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VETERANS BENEFITS ACT OF 2002 

S. 2237, AS AMENDED 

S. 2237, as amended, would: 

Title I – Compensation and Benefits Enhancements 

1.      Provide that a surviving spouse, upon remarriage at age 55 or older, would retain eligibility for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA. 

2.      Provide that women veterans who have suffered the anatomical loss of 25 percent or more tissue from a single breast or both breasts in combination (including loss by mastectomy or partial mastectomy) or received radiation treatment of breast tissue may be eligible for special monthly compensation. 

3.      Allow VA to consider partial non-service-connected hearing loss in one ear when rating disability for veterans with service-connected hearing loss, rated at 10 percent or more, in the other ear. 

4.      Authorize VA to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to review and assess hearing loss related to military service. 

Title II – Memorial Affairs 

1.      Prohibit the issuance of Presidential Memorial Certificates, flags, and memorial headstones or grave markers to veterans convicted or fleeing from prosecution of a State or Federal capital crime. 

2.      Eliminate the requirement that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary of the Army be notified of a finding by the Attorney General or the appropriate State official, in cases of persons who are found to have committed capital crimes but who avoided conviction of the crime through flight or death preceding prosecution. 

3.      Provide that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall furnish a government marker to those families who request one for the marked grave of a veteran buried at a private cemetery, who died on or after September 11, 2001 (Public Law 107-103 applied to veterans who died on or after December 27, 2001). 

4.      Authorize the Secretary of the Army to place in Arlington National Cemetery a new memorial marker honoring veterans who fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. 

Title III – Other Matters 

1.      Increase funding for State approving agencies to $14 million in fiscal year 2003, $18 million in fiscal year 2004, $18 million in fiscal year 2005, $19 million in fiscal year 2006, and $19 million in fiscal year 2007. 

2.      Allow veterans over the age of 70 to continue coverage under Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance. 

3.      Authorize VA to guaranty hybrid adjustable rate mortgages for a period of two years.   

4.      Increase the Medal of Honor special pension from $600 to $1,000 per month, beginning

October 1, 2003.  The pension amount would be adjusted annually to maintain the value of the pension in the face of the rising cost of living.  The recipient would receive a one-time, lump-sum payment in the amount of special pension the recipient would have received between the date of the act of valor and the date that the recipient’s pension actually commenced. 

5.      Provide coverage under the provisions of the Soldiers’ and Sailors Civil Relief Act

of 1940 to  members of the National Guard who are called to active service for more than 30 consecutive days under section 502(f) of title 32, United States Code, to respond to a national emergency.  

6.      Extend the authority of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to furnish income information to VA from IRS records so that VA might determine eligibility for VA needs-based pension, parents dependency and indemnity compensation, and priority for VA health-care services to September 30, 2008. 

7.      Increase the loan fee for assumptions for fiscal year 2003 from 0.50 percent to 1.0 percent. 

Title IV – Judicial Matters 

8.      Make jurisdictional and scope of review changes for the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and authorize payment of reasonable fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act to certain non-attorney practitioners before the Court. 

EFFECTIVE DATE:  Date of enactment except the following sections: 

Sec. 101(b):  50 percent effective June 1, 2003

                      100 percent effective December 2007

Sec. 203:  September 11, 2001

Sec. 301:  October 1, 2002

Sec. 304(a) and (b): September 1, 2003

Sec. 308(c):  December 28, 2001

Sec. 308(e):  November 1, 2000 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 

April 24, 2002:  Referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

June 6, 2002:  Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

August 1, 2002:  Reported to the Senate with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and an amendment to the Title, with written report number 107-234.

September 26, 2002:  Passed the Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by unanimous consent.

September 30, 2002:  Received in the House.

November 15, 2002:  The Majority Leader asked unanimous consent that the House agree with amendments to the Senate bill. Agreed to without objection.

November 18, 2002:  Senate concurred in the House amendments to the Senate bill by unanimous consent.

December 6, 2002:  Signed by the President, Public Law 107-330.