Report

Virtual Meeting

• Call to order – 09:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
• Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
• Announcements – Jerry Kyser, Chair; Mike Rivard, Vice Chair
• Introducing Ruby de Bellis with Senator Klobuchar’s office.

1. Federal Congressional Representatives and Senators

Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson reporting

• Within the National Defense Authorization Act, Klobuchar is pushing to include the new care improvement act, S835, the Pandemic Care for Burn Pit Exposure Act, S3868, the Federal Voting Assistance program amendments that was introduced with Senator Cornyn. The Pandemic Care for Burn Pits Act will specifically track veterans who test positive for COVID-19 and track any further complications along with known respiratory issues. The Federal Voting Assistance program amendments ensure that veterans have access to voting and studies how to ensure that service members who are abroad or have different duty stations will always have the right to vote.
• Klobuchar also supports the Newborn Care Improvement Act, which will ensure that mothers with complications will have extended stays with the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals.
• The office recently finished the Service Academy nominations process. Interviews have been completed and the finalized recommendations are due to be submitted shortly.

Senator Tina Smith – Alex Schueller

• Not present.

1^st District Representative – Jim Hagedorn – Joe Steck

• Not present.

2^nd District Representative – Angie Craig – Mike Siebenaler

• Not present.

3^rd District Representative – Dean Phillips – Rollie Olson

• Not present.

4^th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland reporting

• Though McCollum’s office is not currently open to the public, it is manned by a skeleton crew every day.
• The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act with a veto-proof majority. The president has some sticking points he might try to challenge.
• Changes are underway with House leadership and appropriations.
• As the vice-chair of Defense Appropriations, there is a possibility McCollum will become the chair of Defense Appropriations. More information will be forthcoming as the committee and caucuses make decisions in January.
• Academy interviews were conducted virtually.

5^th District Representative – Ilhan Omar – Akolade Gbadamosi

• Not present.

6^th District Representation – Tom Emmer – Alejandra Henriquez reporting

• Emmer voted in favor of several pieces of legislation to support veterans, including [unclear] to National Parks and the Health Fund for Wounded Veterans Recreation Act, which would allow veterans with service-connected disabilities to qualify for free entrances to national parks. This includes [unclear] for the National Park services.
• Emmer supported the Security for Veterans Act, which requires the VA to ensure [unclear] safety and policy act, as well as quality of care. The VA will also be required to report on the measures they have taken to improve the care policies to improve accountability.

7^th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Meg Louwagie

• Not present.

8^th District Representative – Pete Stauber – Margaret Cavanaugh

• Not present.

2. Federal Agencies

VISN 23 – Ron Woolery reporting

• VISN 23 continues to care for all veterans across the VISN network. Some face-to-face interactions are down, but telehealth services have increased approximately 1000%. Surgical services have and will continue to be available as needed. VISN’s COVID challenges mirror those faced by other organizations and healthcare systems.
• There were a number of concerns about PPE early on. VISN has a large supply of PPE across the network. Every facility has at least a 60-day supply stock on hand.
• The FDC recently met to approve the Pfizer vaccine. VISN has a plan in place for distribution and has conducted dry runs to prepare. All eight facilities are ready to administer the vaccine when it arrives. However, it is unclear when the vaccine will be delivered or how many doses the facilities will receive. This vaccine requires specialized equipment, including freezers that go to minus 70 degrees, which VISN has on hand.

VBA Regional Office – Kim Graves reporting

• The Whipple federal building remains open to the public. However, the regional office is not open to the public. Extensive signage is available at the building to direct veterans about how to get ahold of the right people to assist them by telephone. The telephone lines are staffed from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
• Counselors for the Veteran Readiness and Employment Program, formally known as the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program, continue to do tele-counseling so veterans can receive the help they need. VBA’s employees continue to maintain a maximum telework posture and continue to adjudicate claims. There are some employees in the office to ensure building operations are maintained.
• VBA expects to continue in a maximum telework situation for the foreseeable future, following guidance from the Federal Office of Personnel Management.
• In terms of operations and claims processing, CMP exams are being conducted by contract employees and VHA partners. VBA has been able to manage the load of returning exams and resolve more claims every day.
• There have been some delays with the Federal Records Center and the National Personnel Records Center, which VBA relies on. They are operating at a reduced capacity due to local restrictions with COVID.

Mpls VA HCS – Director Patrick J. Kelly – Brad Doboszenski reporting

• Telehealth providers have been very busy.
• Preparations for vaccine distribution are underway. More information will be forthcoming. Updates for vaccinations or other COVID information are available on (minneapols.va.gov). We suggest subscribing for email updates.
• We encourage everyone to get flu shots.
• The Minneapolis VA has tried to continue with pre-COVID operations, along with a number of virtual town halls. The next is scheduled for December 10^th with the Maplewood CBOC. Other meetings will continue after January 1^st to include CVSOs and congressional town halls.

St. Cloud VA HCS – Brent A. Thelen – Barry Venable reporting

• All care sites continue to operate, and most services remain available. However, COVID restrictions have been put in place to keep the medical center and staff safe. Veterans have responded positively thus far.
• There will be prioritization with vaccine distribution. As more supplies become available, vaccines will be offered to all veterans enrolled in the VA healthcare system who want one. This process will take time.
• There is no need to call or reserve a vaccine. We will reach out to you when the time comes.
• A new pharmacy check-in and coagulation clinic were opened in Building Four, as well as an expanded occupational therapy clinic in Building 116, the rehabilitation center that was built in 2016 with some sections that were closed off for further construction. Construction has since been completed and the building is fully open to the public.
• Expansion efforts continue on Building 111, the outpatient mental health clinic. The anticipated grand open will happen in the spring.
• Work will commence on a new parking ramp in front of Building 1 sometime in the winter, which will cause some disturbances. More information will be forthcoming.
• Cloud has recently transitioned to the Beneficiary Travel Support System, an online self-service system for filling travel pay claims.
• Back in April, the VA held billing for copays and other billings. Letters have been going out reminding veterans that the bills have only been put on hold, and that bills will be sent out starting in January. Waver and other programs are available as needed.

Ft. Snelling Cemetery – John Knapp reporting

• Snelling has been impacted by COVID but continues to provide services as normal as possible under the circumstances. Families are restricted to ten members or less at services and beholden to safety protocols such as masks and social distancing. Services are still being conducted, including honor services.
• Wreathes Across America will still be placing wreathes on graves, but there will be no public ceremony or volunteers this year. A small group will deliver the wreathes and conduct a small, private ceremony that will be broadcasted on the Wreathes Across America Facebook page on December 19^th.
• Another cemetery for veterans was recently opened in Harshaw, Wisconsin in August. The first burials were conducted in October.
• Last year, 4,375 burials were conducted at Ft. Snelling. COVID has impacted the numbers. Many families have chosen to delay burials until a time where it is safe to have a larger ceremony.

3. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations

MN Dept. of Veteran Affairs – Larry Herke – Cole Trace reporting

• There was a legacy bill that recertified $250,000 for the MN Medal of Honor memorial before the regular legislative session ended. If all goes well, it will be built by the old Veterans Services building by the reflecting pool.
• $6.2 million in COVID relief grants was set aside to financially support veterans impacted by COVID. Money is still available if you know of a veteran in need.
• The legislature passed an omnibus Capital Investment and Tax bill in October, HF 1, during the fifth special session. There was $6.3 million in asset preservation for the agencies, which the MNDVA has been using to repair veterans homes across the state. MDVA also received $100,000 to complete the construction of a greenhouse at the Fergus Falls home. $350,000 was allotted to the Martin County Veterans Memorial, a million dollars was given to the DNR for a 32-mile Camp Ripley Veterans State Trail around Brainard and Little Falls. Five million dollars was allocated for the Veterans Memorial Greenway in Dakota County. Additional asset preservation funding was set aside for safety and security upgrades at the veterans homes. Finally, the bill included an extension of the Homestead Market Value Inclusion Act for surviving spouses. This is the one-time transfer that the DAV has been working on for several sessions.

Q. Is the SOT license plate program still available?
A. It is currently on hold. More information will be shared when it becomes available.

MN Military Affairs – Shawn Manke – Annette Kuyper reporting

• Currently, the MN National Guard has over a thousand reservists deployed worldwide. Many Yellow Ribbon networks and companies are fulfilling wish lists for care packages.
• Approximately 500 reservists have stayed activated for COVID relief in long-term care facilities. Some are away from their families and some are not. All were provided Thanksgiving meals. Additionally, Yellow Ribbon Community Networks filled 285 Thanksgiving meal bags for military families and veterans across the state.
• Currently, many Yellow Ribbon Companies are still working on their Yellow Ribbon Company designation.
• The Action Plan Review Board has approved the Northern Dakota County Yellow Ribbon Network, including Mendota, Lilydale, West St. Paul, and Mendota Heights.
• The review board has also approved Grand Casino Hinckley and Mille Lacs as the 74^th Yellow Ribbon Company. Both Grand Casino and Northern Dakota County are working on proclamations in 2021.
• The John Bessey Junior Chapter of the US Army is proceeding with Toys for Military Kids. However, because they cannot collect toys from company sites this year, they are offering $100 gift cards to military and veteran families who are in need over the holidays. To access those, go to one of MN Military Affair’s fourteen Soldier Readiness sites across the state at the National Guard armories, and the Soldier and Family Readiness Specialist will help process their request.

MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) – Neal Loidolt – Shaun Riffe reporting

• This has been a difficult year for homelessness. Despite the challenges, MACV experienced no lag time in switching to remote work with face-to-face work as needed.
• New programs include an emergency housing program running through a hotel and direct outreach with the local encampment. The combination of the two has made good in-roads on assisting the hardest to serve in reaching the next step. Building trust has been essential. The CARES Act allocated funding to facilitate this and MACV hopes to continue this work even after the pandemic ends.
• There were approximately 237 people on the homeless veterans registry at the beginning of the year. The number is over 300 today. Within the ten continuums of care within Minnesota, MACV had five that declared a functional zero, meaning there was a quick and ready solution for a veteran who presented as homeless. Interestingly, the five surrounding suburban counties were also able to declare a functional zero despite the pandemic. Work continues on Central (St. Cloud and St. Louis County). Leaning into 2021, MACV expects them to hit a functional zero as well. The greatest work to be done is still in Ramsey and Hennepin County.
• MACV is conducting another Home for The Holidays Fundraiser campaign with WCCO. Though there is no telethon this year, stories about MACV’s work will air every Wednesday.

Commander’s Task Force – Todd Kemery Reporting

• The Commander’s Task Force managed to keep up their monthly meetings and attended the six previous special legislative sessions. We plan to continue fighting for the Veterans Justice Act.
• The one-time transfer for the Homestead Market Value Exclusion Act was passed.
• The monthly Commander’s Taskforce meeting was held on December 8^th. There are currently eight initiatives being reintroduced for the 2021 session.

MN CVSO – Greg Peterson and Christopher Hinton reporting

• The fall conference and business meeting were canceled. All officers have rolled over for another term. In order to maintain accreditation with the VA, all CVSOs received their annual training requirements online. All have since been completed. CVSO Ashley Lagunier of Rochester organized those efforts.
• The executive board recently approved a new strategic plan, the first time in seventy-five years that such a plan has been put in place. The plan involves four goals: having CVSOs operate consistently on a core set of standards, that the organization receives accurate and timely guidance, accurate and timely training, and that legislators recognize the support actions and laws that benefit veterans.
• MDVA has approximately $1.5 million in unspent funds in their COVID grant programs. We are always looking for more veterans to apply. One possibility will be applying those funds to copayments that are scheduled to start back up in January.
• There has been an ongoing issue with Champ VA, the health care program for dependents of 100% disabled veterans. For children between the age of eighteen and twenty-three that are attending college, the college must certify that the child is a student at the institution. Colleges can do that annually, quarterly, or on a semesterly basis. However, the student only receives eligibility for healthcare when the college certifies the student. Mankato State will not certify for an entire year. This means that students do not have healthcare coverage when the school is not in session. We plan on asking MDVA for help, whether by putting pressure on the school or speaking to the legislature.
• The numbers for how many veterans are in a given country are taken from 10% of the adult population. These numbers drive the CVSO grants. However, we also serve widows and dependents and are looking for a better way to count the number of both veterans, dependents, and widows to adjust the manning and grants.
• Senator Dettmer is waiting on file numbers before anything can be pushed through for the upcoming legislative session.

Disabled American Veterans –Trent Dilks reporting

• The DAV has been advocating against grouping veterans issues on omnibus bills, or shifting to a stand-alone veterans omnibus bill along the lines of the agricultural bill. This would mean that veterans issues would be placed on a stand-alone funding and policy bill and avoid some of the partisan bickering.
• Work continues on the Property Tax Value Exclusion Act.

Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser reporting

• Depending on the governor’s restrictions, the next MAG meeting may be virtual or pushed back to February.

Paralyzed Veterans of America – Todd Kemery reporting

• Moving forward, Tim Valentine will serve as the legislative director.
• Vikki Garrison recently joined the Legislature and Advocacy team.
• PVA is preparing for the virtual week at Washington DC on March 1^st through March 5^th. March 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th will be held virtually. It is unclear how visits with representatives will be scheduled.
• Locally, we continue to work on Personal Care Attendant reform. We have a temporary fix, but after COVID, the increase in pay for caregivers will no longer be applied. We hope to make the increase permanent.

Project Got Your Back / MNME – Allison Alstrin reporting

• Senate Bill 785, the Commander John Scott Hannon’s Veterans Mental Health Improvement Act of 2019, was signed into law in October. It works as a combination of the prevents roadmap that the president signed earlier in the year concerning suicide prevention and several other similar efforts to take a larger focus on veterans transitioning out of the military. Congressman Philips supported the bill. We are working to bring some of those resources to Minnesota for suicide prevention, and to support collective impact work.
• We have been working on building infrastructure between the various veterans groups by holding state-wide meetings and working with the state-wide steering team. The next meeting is February 3^rd from 1:00 to 2:30 PM. The meeting will be held virtually.
• Regional meetings are also being held in Duluth, St. Cloud, the Region Five Economic Development Center, South-Central Minnesota, and exploratory meetings in Rochester. In the past, meetings were also held in Fargo and Moorhead that have been slowed down due to COVID.
• Initially MNME hoped to have an expanded Stand Down in partnership with MACV at Target Field on September 11^th. The event was moved virtual with a VEAC (Veteran Experience Action Council) in partnership with the VA and VHA. There were sixteen presenters from the VBA who hosted six different topical sessions. St. Cloud, Minneapolis, and Sioux Falls were all represented. There were 474 attendees, with fifty-four unique sessions on all of the different types of needs that military and veterans face presented by a team of 172 people. Overall, thirty-seven organizations were represented among the presenters. There also thirty-nine organizations with exhibitor booths. All of the sessions are being converted over to the MNME website.

MN Military Museum – Randal Dietrich reporting

• The museum is currently closed due to the governor’s executive order. Prior that, the museum was open seven days a week during the summer. Though the museum is closed to the public, we are active behind the scenes.
• A WWII roundtable discussion was hosted on Zoom on December 9^th at 7:00 PM. This will become a monthly event.
• In January, recordings of past Vietnam war roundtables will be posted online and a new series of discussions will be begin around Global War on Terror veterans and families as part of the museum’s ongoing post-9/11 project. Anyone with a story related to the Global War on Terror can share it on the website. Thanks to Kurt Johnson’s help, many of the videos have been passed onto the Library of Congress. We are also working closely with MDVA’s 9/11 and Global War on Terrorism Remembrance Taskforce.
• Mark Richie has joined as the president of the museum’s board. Funding in the Military Affairs budget allocated $13 million to fund the construction of a 40,000 square foot location for the museum right off of highway 371 immediately adjacent to the cemetery. Designing the new facility will be a multi-year project. Another $3 million in private support has been secured to outfit the building with the tools to tell the stories of the 320,000 veterans in the state of Minnesota. We are looking to raise more though public and private support moving forward. More information about the upcoming plans are available on the MN Military Museum website (https://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org).

MN Historical Society – Chris Belland reporting

• Due to COVID, Historic Ft. Snelling has been closed for the season. However, the project for the new visitor’s center is still on track. We are hard at work at building more military spaces into the area and adding more eras to tell the stories of Minnesota veterans across the years.
• COVID unfortunately impacted the process to rename the fort. It will remain Historic Fort Snelling for the moment.

Congressman Dean Phillips – Rollie Olson reporting

• Two veteran-specific amendments were included as part of the NDAA, one regarding CVSOs and the other with Gold Star families. The CVSO bill directs the VA and the DOD to explore the effectiveness of CVSOs at demobilization sites. The Gold Star Act provides Casualty Assistance Officers to dependents if the surviving spouse is also deceased.

4. Discussion Period

Veterans Health and Welfare Survey

• This will help the UVLC trend information for veterans in a positive manner and make Minnesota more veteran and veteran-business friendly.
• Mike Rivard, the Vice Chairman of the UVLC, had discussions with the suicide task force and other veteran organizations to recognize the unique circumstances of this year. At the end of 2020, over 20 million Americans will be on employment aid. However, it looks like it will run out for 12 million Americans. In Minnesota, approximately 20% of renters are in arrears. We are looking at a large number of Minnesotans facing homelessness by the end of the year. The latest lockdown looks like it will have a heavy impact on both income and isolation. These circumstances are unprecedented.
• We are considering a short survey on veteran experiences during the pandemic and use the information to inform programs and legislation with accurate, up to date information.
• Mark Attridge, Ph.D., an expert on corporate wellness surveys, was consulted.
• Each veterans organization can get surveys of their members.
• The survey can be sent out in January, with the results analyzed that month.
• Evidence of specific needs can be used to for legislature and specific programs.
• A follow-up survey later on can speak to larger trends.
• In designing the survey, the veterans organizations will be consulted about specific trends and concerns.
• The survey will collect typical background information and whether the veteran has an affiliation with any veterans organizations, such as the VFW. It will then include information about their risk profile, such as physical and mental health, financial security, and other specific concerns. We plan on creating a model survey that all UVLC organizations can use and send out to their members.
• A suggestion was made to connect with the team on Wilder on mental health issues. The state legislature conducted a mental health survey several years ago that received an extensive writeup.

General

• The Senate Veterans Committee will meet weekly at the same time as last year, 8:30 on Thursdays. The committee is chaired by Senator Andrew Lang. The hearing room is G23 in the capital building. If in-person meetings are conducted, they will most likely have a limited capacity.
• For the house, the Veterans committee has been combined with Labor and Industry, along with Military Affairs. They will meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:30 in Room 5 of the state office building. Representative Eklund is on Military Affairs.
• A participant noted Chairman Todd Kemery with the PVA, Tommy Johnson with the VFW, Lou Michaels with the JWV, Bob Hart with the American Legion all spent time this summer working with COVID challenges to work on the one-time transfer legislation, as well as advocating for the personal care attendant bills.

5. The next UVLC meeting will be January 13^th. It is unclear whether it will be in person or not.

6. Business Meeting.