I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1746
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to
the laws relating to the recognition of agents, attorneys, organizations
and their representatives, and other individuals for the purposes of assist-
ing in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims for bene-
fits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mr. S
TANTON(for himself and Mr. HAMADEHof Arizona) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain
improvements to the laws relating to the recognition
of agents, attorneys, organizations and their representa-
tives, and other individuals for the purposes of assisting
in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of
claims for benefits under the laws administered by the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Standardizing Accredi-2
tation information for Veteran Ease Act’’ or the ‘‘SAVE 3
Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 6
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing new sections: 8
‘‘§ 5907. Annual submission of information on rec-9
ognition of agents, attorneys, organiza-10
tions and their representatives, and other 11
individuals 12
‘‘The Secretary shall include in the annual report re-13
quired to be submitted to Congress under section 529 of 14
this title information on agents, attorneys, organizations 15
and their representatives, and any other individuals recog-16
nized under this chapter. Such information shall include, 17
for the year covered by the report, the following: 18
‘‘(1) A description of the type and frequency of 19
training that is required to be recognized, or to con-20
tinue to be recognized, under this chapter and of 21
any review or audit conducted of such training. 22
‘‘(2) A description of the type of information 23
the Secretary collects from individuals who request 24
to be recognized, or to continue to be recognized, 25
under this chapter. 26
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‘‘(3) A description of the method the Secretary 1
uses to gather personal and qualifying information 2
from individuals and organizations recognized or 3
seeking recognition under this chapter. 4
‘‘(4) An identification of the frequency with 5
which the Secretary receives updated personal and 6
qualifying information from individuals and organi-7
zations recognized under this chapter. 8
‘‘(5) A description of the method the Secretary 9
uses to verify personal and qualifying information 10
received from individuals and organizations recog-11
nized or seeking recognition under this chapter. 12
‘‘(6) An identification of the frequency with 13
which individuals and organizations recognized 14
under this chapter are required to comply with ongo-15
ing reporting requirements. 16
‘‘(7) An identification of the number of Depart-17
ment employees responsible for the administration of 18
this chapter. 19
‘‘(8) An identification of the frequency with 20
which the VA Accreditation Search database, or any 21
successor to such database, is— 22
‘‘(A) updated; and 23
‘‘(B) checked for accuracy, including with 24
respect to the accuracy of contact information 25
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and the removal of individuals and organiza-1
tions no longer recognized to assist veterans in 2
the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of 3
claims under laws administered by the Sec-4
retary. 5
‘‘(9) A description of the steps the Secretary 6
has taken to ensure such database is updated. 7
‘‘(10) An identification of any additional re-8
sources the Department may need to ensure that— 9
‘‘(A) any published information regarding 10
individuals and organizations recognized under 11
this chapter is accurate and up-to date; and 12
‘‘(B) individuals who are recognized under 13
this chapter are of good moral character and in 14
good repute, are qualified to render claimants 15
valuable service, and are otherwise competent to 16
assist claimants in presenting claims under laws 17
administered by the Secretary. 18
‘‘(11) An identification of the costs of proc-19
essing applications for recognition under this chap-20
ter. 21
‘‘(12) A description of the timeline for proc-22
essing applications for recognition under this chap-23
ter. 24
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‘‘(13) An identification of how frequently indi-1
viduals seeking recognition under this chapter are 2
denied such recognition and for what reasons. 3
‘‘(14) An identification of how frequently rec-4
ognition is rescinded from individuals recognized 5
under this chapter and for what reasons. 6
‘‘§ 5908. Certification mark for identification of recog-7
nized individuals 8
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-9
fairs shall establish and maintain a certification mark, 10
which may be used to identify individuals who are recog-11
nized under this chapter for the purposes of assisting in 12
the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims 13
for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary. 14
Such certification mark shall be registered with the United 15
States Patent and Trademark Office. 16
‘‘(b) C
IVILPENALTY FORVIOLATION.—(1) A person 17
who displays or otherwise uses the certification mark es-18
tablished under subsection (a) for the fraudulent purpose 19
of inducing the belief that the person is recognized under 20
this chapter for the purposes of assisting in the prepara-21
tion, presentation, and prosecution of claims for benefits 22
under the laws administered by the Secretary shall be 23
fined in accordance with title 18, imprisoned, or both. 24
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‘‘(2) This subsection shall not make unlawful the use 1
of any such emblem, sign, insignia or words which was 2
lawful on the date of enactment of this section. 3
‘‘(3) Amounts collected as civil penalties pursuant to 4
this subsection shall remain available for the Department 5
of Veterans Affairs, without fiscal year limitation, for the 6
purpose of enforcing paragraph (1).’’. 7
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 8
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 9
after the item relating to section 5906 the following new 10
items: 11
‘‘5907. Annual submission of information on recognition of agents, attorneys,
organizations and their representatives, and other individuals.
‘‘5908. Certification mark for identification of recognized individuals.’’.
SEC. 3. BIANNUAL DATABASE ACCURACY.
12
Not later than 180 days after the date on which the 13
Secretary submits the first report under section 529 of 14
title 38, United States Code, that includes the information 15
required to be submitted under section 5907 of title 38, 16
United States Code, as added by section 2, and annually 17
thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 18
(1) provide to each individual recognized under 19
chapter 59 of title 38, United States Code, a notice 20
that includes a request to update the contact infor-21
mation of the individual provided to the Department 22
of Veterans Affairs; 23
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(2) make publicly available instructions such in-1
dividuals may use to update such contact informa-2
tion; and 3
(3) ensure the VA Accreditation Search Data-4
base is updated to include updated contact informa-5
tion. 6
Æ
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