EVEST Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Ensuring Veterans' Smooth Transition Act or the EVEST Act
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to automatically enroll veterans who are eligible for VA health care into the VA health care system upon the receipt of information from the Defense Manpower Data Center of the Department of Defense that proves eligibility of such veterans for enrollment.
The VA must provide a veteran notice that the veteran has been enrolled, instructions on how the veteran may elect to opt out of such enrollment, and instructions for how such veteran may elect to enroll at a later date.
Notice or instructions must be provided in a physical copy and, as is practical, in an electronic copy. Additionally, the VA must consider using mass texting capabilities to provide the notice and relevant instructions required by this bill.
The provisions of the bill apply to veterans who are discharged or separated from the Armed Forces on or after the date that is 90 days before this bill's enactment.
Any veteran who is eligible for automatic enrollment must be able to access an electronic version of the certificate of eligibility and an electronic mechanism to opt out of such enrollment.
The Government Accountability Office must report on the best methods for the VA to provide notice regarding a veteran's automatic enrollment in the VA health care system and related instructions.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House" stage on January 20, 2022. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 20, 2022: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mark Takano (D-CA) introduced it on July 22, 2021. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 22, 2021, 1876 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1694 days ago, on January 20, 2022.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers