To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act establishes the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access inside VA. The committee has 15 voting members appointed by the Secretary: four veterans with disabilities, four accessibility experts, two VA employees from the Section 508 Office and Architectural Accessibility Program, and five veterans service organization representatives. It also includes ex officio members from the VA health, benefits, and memorial affairs offices and the U.S. Access Board. The committee advises on accessibility of VA information, benefits, services, facilities, community-care provider facilities, procurement, information technology, and compliance with the ADA, Rehabilitation Act sections 501, 504, and 508, Plain Writing Act, 21st Century IDEA, and Architectural Barriers Act.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans with mobility, hearing, visual, mental, or cognitive disabilities; veterans service organizations; VA patients using community care; VA employees with disabilities; caregivers; accessibility experts; and congressional veterans committees benefit from a standing forum that can identify access barriers, review complaints and facility assessments, recommend corrective actions, and push VA procurement toward accessible products and information technology.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA Section 508 Office, Architectural Accessibility Program, Under Secretary for Health, Under Secretary for Benefits, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, VA facility managers, community-care administrators, procurement offices, and committee-support staff must appoint members, fill vacancies within 180 days, hold at least two meetings each year, support subcommittees, consult regularly, gather accessibility data, and respond to recommendations. The separate pension provision also extends administration of a nursing-facility payment limitation through January 31, 2032.
Key Provisions
- Establishes the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access as a VA advisory committee on disability accessibility.
- Requires 15 voting members, including veterans with mobility, hearing, visual, mental, or cognitive disabilities, accessibility experts, VA Section 508 and architectural accessibility employees, and VSO representatives.
- Requires ex officio participation by VA health, benefits, memorial affairs leadership and the U.S. Access Board.
- Requires advice on VA information, services, benefits, facilities, community-care facilities, procurement, IT, and compliance with major accessibility statutes.
- Requires assessment of disability access needs, review of complaints and facility assessments, recommendations, meetings, subcommittees, quorum rules, and chair selection.
- Extends the title 38 nursing-facility pension payment limitation date from November 30, 2031 to January 31, 2032.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a 15-member Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access to advise VA on disability accessibility across information, services, benefits, facilities, community-care facilities, procurement, and compliance with federal accessibility laws, and extends a nursing-facility pension limitation date.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans Affairs, Disability Access, Health Care, Government Oversight
Primary Purpose
Creates a 15-member Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access to advise VA on disability accessibility across information, services, benefits, facilities, community-care facilities, procurement, and compliance with federal accessibility laws, and extends a nursing-facility pension limitation date.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Veterans with disabilities
- Veterans service organizations
- VA community-care patients
- VA employees with disabilities
- Caregivers
- Accessibility experts
- Congressional veterans committees
Identified Costs
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- VA Section 508 Office
- VA Architectural Accessibility Program
- VA facility managers
- Community-care administrators
- VA procurement offices
- Committee-support staff
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Mr. Valadao (for himself and Mr. McGarvey) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Access Board, VA Architectural Accessibility Program
VA community-care patients, Veterans in nursing facilities, Veterans with disabilities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "section_508"
- → Federal accessibility requirement for information and communication technology.
- "advisory_committee"
- → Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology