A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide criminal penalties for individuals acting as agents or attorneys for the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of a claim under a law administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs without being recognized by the Secretary for such purposes, and for other purposes.

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2407 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide criminal penalties for individuals acting as agents or attorneys for the preparation, presen- tation, or prosecution of a claim under a law administered by the Sec- retary of Veterans Affairs without being recognized by the Secretary for such purposes, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 31, 2019 Mr. DAINES introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide criminal penalties for individuals acting as agents or attorneys for the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of a claim under a law administered by the Secretary of Vet- erans Affairs without being recognized by the Secretary for such purposes, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Aug 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2407.IS S2407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2407 IS SECTION 1. IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO RECOGNITION 1 BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS OF 2 AGENTS AND ATTORNEYS TO REPRESENT 3 VETERANS. 4 (a) PENALTIES FOR REPRESENTING WITHOUT REC- 5 OGNITION BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 5905 of title 38, 7 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 8 ‘‘§ 5905. Penalty for certain acts 9 ‘‘Whoever commits any of the following acts shall be 10 fined as provided in title 18, or imprisoned for not more 11 than one year, or both: 12 ‘‘(1) Acts or tries to act as an agent or attorney 13 for the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of 14 a claim under a law administered by the Secretary— 15 ‘‘(A) without recognition by the Secretary 16 as an agent or attorney under section 5904 of 17 this title; or 18 ‘‘(B) while suspended or excluded under 19 subsection (b) of such section. 20 ‘‘(2) The act of unlawfully withholding from 21 any claimant or beneficiary any part of a benefit or 22 claim under the laws administered by the Secretary 23 that is allowed and due to the claimant or bene- 24 ficiary.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Aug 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2407.IS S2407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2407 IS (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 1 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to acts 2 committed after the date that is 180 days after the 3 date of the enactment of this Act. 4 (b) RENEWAL OF RECOGNITION.—Subsection (a) of 5 section 5904 of such title is amended by adding at the 6 end the following new paragraph: 7 ‘‘(7)(A) Recognition under this section shall be for 8 such period as the Secretary considers appropriate, but 9 not for any period greater than five years. 10 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may, as the Secretary considers 11 appropriate, renew a recognition of an individual under 12 this section for a term specified pursuant to subparagraph 13 (A) upon submittal to the Secretary by the individual of 14 an application therefor. 15 ‘‘(C) Upon after receiving an application of an indi- 16 vidual for renewal under subparagraph (B) and before re- 17 newing such recognition under such subparagraph, the 18 Secretary shall review— 19 ‘‘(i) the preparation, presentation, and prosecu- 20 tion of claims by the individual covered by this sec- 21 tion; and 22 ‘‘(ii) any fee agreements of the individual for 23 such preparation, presentation, and prosecution that 24 have been disputed.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Aug 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2407.IS S2407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2407 IS (c) NOTICE RELATING TO FEES.—Subsection (c) of 1 such section is amended by adding at the end the following 2 new paragraph: 3 ‘‘(5)(A) An individual recognized under this section 4 who enters into a fee agreement with a person to act as 5 an agent or attorney for the person in a manner covered 6 by this section shall notify the person of the person’s 7 rights under this subsection, especially with respect to the 8 right to make a request under paragraph (3)(A). 9 ‘‘(B) Notification under this paragraph shall be both 10 verbal and in writing, with the writing initialed or signed 11 by the person to acknowledge that the person understands 12 his or her rights under this subsection.’’. 13 (d) BIENNIAL REVIEWS BY GENERAL COUNSEL OF 14 THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—Such sec- 15 tion is amended by adding at the end the following new 16 subsection: 17 ‘‘(e) BIENNIAL REVIEWS BY GENERAL COUNSEL.— 18 (1) Not less frequently than once every two years, the 19 General Counsel of the Department shall submit to Con- 20 gress a report on activities under this section. 21 ‘‘(2) Each report submitted under subparagraph (A) 22 shall include, for the period covered by the report, the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Aug 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2407.IS S2407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2407 IS ‘‘(A) A discussion of the rates generally charged 1 for services covered by this section. 2 ‘‘(B) A discussion of the requests made by 3 claimants under subsection (c)(3)(A). 4 ‘‘(C) A discussion of the fees reduced under 5 such subsection. 6 ‘‘(D) The number of claims for benefits under 7 laws administered by the Secretary that were pre- 8 pared, presented, or prosecuted by an individual act- 9 ing as an agent or attorney who did so while not rec- 10 ognized under this section.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Aug 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2407.IS S2407 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS