Sponsors (4)
Last progress March 6, 2025 (11 months ago)
Introduced on March 6, 2025 by Mazie Hirono
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
1 meeting related to this legislation
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to repay veterans (or their successor fiduciaries) when a court-appointed or otherwise authorized fiduciary misuses veterans’ benefit payments, to try to recover those funds from the misusing fiduciary, and to pass any recouped money on to the veteran if it has not already been paid. Establishes payment limits, rules for payments when a beneficiary dies, and directs the Secretary to adopt procedures and timelines to decide whether the misuse was caused by VA negligence without delaying initial repayments during that review.
If a fiduciary misuses all or part of an individual’s VA benefit payments, the Secretary must pay the beneficiary or the beneficiary’s successor fiduciary an amount equal to the benefit so misused.
When the Secretary reissues a benefit payment under the previous rule, the Secretary must make a good faith effort to obtain recoupment from the fiduciary who originally received the payment.
If the Secretary successfully recovers (recoups) funds from a fiduciary who misused benefits, the Secretary must promptly pay those recouped amounts to the beneficiary or the beneficiary’s successor fiduciary to the extent those amounts were not already paid under the initial reissuance rule.
If a beneficiary dies before payment under the reissuance rule, the Secretary must pay the amount (subject to the next rule) to an individual or entity according to 38 U.S.C. 5121 (rules for payments on death).
The Secretary may not make a payment under the deceased-beneficiary rule to a fiduciary who misused that beneficiary’s benefits.
Primary beneficiaries are veterans and their successor fiduciaries: veterans who suffered financial harm because an appointed fiduciary misused benefit payments would receive a straightforward path to repayment, and recovered funds must be routed to them if not already paid. Fiduciaries (individuals or organizations entrusted to manage veterans’ benefits) face increased exposure to recoupment actions and potential liability if they misuse funds. The Department of Veterans Affairs will need to adopt and implement procedures, timetables, and recordkeeping practices to identify misuse, make timely payments, and pursue recoupment, which may create modest administrative costs and workload. Survivors and estates may be affected by the clarified rules for payments when a beneficiary dies, altering how and to whom sums are paid. Because the Secretary must decide if VA negligence contributed to misuse but cannot delay payments pending that review, the measure shifts risk toward VA short-term outlays with the ability to later recover from fiduciaries where appropriate. The bill should deter fiduciary misuse, improve veterans’ access to reimbursed funds, and reduce delays in relief, but could increase litigation or appeals over negligence findings, payment caps, and recoupment amounts.
Updated 2 days ago
Last progress December 12, 2025 (1 month ago)