I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2461 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the responsibility of the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs to verify the veteran status of the owners 

of small business concerns listed in the database maintained by the 

Secretary. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 18, 2009 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN (for herself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the responsibility of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to verify 

the veteran status of the owners of small business concerns listed in the database maintained by the Secretary. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Small Busi5 ness Verification Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF RESPONSIBILITY OF SEC2 RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO VERIFY 

3 SMALL BUSINESS OWNERSHIP. 

4 (a) CLARIFICATION.—Subsection (f) of section 8127 

5 of title 38, United States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

7 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘To be eligi8 ble’’; 

9 (B) by inserting after ‘‘or the veteran.’’ the 

10 following new sentence: ‘‘Application for inclu11 sion in the database shall constitute permission 

12 under section 552a of title 5 (commonly re13 ferred to as the Privacy Act) for the Secretary 

14 to access such personal information maintained 

15 by the Secretary as may be necessary to verify 

16 the information contained in the application.’’; 

17 and 

18 (C) by inserting after the sentence added 

19 by subparagraph (B) the following new sub20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(B) If the Secretary receives an application for 

22 inclusion in the database from an individual whose 

23 status as a veteran cannot be verified because the 

24 Secretary does not maintain information with re25 spect to the veteran status of the individual, the Sec26 retary may not include the small business concern 


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1 owned or controlled by the individual in the database 

2 maintained by the Secretary until the Secretary re3 ceives such information as may be necessary to 

4 verify that the individual is a veteran.’’; and 

5 (2) by amending paragraph (4) to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(4) No small business concern may be listed in the 

8 database until the Secretary has verified that— 

9 ‘‘(A) the small business concern is owned and 

10 controlled by veterans; and 

11 ‘‘(B) in the case of a small business concern for 

12 which the person who owns or controls the concern 

13 indicates that the person is a veteran with a service14 connected disability, that the person is a veteran 

15 with a service-connected disability.’’. 

16 (b) APPLICABILITY.—In the case of a small business 

17 concern included in the database as of the date of the en18 actment of this Act for which, as of such date, the Sec19 retary of Veterans Affairs has not verified the status of 

20 such concern in accordance with paragraph (4) of sub21 section (f) of section 8127 of title 38, United States Code, 

22 as amended by subsection (a), not later than 60 days after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

24 notify the person who owns or controls the concern that— 


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1 (1) the Secretary is required to verify the status 

2 of the concern in accordance with such paragraph; 

3 (2) verification of such status shall require that 

4 the person who owns or controls the concern apply 

5 for inclusion in the database in accordance with such 

6 subsection, as so amended; 

7 (3) application for inclusion in the database 

8 shall constitute permission under section 552a of 

9 title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as 

10 the Privacy Act), for the Secretary to access such 

11 personal information maintained by the Secretary as 

12 may be necessary to verify the information contained 

13 in the application; and 

14 (4) the person who owns or controls the concern 

15 must submit to the Secretary an affirmative ac16 knowledgment of the requirement under paragraph 

17 (3) within 90 days of receiving the Secretary’s notice 

18 of such requirement or the concern shall be removed 

19 from the database. 

Æ 


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