March 17, 2026 · VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS · 2,329 words · 12 speakers · 42 segments
At Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, Nate, please call the roll.
Baker. Here. Brooks. Proxy. Dush. Kane. Here. Langerholt. Proxy. Muth. Here. Pennycook. Here. Piscatano. Proxy. Williams. Here. Ward. Proxy. And Mastrana.
I am here. First, I call up Senate Bill 1209, sponsored by Senators Pennycook, Laughlin, Robinson, and myself. While Pennsylvania has 67 county directors of veterans affairs, 319 veteran service officers, and 12 agents and 236 attorneys who are VA-accredited, there are a number of individuals and organizations that are profiteering off of veterans when obtaining benefits. Senate Bill 1209 puts guardrails on the entities that charge fees, helping veterans with their benefits. Senator Penny Cook has worked on this long and hard. Thanks for your dedication on this here. And previously, she served as the County Director of Veterans Affairs and has taken the lead on this issue. Senator Penny Cook, over to you. Thank you so much, Chairman Mastriano, Chairwoman Muth. Before I make my comments on this bill, I want to make a statement that this bill is in no way an endorsement of these organizations by the Senate. This bill is in response to bad actors. We are so blessed in this Commonwealth to have amazing VSOs that work tirelessly to get fellow veterans their benefits, and they do it for free. They work long nights, long weekends. They stay up on the very, very complex VA regulatory framework, which is very difficult, and they do a great job. Unfortunately, VA benefits are not easy. They are very difficult, and people say, oh, you do it once and you're done. Oh, no, no, no. There are secondary conditions that come years after you served. There are presumptive conditions that come years after you served. And then those presumptive conditions can have a secondary condition. So often you are in this do loop of continuously going after benefits. There's a lot of organizations that have looked to exploit that difficulty in navigating the system. And they'll say things like, we'll just, no money now, we'll take your first check. Or we'll promise to get you to 100%. or if you just maybe misrepresent on this form, we'll get you to 100%. Sometimes that first check can be over $100,000 if it takes multiple years to get the claim through. And sometimes our Vietnam veterans have had to battle for years to get their claims through. So this complex system created an environment where people could exploit veterans. So this bill puts guardrails on those organizations and holds them accountable, not only to the veteran community, but to all of Pennsylvania, that they are going to operate in an ethical and responsible manner. One of the things that I think is very, very important is knowing what you're paying for. It's not going to be your first month's check. it's going to be a stated amount in the contract they will not be hounded night and day by these unscrupulous actors these organizations will have to register with the state of Pennsylvania and they'll be subject to the laws of Pennsylvania to act ethically in our state gone are the days where you hand over your VA login to someone and they file on your behalf which is illegal at the federal level Gone are the days where you promised certain things So I'm very proud of the work we've done on this bill. It is a starting point. I recognize that not every bill is perfect. And I appreciate that it's bipartisan. I appreciate that we all want to make sure that we're doing the right thing for our veterans. So thank you all for your consideration. Thank you, Senator Penny Hook. I'd like to recognize you once again for the purpose of offering an amendment, Amendment 02624. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment prohibits these organizations from representing that they have special access to the VA claim system. It also establishes that they cannot ask the veteran for their login, their tokens, their passwords, or any other information needed to access a VA system. It also indicates that the contract is null and void if any of these provisions are violated. And it also allows the Attorney General to prosecute any violations. Those would be directed directly to the Attorney General. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Pennycook moves the amendment, and Senator Baker seconds it. And Senator Baker, over to you.
Thank you. I want to compliment all of the makers of this bill. I think it's very important. And I'd also like to remind everyone that Pennsylvania has one of the most robust veteran service officer programs in the country, and that became law in 2007. It was actually my first bill that I introduced to establish a grant program to our veteran service officers across the Commonwealth, so the American Legion, the DMVA as the state entity. And what we learned yesterday is that more than $5 billion has been returned to eligible veterans in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a result of our Veterans Service Officer Program. So we already have a network in place that I would encourage veterans and their families to seek out. It is state funded, and we provide that every year with a line item in the budget. and these service officers do an amazing job to what Senator Pennycook said. You don't need to hire someone to seek out your benefits. We have a network in place, and it's a good reminder of the work that our disabled veterans, American Legion, all the service organizations do. So I want to thank them. I want to thank the officers who work. They come to my district offices every month, and we connect them with veterans in our community. So we don't necessarily need to pay, have organizations being paid to do the work because we have this network in place. But these guide rails will better protect a veteran if that's the direction they choose to go. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Senator Baker. Senator Dush.
Thank you, Chairman. And I get very fired up over the people who are taking advantage of our veterans, and especially those who are our Vietnam veterans that have served for a long time. The systems, there are things that have been put in place to help them out, and they had not been aware of it, and it comes along years later, and they find out that they had a lot of money accumulating in the federal government. that would have benefited them. And when we hear these organizations that are coming along and taking that first month check or that first check and as Senator Pennycook pointed out over It sounds good. Oh, we'll just take your first check. Well, they're thinking, the veterans are just thinking, well, it's my monthly check, first monthly check. No, it's the back pay. And that is just unconscionable that we've allowed this to happen for so long. And as Senator Baker pointed out, we've had over $5 billion returned through this network of free help through the Veterans Service Organizations, the DMVA, and even in our offices. because my district is so rural, we actually have the VSO telecommutes, and we have an office space set up for the VSO from the Legion to actually participate and sit down. The veteran comes in, sits in my office, and communicates directly with the VSO, and we take care of them. There's no need for our veterans to be paying anything for this. and to see our veterans taken advantage of in such a way. I'm very grateful to the makers of this and Chairman for bringing it up. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any negative votes on the amendment?
It's already been a motion that has moved and seconded.
Any negative votes on the amendment? Seeing none, hearing none, the amendment is adopted. Senator Pennycook moves that we report Senate Bill 1209 as amended. Senator Baker seconds the motion.
Senator Muth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree that this issue needs addressed in the sense that many veterans are ripped off and scammed by entities that claim to be trying to assist them with their benefits, and it's happened in my district. We have a VSO that comes to our office every month and helps people even if they don't live in our district. We just have those appointments available, like come, they're great, it's free. So I do appreciate the fact that what you're trying to do here. I guess my question would be, if this is in response to these bad actors, why don't we just prohibit these organizations?
Some veterans do want to use a paid service. So we didn't want to completely ban it, but we did want to make sure that those that are providing the service are ethical and professional. Got it. And so the way I, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that I read the bill is that the fee cap would be $12,500 according to this version of the bill. Is that correct? Or five times the increase, whatever's less. Whatever's less. Okay. And I'm not sure, I was not aware of this until this morning, but that there was a recent court decision in Louisiana that struck down a similar version of this bill in their legislature as being unconstitutional. And so that does bring concerns for me in terms of is this allowable. But I do agree that there needs to be something done so the veterans aren't ripped off. But until there's more information regarding this decision in Louisiana, I will be a no vote today.
I just don't think that these entities should be operating in Pennsylvania at all. And if that's the response from the legislature, then needs to be if we need more VSOs, then we need more VSOs, and to fund that appropriately. But I think that, you know, this is one of the bigger scams that veterans face, and I will be a no vote today. So thank you.
Any other discussion? Senator Petticoke, thank you for this bill.
I too have heard of fellow veterans being ripped off I say defrauded Some of these groups do help but some are making money off of this So thank you for bringing balance to this taking advantage of veterans In many cases, as you rightly said, it's the Vietnam-era veterans who need help online and getting older, struggling with Agent Orange side effects and what have you, and just being taken advantage of. So thank you for reining these organizations in and holding them accountable, and it has my full support.
So with that, Nate, let's vote on Senate Bill 1209 as amended.
Call the roll. Baker?
Aye.
Brooks?
Aye.
Proxy, aye. Dush?
Aye.
Kane?
Aye.
Langerholt?
Proxy, aye.
Muth?
No.
Pennycook?
Aye.
Piscatano?
Proxy, yes.
Williams?
No.
Ward?
Proxy, aye.
And Mastriano?
And aye. Senate Bill 1209 is reported as amended. Thank you. Next, I'll call up Senate Resolution 245, which I introduce. This resolution calls for the passage of Federal Bill S. 3130, the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Adaptive Care Opportunities Nationwide Act of 2025, introduced by our own U.S. Senator Dave McCormick. Under the federal legislation, the VA would establish a TBI Innovative Grant Program for the development, implementation, and evaluation of approaches and methodologies for prospective randomized control trials, for neurorehabilitation treatments for the treatment of chronic to mild TBI. There are a number of entities doing great work in this space, including Aurelius Nextdoor, which I visited a couple months ago. It really seems to be making a huge difference with our veterans. They have a very high, extremely high success rate in treating veterans with TBI and other injuries. It's my hope that this legislation will spur additional growth in this area in order for veterans to get better assistance, especially with TBI-related effects. As such, I move the report Senate Resolution 245 as committed. Senator Petticoke seconds the motion. Are there any comments or questions on this? Are there any negative votes? Seeing none, hearing none. Senate Resolution 245 is reported as committed. Next, I call up House Bill 993, sponsored by Representative John Inglis. This legislation would establish a process for veteran-owned businesses to obtain a logo from the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Earlier this session, the Senate passed Senate Bill 64, sponsored by Senator Cameron Bartolotta. Rep. Inglis could not be here but asked me to thank the members, especially Senator Bartolotta, for her tireless work on this effort over the years. He says it is an honor to support our veterans, showcase their contributions to our local economies, and do more to attract potential veterans looking to call Pennsylvania their new home. This bill does that while expanding awareness of resources to our veterans and supporting the Veterans Trust Fund. He continues by saying I urge the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee to stand in supporting our veterans, and I thank you for your support. On behalf of the DMVA, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, I'm offering the following amendment. Alpha 02623, this amendment would make several edits to the bill, as well as to provide a standardized date, March 1st of each year, for annual reports to be submitted to General Assembly. Is there a second?
Senator Dush, thank you.
Any questions on the amendment? Are there any negative votes on the amendment? Seeing none, hearing none, the amendment is adopted.
Senator Baker moves that we report House Bill 993 as amended.
Senator Dush seconds the motion.
Are there any comments or questions on this bill? Are there any negative votes on this bill? Seeing none and hearing none, House Bill 993 is reported as amended. Thank you, everyone. I now recess to the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee to the call of the chair.