Page 29 - Desert Oracle January 2021

WASHINGTON UPDATE

December 23, 2020 Volume 26, Number 22
Under the agreement, Amtrak will fix inaccessible stations and pay $2.25 million to
victims hurt by its inaccessible stations. For more information about this settlement,
please click here.

• Dr. Sachin Dev Pavithran Named Executive Director of the U.S. Access Board

The U.S. Access Board has named Dr. Sachin Dev Pavithran as its new Executive
Director. Dr. Pavithran, a member of the Board for eight years, succeeds David M.
Capozzi, who retired in June. Dr. Pavithran was appointed to the Access Board as a
public member in 2012 and reappointed to a second term four years later. During his
tenure, he served terms as Chair and as Vice Chair of the Board. In addition, he was
active in the Board’s update of its Section 508 Standards for information and
communication technology in the federal sector.

• VA Debt Management Collections Activities to Resume January 2021

The VA’s Debt Management Center (DMC) has announced that it will resume sending
debt collection notifications in January 2021 following a nine-month suspension during
the pandemic. Collections will not restart until April 2021. DMC has a new debt portal
that goes live January 5, 2021. Veterans will be able to review their debts electronically.
There are four debt relief options: veterans can establish or adjust a repayment plan,
request a waiver, submit a compromise offer, or request a temporary hardship
suspension. To learn more, please click here. Or contact the DMC here or at
1-800-827-0648.

• Post-9/11 GI Bill Reminder

Post-9/11 GI Bill students enrolled in approved resident courses that were converted to
online learning solely due to COVID-19 at a rate of pursuit of more than 50 percent will
continue to receive benefits, including Monthly Housing Allowance, at the in resident rate
until December 21, 2021, or until the school resumes normal operations of resident
training, whichever comes first. Click here for more information.

• Status of Revisions to SAH Guidance

VA recently updated its regulations to reflect the increased Specially Adapted Housing
(SAH) grant amounts provided by the Ryan Kules and Paul Benne Specially Adaptive
Housing Improvement Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-154). A public announcement regarding this
action was posted in the Federal Register in early November. Additional VA guidance
and public products (fact sheets, Handbook for Design, etc.) are still in varying stages of
the review and approval process; however, SAH staff have received temporary guidance
on how to process active and inactive cases until these are finalized. We also
understand that VA is preparing a letter to send to approximately 5,400 impacted
veterans advising them of the changes in the program.