Tim Reisch is a Republican state representative from District 8, which includes Brookings, Kingsbury, Lake and Miner counties.

We’ve got eight weeks down with just one to go in the 100th session of the South Dakota State Legislature. In this week’s column I want to cover two bills introduced this year, targeting private entities that file VA disability claims for veterans.

Currently there are no state or federal laws that prevent private companies from assisting veterans in filing VA disability claims and charging a fee to do so. Unfortunately, some firms have charged exorbitant fees for this service, when the veteran could have had their claim prepared free of charge by their local county/tribal veterans service officer.

House Bill 1238 was sponsored by Rep. Tim Goodwin, who is a veteran from Rapid City. The bill requires that anyone assisting veterans in preparing a claim must first disclose the terms of service and the compensation to be provided in a written document. Further, they may not charge an initial fee, or a nonrefundable fee. They may not guarantee a successful outcome, may not use international call centers or data centers for processing veterans’ personal information.

The bill further requires that any compensation received must be contingent on an increase in the amount of compensation awarded to a veteran, and that the total amount cannot exceed five times the monthly increase in benefits awarded based on the claim. Finally, the bill requires that individuals accessing a veteran’s records must first submit to and pass a background check. House Bill 1238 passed on votes of 44-24 in the House and 25-8 in the Senate.

House Bill 1076 was sponsored by Rep. Chris Reder, who is a veteran from Warner. The bill states that except as permitted under federal law, a person may not receive compensation of any kind for assisting individuals regarding veterans’ benefits matters before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense or the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs. In other words, this bill sought to make it illegal for an individual or business to charge a fee of any amount whatsoever to assist a veteran in filing a claim. House Bill 1076 failed to receive the required number of votes to be calendared in the House on a vote of 30-40.

I have a unique perspective having personally served for over 40 years in the Army National Guard and having two sons and two nephews who are combat veterans. Additionally, I have served as the Miner County veterans service officer for approximately five years. I supported HB 1238 over HB 1076 for several reasons, but primarily because it didn’t close the door completely on a veteran who wanted to file a claim but may not be comfortable doing so through their local veterans’ service officer. The fact that Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed budget eliminated the funds that the state currently pays toward local veteran’s service officers’ salaries was very concerning to me. It’s also been announced that the Trump Administration plans to cut 80,000 VA employees. Now is not the time to eliminate options that veterans currently have, to access their benefits.

HB 1238 puts guard rails in place by establishing clear limits on how much a veteran can be charged for filing claims, and by prohibiting individuals from charging anything at all if a new or increased benefit isn’t awarded. In the future I could possibly support a bill that further restricts private entities from doing this sort of work for veterans, but only if the State of South Dakota were to step up its game by doing a better job of advertising how veterans can be assisted in these matters. Establishing a toll-free number that South Dakota’s veterans could call to learn about benefits they’re eligible for, as well as options they have for applying for those benefits would be a good first step.

It was fun meeting with the fourth graders from Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School in De Smet and their teachers Lexi Johnson and DJ Bettin last week!

If you want to get in touch with me during the session, my legislative email address is Tim.Reisch@sdlegislature.gov.