I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1656
To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit certain fee agreements
between claimants and agents or attorneys for the preparations, presen-
tation, or prosecution of initial claims for benefits under the laws admin-
istered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mr. B
ERGMAN(for himself, Mr. CORREA, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr. ROUZER,
Mr. W
EBSTERof Florida, Mr. MCDOWELL, Mr. HARRIGAN, and Mr.
A
LFORD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit certain
fee agreements between claimants and agents or attor-
neys for the preparations, presentation, or prosecution
of initial claims for benefits under the laws administered
by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Lawful Uti-2
lization of Services for Veterans Act of 2025’’ or the 3
‘‘PLUS for Veterans Act of 2025’’. 4
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF PREPARATION, PRESENTATION, 5
OR PROSECUTION OF A CLAIM UNDER A LAW 6
ADMINISTERED BY SECRETARY OF VET-7
ERANS AFFAIRS. 8
Section 5901 of title 38, United States Code, is 9
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-10
section: 11
‘‘(c) E
XCLUSION.—The administration of a medical 12
examination, or the completion of a report with respect 13
to such medical examination, as described in section 5125 14
of this title, shall not constitute the preparation, presen-15
tation, or prosecution of a claim under the laws adminis-16
tered by the Secretary.’’. 17
SEC. 3. AGENTS AND ATTORNEYS IN CERTAIN CLAIMS 18
UNDER LAWS ADMINISTERED BY SECRETARY 19
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: APPLICATIONS FOR 20
RECOGNITION; FEES ALLOWABLE FOR REP-21
RESENTATION; GROUNDS FOR SUSPENSION; 22
BARS FROM RECOGNITION. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5904 of title 38, United 24
States Code, is amended— 25
(1) in subsection (a)— 26
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(A) in paragraph (1)— 1
(i) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Ex-2
cept’’; and 3
(ii) by adding at the end the following 4
new subparagraphs: 5
‘‘(B)(i) An individual desiring recognition under this 6
section shall submit to the Secretary an application, in-7
cluding an application submitted by mail, fax, or electronic 8
means, in such form, at such time, and containing such 9
information and assurances as the Secretary has deter-10
mined appropriate to recognize such individual under this 11
section. 12
‘‘(ii) If the Secretary cannot verify whether the indi-13
vidual satisfies the qualifications and standards prescribed 14
under paragraph (2) before the 90-day period beginning 15
after the date on which the Secretary receives an applica-16
tion under clause (i), the Secretary shall recognize the in-17
dividual on a conditional and temporary basis for a one- 18
year period. 19
‘‘(iii) At the end of such one-year period, the Sec-20
retary shall recognize the individual on a conditional and 21
temporary basis for such additional one-year periods until 22
the date on which the Secretary can verify whether the 23
individual satisfies such qualifications and standards. 24
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‘‘(C) The Secretary may not suspend, exclude from 1
further practice before the Department, fine pursuant to 2
section 5905 of this title, or refuse to recognize as an 3
agent or attorney under this section any individual on the 4
basis that such individual, before the date of the enact-5
ment of this subparagraph— 6
‘‘(i) charged a claimant a fee for services ren-7
dered in the preparation, presentation, or prosecu-8
tion of an initial claim; or 9
‘‘(ii) charged a claimant a fee for such services 10
while such individual was not recognized under this 11
section.’’; and 12
(B) by adding at the end the following new 13
paragraph: 14
‘‘(7)(A) The Secretary may charge and collect an as-15
sessment from an individual who— 16
‘‘(i) seeks recognition under this section as an 17
agent or attorney for the preparation, presentation, 18
and prosecution of an initial claim under the laws 19
administered by the Secretary; and 20
‘‘(ii) charges or collects fees from a claimant for 21
services rendered in such preparation, presentation, 22
and prosecution. 23
‘‘(B) An assessment described in subparagraph (A)— 24
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‘‘(i) shall be in such amount as the Secretary 1
prescribes in regulations and determines appro-2
priate; and 3
‘‘(ii) may not exceed $500. 4
‘‘(C) Amounts collected under this paragraph shall 5
be deposited in a revolving fund in the Treasury of the 6
United States. Such amounts shall be available to the Sec-7
retary for the administration of this section.’’; 8
(2) in subsection (b)— 9
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 10
through (9) as subparagraphs (A) through (I), 11
respectively; 12
(B) in the matter preceding subparagraph 13
(A), as so redesignated, by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ be-14
fore ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 15
(C) in paragraph (1), as designated by 16
paragraph (2)— 17
(i) in subparagraph (H), as so redes-18
ignated, by striking ‘‘in accordance with 19
subsection (c)(3)(A) ; or’’ and inserting 20
‘‘subsection (c)(2)(A)’’; 21
(ii) in subparagraph (I), as so redesig-22
nated, by striking the period at the end 23
and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 24
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(iii) by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing new subparagraph: 2
‘‘(J) has failed to keep claimant data and 3
personally identifiable information in accord-4
ance with applicable provisions of the Health 5
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 6
1996 (Public Law 104–191; 42 U.S.C. 1301 et 7
seq.), including the data security requirements 8
and implementing regulations of such Act.’’; 9
and 10
(D) by adding at the end the following new 11
paragraph: 12
‘‘(2) Not later than one year after the date of the 13
enactment of the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services 14
for Veterans Act of 2025 and annually thereafter, the Sec-15
retary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 16
of the Senate and House of Representatives a report re-17
garding the number of individuals suspended under this 18
subsection or denied recognition under subsection (a), 19
disaggregated by the reasons for such suspension or denial 20
and whether the individual is— 21
‘‘(A) a representative of an organization recog-22
nized under section 5902 of this title; 23
‘‘(B) an agent; or 24
‘‘(C) an attorney.’’; and 25
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(3) in subsection (c)— 1
(A) by inserting ‘‘F
LATFEEAGREE-2
MENTS.—’’ after ‘‘(c)’’; 3
(B) by striking paragraph (1) and insert-4
ing the following: 5
‘‘(1)(A) In connection with a proceeding before the 6
Department with respect to benefits under laws adminis-7
tered by the Secretary, a fee agreement between a claim-8
ant and an agent or attorney for the preparation, presen-9
tation, or prosecution of an initial claim for such benefits 10
shall be a fee agreement described in subparagraph (B). 11
‘‘(B)(i) A fee agreement described in this subpara-12
graph is a fee agreement— 13
‘‘(I) that does not require payment from a 14
claimant to the agent or attorney before the date on 15
which the claimant is provided notice of the agency 16
of original jurisdiction’s initial decision under section 17
5104 of this title with respect to the initial claim; 18
‘‘(II) under which the total amount payable by 19
the claimant to the agent or attorney with respect 20
to the initial claim— 21
‘‘(aa) is contingent on whether the initial 22
claim is resolved in a manner favorable to the 23
claimant; 24
‘‘(bb) does not exceed the lesser of— 25
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‘‘(AA) $12,500 (as adjusted from 1
time to time under subparagraph (C)); or 2
‘‘(BB) the amount equal to the prod-3
uct of five and the amount of the monthly 4
increase of benefits awarded to the claim-5
ant pursuant to the claim; and 6
‘‘(III) that contains an attestation by the claim-7
ant that the agent or attorney provided to the claim-8
ant the standard form under clause (iii). 9
‘‘(ii) For purposes of this subparagraph, an initial 10
claim shall be considered to have been resolved in a man-11
ner favorable to the claimant if all or any part of the relief 12
sought pursuant to the claim is granted. 13
‘‘(iii) For use in fee agreements described in this sub-14
paragraph, the Secretary shall develop a standard form 15
that includes the following notices: 16
‘‘(I) That organizations recognized under sec-17
tion 5902 of this title furnish services with respect 18
to initial claims under laws administered by the Sec-19
retary at no cost to claimants. 20
‘‘(II) That a claimant may select a private phy-21
sician for a medical examination described in section 22
5125 of this title regarding the initial claim. 23
‘‘(III) That the agent or attorney with whom 24
the claimant is entering such fee agreement may not 25
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refer the claimant to a private physician described in 1
such section with whom the agent or attorney has a 2
business relationship. 3
‘‘(C) Effective on October 1 of each year (beginning 4
in the first fiscal year after the date of the enactment of 5
the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services for Veterans 6
Act of 2025), the Secretary shall increase the dollar 7
amount in effect under clause (i) of subparagraph (B) by 8
a percentage equal to the percentage by which the Con-9
sumer Price Index for all urban consumers (U.S. city aver-10
age) increased during the 12-month period ending with 11
the last month for which Consumer Price Index data is 12
available. In the event that such Consumer Price Index 13
does not increase during such period, the Secretary shall 14
maintain the dollar amount in effect under such clause 15
during the previous fiscal year.’’; and 16
(C) in paragraph (2)— 17
(i) by striking ‘‘in a case referred to 18
in paragraph (1) of this subsection’’; and 19
(ii) by inserting ‘‘in a case’’ after 20
‘‘represents a person’’; 21
(D) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking 22
‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1) 23
or (2)’’. 24
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(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 1
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 2
prescribe regulations to carry out the amendments made 3
by this section. 4
SEC. 4. REINSTATEMENT OF PENALTIES FOR CHARGING 5
VETERANS UNAUTHORIZED FEES RELATING 6
TO CLAIMS UNDER LAWS ADMINISTERED BY 7
THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5905 of title 38, United 9
States Code, is amended— 10
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘Penalty’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘Penalties’’; 12
(2) by inserting ‘‘(a) W
ITHHOLDING OFBENE-13
FITS.—’’ before ‘‘Whoever’’; and 14
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-15
section: 16
‘‘(b) C
HARGING OFUNAUTHORIZEDFEES.—Except 17
as provided in sections 5904 or 1984 of this title, whoever 18
directly or indirectly solicits, contracts for, charges, or re-19
ceives, or attempts to solicit, contract for, charge, or re-20
ceive, any fee or compensation with respect to the prepara-21
tion, presentation, or prosecution of any claim for benefits 22
under the laws administered by the Secretary shall be 23
fined as provided in title 18, or imprisoned not more than 24
one year, or both. 25
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‘‘(c) VIOLATIONSDURINGCONDITIONAL AND TEM-1
PORARYRECOGNITION.—If an individual recognized as an 2
agent or attorney on a conditional and temporary basis 3
pursuant to clause (ii) or (iii) of section 5904(a)(1)(B) 4
of this title violates any law or regulation administered 5
by the Secretary under this chapter on or after the date 6
on which such individual is so recognized— 7
‘‘(1) the Secretary shall, after notice, revoke the 8
conditional and temporary recognition of the indi-9
vidual; and 10
‘‘(2) such individual, after notice and oppor-11
tunity for a hearing, shall be— 12
‘‘(A) fined $50,000; and 13
‘‘(B) barred from recognition under section 14
5904 of this title— 15
‘‘(i) for a period of one year beginning 16
on the date of the first violation; and 17
‘‘(ii) for a period of 10 years begin-18
ning on the date of each subsequent viola-19
tion. 20
‘‘(d) D
EPOSIT OFFINES.—Any amount received by 21
the Federal Government from a fine imposed under sub-22
section (b) or (c) shall be deposited in the fund established 23
by section 5904(a)(7)(C) of this title.’’. 24
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(b) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1
at the beginning of chapter 59 of such title is amended 2
by striking the item relating to section 5905 and inserting 3
the following new item: 4
‘‘5905. Penalties for certain acts.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 5
this section shall take effect on the date that is 90 days 6
after the date on which the Secretary prescribes the regu-7
lations required by subsection (b) of section 3. 8
SEC. 5. FEDERAL PREEMPTION. 9
This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, su-10
persede any State law that is inconsistent with the statu-11
tory rights established by this Act, or such amendments, 12
and preclude the implementation of such a law, whether 13
statutory, common law, or otherwise, and whether adopted 14
before or after the date of enactment of this Act. 15
Æ
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