US Congress House Bill 1359 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on March 2 2017 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2017-03-23 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
Pending: House Subcommittee on Military Personnel Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Arla Harrell Act This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reconsider and make a new determination regarding each claim for disability compensation in connection with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during active military, naval, or air service during World War II that was denied before this bill's enactment. The VA or the Department of Defense (DOD): (1) shall presume that a veteran experienced full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite unless proven otherwise; and (2) may not use information contained in the DOD and VA Chemical Biological Warfare Database or any list of known testing sites for mustard gas or lewisite maintained by the VA or DOD as the sole reason for determining that the veteran did not experience such exposure. The VA shall report to Congress every 90 days on reconsidered claims that were denied. The VA and DOD shall jointly establish a policy for processing future claims in connection with such exposure. The bill requires DOD, for purposes of determining whether a site should be added to the list of DOD sites where mustard gas or lewisite testing occurred, to: (1) investigate and assess sites where the Army Corps of Engineers has uncovered evidence of mustard gas or lewisite testing or where more than two veterans submitted claims in connection with exposure that were denied; and (2) report on experiments conducted by DOD during World War II to assess the effects of mustard gas and lewisite. The VA shall: (1) investigate and assess VA actions to reach out to individuals who had been exposed in such experiments, the disability compensation claims that were filed, and the percentage of such claims that were denied; and (2) submit a comprehensive list of each location where such an experiment was conducted.

Arla Harrell Act

Rep. Jackie Walorski [R-IN]	Rep. Kathleen Rice [D-NY]	Rep. Ryan Costello [R-PA]	Sen. Lisa Rochester [D-DE]
Rep. Sam Graves [R-MO]

Date	Chamber	Action
2017-03-23	House	Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
2017-03-09	House	Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
2017-03-02	House	Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2017-03-02	House	Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2017-03-02	House	Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2017-03-02	House	Introduced in House

SB75 (Same As) 2017-06-15 - Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1359/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr1359/BILLS-115hr1359ih.pdf