# Plain Language Summary: Veterans Collaboration Act

This bill creates a two-year test program that brings together veterans service organizations, law schools, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help veterans navigate the claims process and legal issues. The basic idea is simple: veterans often need help filing disability compensation claims and dealing with other legal problems, and law schools have students and professors who can provide free legal assistance. This bill directs the VA to actively encourage these groups to partner up and work together to serve veterans more effectively.

The program will focus on states with the largest veteran populations, since that's where the need is greatest. The VA will use social media to spread the word about these partnerships so veterans actually know where to find help. Veterans service organizations—groups that already help veterans with claims and appeals—will team up with law schools offering free legal services. This means a veteran in one of these pilot states could potentially get help filing a disability claim from a trained advocate and also get legal advice from law school clinics, all coordinated through this partnership.

The bill requires the VA to report back to Congress every three months about how the program is working, including how many veterans are getting help and how effectively they're using social media to reach people. This is essentially a test run to see if this collaboration model actually helps veterans access services more easily. If it works well, it could become a model for expanding these kinds of partnerships nationwide. For veterans, the practical benefit would be having clearer pathways to free legal help and claims assistance in one place, rather than having to hunt down different organizations separately.

Veterans Collaboration Act

Wittman, Robert J.

Veterans Collaboration ActThis bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a two-year pilot program to promote and encourage partnerships between the VA and nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher learning. Specifically, the VA must encourage partnerships between (1) veterans service organizations that provide credentialed personnel to assist veterans with legal needs, and (2) law schools that provide pro bono legal assistance and legal services to veterans.