{"id":160370,"date":"2026-02-02T15:29:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/160370\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:29:36","slug":"although-it-divided-lawmakers-a-bill-meant-to-protect-veterans-heads-to-the-governor-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/160370\/","title":{"rendered":"Although it divided lawmakers, a bill meant to protect veterans heads to the governor \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

A divided and emotional Senate gave the final legislative approval to a bill that supporters said would protect veterans<\/a> from predatory claim sharks, while opponents expressed concern that it would sharply curtail their choices when seeking benefits.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 694<\/a> from Sen. Bob Archuleta is designed to protect veterans from predatory and deceptive people or companies that claim to help them access their benefits. Archuleta, in an interview after lawmakers voted to send the bill to the governor, described the effort as \u201chistoric\u201d and \u201cone of the biggest issues to hit the veterans community in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacramento Snapshot<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:\u00a0Sacramento Snapshot<\/a>\u00a0is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County\u2019s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on \u2014 from committee work to bill passages and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just know you\u2019re (veterans) there for us, and these deceptive practices that have been there for years is now going to stop,\u201d said Archuleta, a Democrat whose district includes Brea and Placentia.<\/p>\n

The bill, Archuleta and other supporters said, will protect veterans from \u201cclaim sharks,\u201d people or organizations that are not accredited by the U.S.\u00a0 Department of Veterans Affairs but charge for representation or other services related to benefits claims.<\/p>\n

The bill prohibits charging fees higher than what an accredited attorney or claims agent would levy, and it also increases penalties for those who obtain unauthorized access to veterans\u2019 data on VA computer systems, Archuleta described on the Senate floor last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to our veterans to stand with them and to protect them from being taken advantage of while navigating the benefits they\u2019ve earned,\u201d said Archuleta, who is a U.S. Army combat veteran. \u201cThis is not about politics. It\u2019s about doing what\u2019s right. Making millions of dollars on the back of our veterans is wrong. They\u2019ve earned their benefits. They deserve their benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

While not every unaccredited person or organization working on veterans\u2019 claims is nefarious, the bill\u2019s supporters acknowledged, other companies have operated without oversight and charged up to five times the increase of the veteran\u2019s monthly benefits for their services, Archuleta said.<\/p>\n

The effort was a contentious one, dividing senators in a key committee hearing in September.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tom Umberg, who voted against the bill, said the effort was well-intentioned, but it creates a system where veterans are not allowed to choose how they go about filing benefits claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re saying is we have made a legislative determination that you\u2019re all bad, that you\u2019re all rogue, that you\u2019re all operating illegally, that you\u2019re all trying to rip off veterans,\u201d said Umberg, a Santa Ana Democrat and a retired U.S. Army colonel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt saddens me to be urging a no vote, but I think this is so important, not just for the immediate situation, but for the future, that we actually say as a body that we\u2019re going to protect veterans in a way that gives them the choice, that gives them the opportunity to choose whomever they wish to seek what they justly deserve,\u201d Umberg added in remarks captured by<\/a> CalMatters\u2019 Digital Democracy project.<\/p>\n

The bill ultimately passed the Senate last week in a 25-6 vote, with nine members not voting. (Lawmakers are recorded as not voting when they are absent; but not voting, which counts as a \u201cno\u201d vote, can also be a way for legislators to decline<\/a>, almost politely, to support a bill.)<\/p>\n

Sens. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and Steven Choi, R-Irvine, voted for the bill, along with Archuleta. Sens. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murietta, and Umberg voted no. Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, did not have a vote recorded.<\/p>\n

After the Senate\u2019s vote, the bill is now in what\u2019s called \u201cengrossing and enrolling.\u201d That\u2019s just a technical way to say the bill is being proofread to make sure it\u2019s all accurate and all the amendments are appropriately added before it is delivered to the governor.<\/p>\n

In other news<\/p>\n

\u2022 Senate Republicans last week asked the governor to call an emergency special session \u2014 this essentially allows legislators to focus on a narrow issue \u2014 to address the closing of the Benicia refinery<\/a> in Valero. The shuttering of that refinery, combined with the already-closed Phillips 66 refinery<\/a> in Los Angeles, will lead to increased gas prices, the Republicans said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose high gas prices drive up the cost of goods and services across the board, making everyday life expensive,\u201d said Strickland, who said the special session is needed \u201cto address restrictive oil and gas policies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A divided and emotional Senate gave the final legislative approval to a bill that supporters said would protect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7,1843,8,400,1703,100,611,13,121,123,122,41780,136,513],"class_list":{"0":"post-160370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-legislature","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-california-politics","12":"tag-military","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-orange-county","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-sacramento","17":"tag-sacramento-headlines","18":"tag-sacramento-news","19":"tag-sacramento-snapshot","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-veterans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}