§1172 Annual Notice and Opportunity for Public Comment

Summary

Publish a yearly notice in the Federal Register listing the formal evaluations the Department plans to do under section 1173. Each notice must say why each exposure or health problem was chosen. The Department must ask the public for comments, consider all comments, and publish a reply in the Federal Register. For each notice it must hold an open meeting so people can speak. The Department must work with veterans service organizations and other stakeholders at least quarterly and give their advice weight. Leaving an exposure or health effect out of a notice does not stop the Department from starting a formal evaluation anyway. Create a Working Group inside the Department that includes staff from the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefits Administration. The group will advise on cases where a veteran or a veteran’s dependent may have had a toxic exposure during active military, naval, air, or space service. It will track and review exposures using scientific papers, media, reports from veterans, and information from Congress. It will look at known, suspected, and new exposures not covered by current rules that assume a health problem is service-related. The group can act after public comments or meetings and must periodically check the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record with the Secretary of Defense for accuracy. If the group finds research that could change how an exposure relates to health, it may recommend a formal evaluation under section 1173 or nominate evidence to change the times and places covered by an existing presumption. At least once a year the group must send a public report to the Secretary and to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees with its recommendations. After each report, the Secretary must begin a formal evaluation within 30 days.