Senate adopts bill to curb 'claim sharks' targeting veterans, caps fees

The Senate on the floor adopted House Bill 1076, titled in the record as the Safeguarding American Veterans Empowerment Act, after adopting a strike-all amendment and a follow-up amendment that removed a reverse repealer.

Senator Tate, explaining the measure, said the bill is intended to prevent consumer scams directed at veterans. "This is our bill to attack claim sharks that are taking advantage of veterans," Tate said during debate, and he described two central protections: a prohibition on receiving money up front for claim-related services and a statutory cap on recoverable fees.

Tate summarized the fee cap: "there's a cap on how much the benefit can be, which is 12,500 or 5 times the increase of monthly benefit." The floor adopted an amendment to remove a reverse repealer on the bill's specified lines and then adopted the strike-all as amended.

Senators voted to pass the bill by use of the morning roll call; the presiding officer announced the bill passed and the record shows Senator Turner Ford was recorded as voting 'present.' The transcript also notes the bill had previously passed the originating body "52 to nothing," as described on the floor.

The action on the measure included adoption of the amendment removing the reverse repealer and the final passage vote by morning roll call. The Senate did not debate additional substantive amendments on the floor after the strike-all was adopted.

The Senate recessed after later business; the transcript does not record further steps for the bill in this segment.