Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 91.djvu/1140

 91 STAT. 1106

PUBLIC LAW 95-126—OCT. 8, 1977

Public Law 95-126 95th Congress An Act Oct. 8, 1977 [S. 1307]

Veterans' benefits. Entitlement, denial to certain veterans with upgraded discharges.

Review.

10 USC 1553.

Application.

Benefits entitlement, limitation. Review.

50 USC app. 462 note.

To deny entitlement to veterans' benefits to certain persons who would otherwise become so entitled solely by virtue of the administrative upgrading under temporarily revised standards of other than honorable discharges from service during the Vietnam era; to require case-by-case review under uniform, historically consistent, generally applicable standards and procedures prior to the award of veterans' benefits to persons administratively discharged under other than honorable conditions from active military, naval, or air service; and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 3103 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by— (1) inserting "or on the basis of an absence without authority from active duty for a continuous period of at least one hundred and eighty days if such person was discharged under conditions other than honorable unless such person demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Administrator that there are compelling circumstances to w a r r a n t such prolonged unauthorized absence," after "deserter," in subsection (a), and by inserting a comma and "notwithstanding any action subsequent to the date of such discharge by a board established pursuant to section 1553 of title 10" before the period at the end of such subsection; and (2) adding at the end of such section the following new subsection: " (e)(1) Notwithstanding an}- other provision of law, (A) no benefits under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration shall be provided, as a result of a change in or new issuance of a discharge under section 1553 of title 10, except upon a case-by-case review by the board of review concerned, subject to review by the Secretary concerned, under such section, of all the evidence and factors in each case under published uniform standards (which shall be historically consistent with criteria for determining honorable service and shall not include any criterion for automatically g r a n t i n g or denying such change or issuance) and procedures generally applicable to all persons administratively discharged or released from active military, naval, or air service under other than honorable conditions; and (B) any such person shall be afforded an opportunity to apply for such review under such section 1553 for a period of time terminating not less than one year after the date on which such uniform standards and procedures are promulgated and published. " (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law— " (A) no person discharged or released from active military, naval, or air service under other than honorable conditions who has been awarded a general or honorable discharge under revised standards for the review of discharges, (i) as implemented by the President's directive of January 19, 1977, initiating further action with respect to the President's Proclamation 4313 of September 16, 1974, (ii) as implemented on or after April 5, 1977, under the Department of Defense's special discharge review program, or (iii) as implemented subsequent to April 5, 1977, and not made applicable to all persons administratively discharged or released from active military, naval, or air service under other than

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