For all my FB friends and not JUST my Legion family ones because this information should be of interest to ALL Indiana residents because somewhere in your background, you either have a relative that is a veteran or, you KNOW a veteran so, bear with me because its kind of long. This is what The American Legion in Indiana has and is doing for veterans this year alone, led by Department Commander Dick Jewell: Indiana Legislation as of 31 May, 2013 Senate Concurrent Resolution 17 A resolution for the naming of a portion of the new I 69 “The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Highway”. Authored by Sen. Wyss. TAL supported this initiative with a resolution from the DEC and provided supporting testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and House Veterans Affairs Committee. This resolution has passed both houses. Senate Bill 115 Combat to College Program A bill to require State educational institutions to provide centralized admissions, financial services and develop programs to ensure success of Veteran Students. Authored by Sen. Susan Glick, LaGrange and carried in the House by Rep Shelly VanDenburgh. TAL supported this legislation by resolution emanating from Post 360. TAL testified in the Senate Education committee, appearing twice. The bill has passed both houses with only one dissenting vote. Awaiting signature of the Governor on 4 June. Senate Bill 177 Tuition rates for Veterans A bill to provide for in state tuition rates for all Veterans of the Armed Forces within one year of their completion of duty regardless of their home of record upon entering the Armed Forces. Authored by Senator Jim Banks and carried in the House by Rep. Jim Baird. TAL supported this legislation by National resolution and at the request of both the National Organization and the Department of Defense. TAL provided testimony in both houses. The bill has passed both houses, but there are significant differences in the House version because of two floor amendments. These two versions were reconciled in conference committee and the bill has been signed by the Governor. Senate Bill 290 EMT credentialing SB 290 provides for expedited licensure of Military Medical personnel when seeking license as an Indiana EMT. Credentialing legislation supported by TAL passed in the previous session did not deal with this particular issue. It has been passed by both houses and signed by the Governor. HB 1387 Accrediting County Service Officers A bill requiring all county veterans service officers to become accredited by the VA within two years and be re-accredited annually thereafter. $180,000.00 is appropriated from the Military Family Relief fund for “scholarships”, computers and software for the use of CVSO’s. Makes funding of CVSO’s a purpose of the Military Family Relief Fund. TAL testified in the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the initial funding of $46,000.00 was woefully inadequate. Subsequent to that testimony the bill was recommitted to Ways and Means wherein the $46,000.00 from the General Fund was removed and $180,000.00 was taken from the Military Family Relief Fund to fund the initiative. TAL testified in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in opposition to the funding source. An amendment totally unrelated to the intent of the legislation was added in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. The bill has passed both houses, been reconciled in conference committee and has been signed by the Governor. TAL Service Department will follow implementation of 1387 as it likely will have a direct fiscal impact to the operating budget of the Department. SB 165 A bill to increase the cap on the assessed valuation of a disabled Veteran’s home for the purposes of applying a property tax abatement. Raises the cap from $143,160 to $195,600 provides for automatic transfer of the benefit to the spouse upon death of the Veteran. Passed the Senate and awaiting action in the House where it is assigned to the Ways and Means Committee. Chairman of the House Ways and Means refused to call the bill for any action, so it has been killed by Rep Brown. Property Tax / Excise Tax issue Legislation was introduced which would have reversed the effect of last year’s ruling by the Department of Local Government and Finance that now prohibits the long standing practice of applying the Disabled Veteran’s Property Tax Abatement to the excise tax owed by Veterans who do not own real property. We were never able to get a hearing on any of the bills proposed that would have dealt with this issue. The fiscal impact statement on those bills were so badly inflated as to essentially make them not viable. Senator Susan Glick proposed a Senate Resolution asking the Indiana Veterans Commission to address this problem in it’s summer study committee. TAL provided testimony. The resolution passed the Senate and TAL will prepare testimony once again for the coming session of the IVC in support of righting this wrong.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:18:16 +0000
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