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hello welcome to cck live I am coming to you from our Texas office located in downtown Houston and
we are going to talk through a brief VA a year in review so happy 2023 everybody 2022 is behind us
it was a huge year in VA law and in and and in veterans issues across the board so we're going
to just kind of run through what happened as we look forward into going into 2023. here are the
key things that we are going to hit today be packed at Camp Lejeune legislation Board of
veterans appeals backlog and cck's legal actions VA updates 2022 ndaa reforms and Veterans Supreme
Court cases so that's a lot to get through but we'll do it as quickly as we possibly can Pac
deck and toxic exposure ba benefits Bill enacted first The Pact act Landmark legislation for
all generations of toxic exposed veterans who assigned into law in August I have heard a lot
of people talk about this as the largest veterans benefits legislation that has been passed in over
two generations so it was in fact a huge deal it means billions and billions of dollars in benefits
to Veterans who have earned them the legislation aims to provide improved benefits and health care
to better suffering from toxic exposures and those include agent orange burn pits and it also expands
exposure related research resources and training learn more about the pack deck and our blog or on
YouTube Camp Lejeune legislation important impact act also created a federal cause of action for any
individual including veterans who presided worked at or were otherwise exposed to Camp lejeune's
water for at least 30 days between August 1st 1953 and December 31st 1987. I do not expect
you to remember those days but please go to our website as we explain more about it this is a very
complicated area of the law and cck is working with our colleagues Across the Nation to serve
veterans who have served at Camp Lejeune and are entitled to and are entitled to compensation under
that act Board of veterans appeals updates there were also some significant changes and updates
regarding the board of veterans appeals in 2022 and there's a lot of information about this on
our website as well first the president appointed a new chair of the board and he took over in late
summer early fall and he will be inheriting a board of veterans appeals that continues to face
challenges with backlogs both in the Legacy system and in the appeals modern station act system the
board of veterans appeals has under delivered upon what it promised to do in 2022 and the board
of veterans appeals continues to experience massive backlog of these appeals at the end
of fiscal year 2022 bva the board of veterans appeals missed their twice revised decision
goal despite historic budget levels the board continues to issue fewer decisions every year
cck takes legal action against them in 2022 cck also decided to take legal action against
the Department of Veterans Affairs based on two specific issues with the VA process with
the VA process we filed several petitions for Ritz of mandamus against the board based on a
lack of productivity regarding the processing of legacy and AMA appeals in the court of appeals
for veterans claims we submitted a foia request in District Court because VA had not produced
the documents that we had requested both of those are bearing some fruit right now at the court of
appeals for veterans claims they are not finished and I will have many updates as that litigation
winds its way through our court system but we have done that to take action against the board of
veterans appeals and we're hoping that even that either because of or in concert with our actions
the board of veterans appeals does get around to making a lot more decisions in 2023 than they made
in 2020 they certainly have an increased budget to do it and I understand that they are getting
increased personnel and so we remain hopeful that the veterans who are waiting so long that the
board of veterans feel so many years will start to have their claims worked and worked correctly
VA updates there were significant changes that the Department of Veterans Affairs involving
benefits proposed updates and more VA experience its biggest benefits increase based on the cost
of living adjustments since 1981. with 8.7 percent cost of living adjustment you find out about more
about that on our website as well VA announced new debt collection regulations that were effective
March 4th 2022 this includes regulations regarding va overpayments va also proposed changes to rating
certain disabilities in February 15 2022 this includes changes in evaluative rating criteria for
sleep apnea mental health and tinnitus claims VA initiated a pilot run of a new automated benefits
delivery System test it aims to significantly shorten the VA review process so stay tuned
for more on that ba also extended Gulf War presumption deadlines to 2026 which will affect
many of our goal of four veterans Supreme Court cases in 2022 the Supreme Court heard two cases
and would see it in with cck Advanced some arguments George versus McDonough and Ariana
versus McDonough and George that centered around the definition and application of
clear and unmistakable error and the case raises important issues about the
retroactivity of judicial decisions interpreting statues Ariana versus Donna the veteran appealed
of PTSD benefits Grant requesting that the timetable and the controlling statute be
equitably told thus providing an earlier payment date for benefits neither of these were cck cases
but we did contribute to Legal arguments in both of those cases when they were at the low
reports and even filed an amicus or friend of the court brief in these cases for the Supreme Court
please check out our YouTube videos to learn more about the Supreme Court cases and thank
you very much for tuning in this is axtols coming to you from Houston Texas today take care [Music]
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