AGO 2007-20.

• Court: Kansas

Kansas Attorney General Opinions 2007. AGO 2007-20. ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2007-20The Honorable L. Candy Ruff State Representative 40th District 321 Arch Leavenworth, Kansas 66048Re: Soldiers, Sailors and Patriotic Emblems--Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs--Prosecution of Claims Before Federal Veterans' Administration; Veterans Claims Assistance Program Synopsis: K.S.A. 73-1211 is no longer the applicable statute in determining whether the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs itself can prosecute claims on behalf of veterans before the federal Veterans' Administration. As of 1997, K.S.A. 73-1210a, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 43, § 1, applies in making that determination. This provision authorizes the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs to prosecute claims on behalf of veterans before the federal Veterans' Administration. Reading the provisions of K.S.A. 73-1210a, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 43, § 1, in pari materia with the provisions of K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 73-1234, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 151, § 1, the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs is not required to prosecute all veterans claims through the veterans service organizations that are participating in the grant program, but it is precluded from prosecuting those claims that have been referred to the veterans service organizations that are participating in the grant program. Cited herein: K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 73-1209; K.S.A. 73-1210a, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 43, § 1; K.S.A. 73-1211; K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 73-1234, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 151, § 1; 2007 HB 2210; 2006 HB 3015; 38 U.S.C. § 5902; 38 C.F.R. § 14.628.* * * Dear Representative Ruff: You request our opinion on (1) whether K.S.A. 73-1211 precludes the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs (KCVA) itself from prosecuting claims on behalf of veterans before the federal Veterans' Administration, and (2) whether K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 73-1234, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 151, § 1, requires the KCVA to prosecute all veterans claims only through other veterans service organizations that are participating in the service grant program administered by the KCVA. I. Kansas statutes Both statutes about which you inquire address veterans service organizations prosecuting claims on behalf of veterans with the federal Veterans' Administration. K.S.A. 73-1211 provides:

"All claims filed with the federal veterans' administration by the Kansas veterans' commission shall be prosecuted by an accredited representative of one of the participating veterans' organizations. No employee of any veterans' organization shall participate in or receive any funds hereinafter appropriated or made available to the Kansas veterans' commission unless such employing veterans' organization shall prosecute any and all claims to the federal veterans' administration that are referred to them or their employees by the Kansas veterans' commission."

K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 73-1234, as amended by L. 2007, Ch. 151, § 1, provides in pertinent part:

"(a) The Kansas commission on veterans affairs shall establish and administer a veterans claims assistance program in accordance with this section to improve the coordination of veterans benefits counseling in Kansas to maximize the effective and efficient use of taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every veteran is served and receives claims counseling and assistance. . . . No employee of the Kansas commission on veterans affairs shall act as an agent with power of attorney for any claimant.

"(b) The veterans claims assistance program shall be implemented and administered through annual service grants to eligible veterans service organizations pursuant to grant agreements entered into with the Kansas commission on veterans affairs in accordance with this section."

II. Federal law The Secretary of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs may recognize representatives of organizations that can act on behalf of veterans in the preparation and prosecution of claims before the federal Veterans' Administration.(fn1) The term recognition, as used in the regulations on representing claimants before the federal Veterans' Administration, means certification of organizations by the Department of Veterans Affairs to represent claimants.(fn2) Similarly, accreditation refers to the Department's recognition of representatives or agents who represent claimants.(fn3) A representative is a person who has been recommended by a recognized organization and accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs.(fn4) A representative or agent must file a power of attorney with each claim.(fn5) An organization that is created and primarily funded by a state to serve the needs of veterans may be recognized as a veterans organization.(fn6) The KCVA is recognized by the Secretary as a state veterans organization that may present and prosecute claims before the federal Veterans' Administration.(fn7) Currently, the KCVA has thirty-three representatives who have been accredited by the Secretary.(fn8) III. Rules of statutory interpretation The resolution of both questions requires determining whether the Kansas legislature intended to authorize the KCVA as a recognized veterans service organization that could represent veterans in the prosecution of their claims with the federal Veterans' Administration; or alternatively, whether the legislature intended to authorize the KCVA only to fund other veterans service organizations that would represent veterans in the prosecution of claims with the federal Veterans Administration. "In determining legislative intent, we are not limited to consideration of the language used in the statute. We may look to the historical background of the enactment, the circumstances attending its passage, the purpose to be accomplished, and the effect the statute may have under the various constructions suggested."(fn9) Additionally, we must consider and construe together all parts of an act in pari materia and not isolate a part or parts of an act.(fn10) "'When the interpretation of some one section of an act according to the exact and literal import of its words would contravene the manifest purpose of the legislature, the entire act should be construed according to its spirit and reason, disregarding so far as may be necessary the strict letter of the law.'"(fn11) IV. Kansas legislative history In 1945, the Kansas legislature created the Office of Veterans' Affairs (OVA), the KCVA's predecessor, to assist veterans.(fn12) G.S. 1945 Supp. 73-1206 provided: "The office of veterans' affairs shall not be empowered to file application for or to prosecute the claim of any individual for any benefit accruing to such individual under the laws administered by the United States veterans' administration." Thus, the OVA was expressly prohibited from representing veterans in their claims before the federal Veterans' Administration. The 1945 act was repealed six years later and new legislation...