05/24/2026
From the story: Rep. Stacey Travers (D-Phoenix), an Army veteran, has twice sponsored bills in recent years that would have created state rules for consultants providing benefits assistance, including requiring those businesses to be accredited by the VA.
Those state level protections would supplement federal laws, which do not have enough teeth.
But she said the third-party businesses offering those services also have lobbyists at the Legislature fighting to create laws allowing them to operate freely.
Only one of Travers’ bills received a hearing at the Legislature but was amended to remove the VA accreditation requirement at the behest of industry lobbyists.
A company accused of defrauding veterans trying to apply for federal benefits agreed to pay $2 million to settle a consumer fraud lawsuit brought by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, but Mayes said the state still needs to do more to protect veterans.
