans' disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for dependents; (3) the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans; (4) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and for children; and (5) supplemental dependency and indemnity compensation for children. Expresses the sense of the Congress that any payments by the Veterans Administration (VA) to veterans as compensation for service-connected disabilities should remain exempt from Federal income taxation. Title II: Educational Assistance Program Improvements - Amends Federal law to limit on a ratio basis the amount of the monthly educational assistance payable to an individual pursuing a program of apprenticeship or other on-job training who fails to complete 120 hours of such training in any one month. Reduces by 50 percent any such assistance after the twelfth month of the individual's pursuit of such program. Adjusts the delimiting period for individuals entitled to certain combined educational assistance benefits by adding the requirement that such individuals must have been on active duty without a break in service since October 19, 1984. Reduces the ten-year delimiting period of eligibility for such assistance by any amount of time not served on active duty during the period between January 1, 1977, and October 18, 1984. Provides entitlement to educational assistance through correspondence courses. Makes clerical amendments to various veterans' benefits provisions. Limits on a ratio basis the amount of the monthly educational assistance allowance payable to post-Vietnam era veterans pursuing a program of apprenticeship or other on-job training who fail to complete 120 hours of such training in any one month. Reduces by 50 percent the amount of any such assistance available after the twelfth month of the individual's pursuit of such program. Revises administrative provisions of the basic educational assistance program. Terminates a veteran's eligibility for educational assistance benefits ten years after the date of such veteran's last discharge or release from active duty. Authorizes the granting of an extension of such delimiting period for veterans who were prevented from initiating or completing a program of education within the delimiting period because of a physical or mental disability which was not the result of the veterans' own willful misconduct. Requires a veteran to undergo educational and vocational counseling before selecting a program of education in any case in which the Administrator of Veterans Affairs has rated the veteran as being incompetent. Authorizes an appropriate continuance in a veteran's eligibility for educational assistance for those veterans who were delayed in initiating or completing a program of education because of a delay in determining such person's eligibility for educational assistance. Authorizes the Administrator to arrange for educational or vocational counseling for persons eligible for benefits. Revises Federal provisions relating to the payment of veterans' educational assistance to authorize payments to veterans enrolled in programs not leading to a standard college degree in certain instances. Prohibits a veteran from receiving educational assistance benefits under more than one educational assistance program. Authorizes the Administrator, in the case of a program of independent study pursued on a less-than-half-time basis at an educational institution, to approve a delay by the institution in certain reporting requirements until the end of the term, semester, or quarter. Allows an educational institution to certify the enrollment of a veteran for more than one term, semester, or quarter at a time but not for a period extending beyond the end of a school year. States that such provision does not apply to a veteran or other eligible person enrolled on a less than half-time basis. Establishes a Commission on Veterans' Education Policy (the Commission). Requires the Commission, no later than 18 months after the date on which at least eight members of the Commission have been appointed, to submit a report on the Commission's findings and recommendations to the Administrator and to specified congressional committees. Outlines the information to be included in such report. Requires the Administrator, no later than six months after receipt of the Commission's report, to submit an interim report to such committees with views concerning the Commission's report. Requires the Commission, no later than 90 days after its receipt of the Administrator's interim report, to report back to the Administrator and such committees on their view of the Administrator's report. Requires the Administrator, no later than two years after the date of the Commission's original report, to submit a final report to such committees. Outlines the information to be included in such report. Terminates the Commission 90 days after the Administrator submits the final report. Title III: Specially Adapted Housing and Home Loan Guaranty Program Improvements - Revises Federal veterans' home loans provisions to provide assistance to veterans with service-connected disabilities in acquiring a residence already adapted with special features considered necessary for such veteran. Requires the Administrator to prescribe regulations and standards for determining the credit standing and other factors associated with veterans receiving home loan guarantees. Outlines provisions to be included in the determination of such loan underwriting standards. Requires any lender submitting a loan to the Administrator which is to be guaranteed to certify that it has complied with certain credit information and loan processing standards. Provides civil penalties for false certifications made by lenders. Authorizes the Administrator to waive such prescribed credit underwriting standards in extraordinary circumstances. Prohibits the Administrator from making a loan to finance a purchase of property acquired by the Administrator as a result of a default on a loan guaranteed under these provisions unless the purchaser meets the established credit underwriting standards. Increases the amount of home loan guaranty entitlement for each veteran from $27,500 to $33,500. Requires the holder of a loan guarantee to promptly notify the Administrator of any failure of the debtor to make two consecutive monthly payments due on the loan. Requires the holder to initiate foreclosure within 15 days after the date on which the veteran has failed to make four consecutive monthly payments on a guaranteed loan. Provides for loss of interest payments by the Administrator to any holders of loans who fail to follow the required notification and foreclosure procedures. Requires the Administrator to compile information on common factors contributing to foreclosures on guaranteed loans and submit such findings in the annual report to the Congress. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the direct loan revolving fund to the loan guaranty revolving fund such amounts as the Administrator determines are not needed in the direct loan revolving fund. Requires the Administrator to submit a notice of any such transfer to the appropriate committees of the Congress within 30 days of such transfer. Requires the Administrator to: (1) prescribe standardize examinations on appraising and uniform qualifications for appraisers; (2) use such examinations and qualifications in determining whether to approve an appraiser; and (3) develop and maintain a list of approved appraisers for the veterans' home loan guaranty program. Directs the Administrator to select appraisers from such list on a rotating basis, and to furnish a copy of the appraisal to the lender proposing to make the loan which is to be guaranteed under the home loan guaranty program. Requires the Administrator to take into consideration both the initial appraisal and any additional appraisal furnished to the Administrator by the proposed lender in making a determination of reasonable property value. Requires the Administrator to establish appropriate appraisal fee limitations. Requires the Administrator to provide real estate brokers and other real estate sales professionals information on the availability of real property for disposition by the VA under these provisions and the procedures used by the VA to dispose of such property. Directs the Administrator, within 90 days after the enactment of this Act, to establish the Task Force on Management and Disposition of Property (the Task Force) whose purpose will be to: (1) exchange information between the VA and the real estate industry on efficient and current real property management and disposition practices; and (2) advise the Administrator on ways to improve the manner in which the VA manages and disposes of real property acquired via foreclosures. Requires the Administrator to regularly consult with and seek the advice of the Task Force on pertinent matters. Directs the Task Force, not later than 16 months after the date on which it is established, to report to the Administrator on its activities during the preceding year. Directs the Task Force to also submit to the Administrator a final report no later than the day before the Task Force terminates. Authorizes the Task Force to submit other reports as appropriate. Directs the Administrator, no later than 60 days after receipt of the Task Force's first report, to submit such report, together with comments and recommendations, to specified congressional committees. Terminates the Task Force three years after the date on which it is established. Directs the Administrator, during the period beginning on April 1, 1986, and ending on September 30, 1987, to conduct a pilot program under which the Administrator shall contract with one or more qualified commercial organizations for the performance of VA property management and disposal functions. Outlines action to be taken by the Administrator as part of such pilot program. Directs the Administrator, no later than February 1, 1988, to submit to specified congressional committees a report on the experience under the pilot program. Outlines information to be included in such report. Title IV: National Cemetery System - Amends the national cemeteries and memorials provisions of Federal law to require the Administrator to designate a section in each national cemetery for the burial of eligible persons in graves marked with an upright marker. Requires persons (or their survivors) requesting upright markers to be buried in such a section. Provides that all other markers in a national cemetery shall be flat markers. Directs the Administrator, no later than 18 months after the enactment of this Act, and also no later than five years after such date, to report to specified congressional committees on the National Cemetery System. Outlines information to be included in each such report. Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to set aside suitable areas in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, to honor members of the armed forces and veterans: (1) who are missing in action; (2) whose remains have not been recovered or identified; (3) whose remains were buried at sea; (4) whose remains were donated to science; or (5) whose remains were cremated and whose ashes were scattered without internment of any portion thereof. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends veterans' administrative provisions to define the term "detailed plan and justification" which is a plan required of the Administrator before certain administrative reorganizations of VA facilities may occur. Redefines "Vietnam era" for purposes of eligibility for veterans' benefits of individuals who served during such era. Prohibits any payments made to a veteran for participation in a therapeutic or rehabilitative activity from being considered annual income for purposes of pension entitlements for such veterans. Directs the Administrator, no later than February 1, 1986, to establish an advisory committee to conduct an evaluation to determine the extent to which the programs and other activities of the VA meet the needs of veterans who are Native Americans, including Alaska Natives. Outlines information to be included in such evaluation. Directs the advisory committee, no later than August 1, 1987, to report its findings and recommendations to the Administrator. Requires various other reports concerning such Native Americans. Directs the Administrator, no later than June 1, 1986, to report to specified congressional committees a plan for collocating at least seven regional offices of the VA with VA medical centers on the grounds of such medical centers. Outlines information to be included in such plan. Requires the Administrator to arrange for an epidemiological study of any long-term adverse gender-specific health effects on women veterans of Vietnam as a result of: (1) traumatic experiences; (2) exposure to herbicides such as Agent Orange or to other chemicals or medications; or (3) any other similar experience or exposure during such service. Requires the Administrator to notify the appropriate congressional committees if it is determined that such a study is not feasible. Requires the Director of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), if the Administrator makes such a negative determination, to report within 60 days of such determination to the same congressional committees evaluating and commenting on such determination. Requires any such study to be conducted in accordance with a protocol approved by the Director of OTA. Requires various reports concerning such studies between the Director, the Administrator, and the appropriate congressional committees. Requires the Administrator, within 90 days after the submission of each such report, to publish in the Federal Register any actions proposed by the Administrator with respect to programs administered by the VA.

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3 official files

• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 15 August 1986

  Open at official source

• Passed Senate amended

  summary · EN · 2 December 1985

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 26 November 1985

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