PREC 16-97    Application of the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-275, §§ 502 & 507 - Clothing Allowance; Accrued Benefits     Citation: Vet. Aff. Op. Gen Couns. Prec. 16-97, VAOPGCPREC 16-97, 1997

QUESTIONS PRESENTED:

a.  Whether, under Section 502 of the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996, which added section 38 U.S.C. § 5313A, the period for which the clothing allowance of certain incarcerated veterans is to be reduced begins on the first day of incarceration or on the sixty-first day of incarceration.

b.  Whether the amendment made to 38 U.S.C. § 5121(a) by section 507 of the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996, which increased from one year to two years the period for which accrued benefits may be paid, applies only in claims involving deaths which occur on or after October 9, 1996, the date of enactment of the amendment.

HELD:

a.  Section 5313A of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 502 of the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996, requires that the Department of Veterans Affairs reduce the annual clothing allowance payable under 38 U.S.C. § 1162 to certain incarcerated veterans by 1/365th for each day on which the veteran was incarcerated during the twelve-month period preceding the date on which the payment of the allowance would be due, beginning with the sixty-first day of the period of incarceration.

b.  Section 5121(a) of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 507 of the Veterans’ Benefits Improvements Act of 1996, which authorizes payment of accrued benefits for a period of two years prior to the death of an individual entitled to periodic monetary benefits at death under existing ratings or decisions or based on evidence on file at the date of death, is applicable in claims for accrued benefits based on deaths which occurred prior to the October 9, 1996, date of enactment of the amending statute which were not finally decided prior to that date.