Report
Meeting at Building 9, VAMC Campus
• Call to order – 9:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
• Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
• Announcements –Jerry Kyser, Chair, Mike Rivard, Vice Chair.
1. Federal Congressional Representatives
Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson
*Not present.
Senator Tina Smith – Alex Schueller
*Not present.
1st District Representative – Jim Hagedorn – Shawn Schoesser
*Not present.
2nd District Representative – Angie Craig– Tom Tschida
*Not present.
3rd District Representative – Dean Phillips – Zach Rodvold reporting
*Phillips has been sworn in and is in the process of getting established. A representative will regularly attend UVLC meetings.
*Phillips has requested Veterans Affairs among his committee priorities.
*Those interested in contacting Phillips or his office should call Zach Rodvold at (612) 382 5462.
*Phillips is interested in working on VA reforms and in working with local veterans to understand the priorities and needs of his constituents.
4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland
*Not present.
5th District Representative – Ilhan Omar – Mike Siebenaler
*Not present.
6th District Representative – Tom Emmer – Alejandra Henriquez
*Not present.
7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Meg Louwagie
*Not present.
8th District Representative – Peter Stauber – Rick Olseen
*Not present.
2. Federal Agencies
VISN 23 – Director Robert McDivitt – Andre Kok reporting
*Currently, TriWest is handling the Community Care referrals and will continue to do so until Optum Public Sector Solutions, Inc. takes over.
*There are upcoming meetings on January 8th in Minot, ND, on January 9th in Des Moines, IA, January 11th in Quincy, LA, and on January 31st in Sioux Falls, SD.
*There has been a suspension to any changes to the Caregiver Support Program that came out in December. There will be no changes or suspension of benefits while the program is being reviewed the central office.
VA Regional Office – Kim Graves – Ron Woolery reporting
*The ceiling for employees is at 892 and the regional office is currently at 870. Most of the employees they need to hire would be at the pension center. The government shutdown does not impact the VA.
*The final date for the new appeals bill is in February. They have been working on RAMP appeals.
VAHCS Minneapolis – Director Patrick J. Kelly – Mike Rosencrans reporting
*Flu shots are still available.
*The VA has received recognition as one of the best places to work in the federal government, ranking 6th in the annual survey of federal agencies. The VA is the second largest federal agency, behind the Department of Defense.
*In terms of staffing, the hospital is always in need of more nurses and doctors.
*The new podiatry center is not yet up and running. They are still in the recruitment stage.
Q. Is compensation an issue with recruiting physicians?
A. It is a problem across the country. However, most candidates prefer to go into specialized care versus primary.
Q. What is the status on the Rochester VA expansion?
A. I will have to get back to you. It is progressing.
Q. Have you seen the recent study on VA versus private care from Dartmouth College? A. Yes. According to the study, the VA outperformed private hospitals. 120 regional healthcare markets were assessed by researches and at least 1 VA facility/hospital in conjunction with Hospital Compare (https://data.medicare.gov/data/hospital-compare), a public database that compares mortality rates and patient safety indicators. One notable finding in the study indicated that VA hospitals were the best for treating heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia. Additionally, the VA ranked best among the local markets at least half the time for measures including for death rates of patients with serious complications after surgery, collapsed lung due to medical treatment, and bloodstream infections after surgery. More information can be found here (https://tdi.dartmouth.edu/news-events/veterans-health-administration-hospitals- outperform-non-vha-hospitals-most-healthcare-markets).
St. Cloud VA HCS – Director Stephen D. Black – Dave Hintgen Reporting
*January 9th is Director Stephen Black’s last day on staff. He took a position in Kentucky. An interim director will be coming in for the next several weeks. The interim director has not yet been named. The search for a new, permanent director is underway.
Ft. Snelling Cemetery – Luis Ramirez reporting
*265 internments were conducted in December. In the last fiscal year, 1103 internments total were conducted. The Memorial Rifle Squad rendered memorialization to 148 veterans this past December.
*A clean sweep of the cemetery will be conducted on February 2nd from 9:00 AM to noon. This is headed up by the Boy Scouts.
*The cemetery has stepped up outreach events and focused heavily on home hospice care centers. We want to provide increased accessibility to veterans and improve awareness of those types of benefits.
*The cemetery began providing Saturday burials a year ago on a trial basis. Currently we haven’t received any further guidance on how to proceed. It will continue as is until we receive more information from the central office.
3. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations
MN Department of Veteran Affairs – Ben Johnson reporting
*The leadership at the agency is still in place.
*The new commissioner is Larry Herke. More information about his background can be found here (https://mn.gov/mdva/about/leadership.jsp).
*All of the agency commissioners are taking their new roles and have been on the job for approximately 36 hours as of this meeting. The agency has set up meetings with as many internal groups and conducting walkthroughs. He intends to be hands-on. The agency hopes that the relationships they have developed with various veteran groups will continue to be of value to the new commissioner.
*The legislature convened on January 8th, raising questions of how open the legislature will be and how easily the people of Minnesota will be accessing it, specifically with the committee process for the House of Representatives. The DFL has revamped the committee structure. The minority lead for the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee will be Bob Dettmer. We have not met the new committee staff yet, but are looking forward to it. Currently all the committee staff are new to the process and there are no holdovers. We do not expect any changes at the Senate level and have been invited to the first committee hearing on the 24th to provide an overview at 8:30 AM in room 1100 in the State Senate Building. We are also working to introduce the commissioner to the committees.
*This year, our legislative strategy is to continue to support the CVSOs, the Commander’s Taskforce, and the UVLC’s legislative initiatives. First and foremost, this includes continued work on the Homestead Market Value Exclusion. Our main objective this year will be securing our budget. The governor has until February 19th to release his budget. The commissioner will be presenting the budget to management on January 11th.
*Assistance for homeless veterans will continue to be a priority. The governor specifically touched on housing affordability in his introductory speech.
*Specifics about legislative initiatives will be forthcoming.
*Minnesota Veterans Day On The Hill will be on March 20th. We are working with the DAV to assist in the organization of a luncheon program. The rally will be held at 1:30 PM. More information is forthcoming.
*The requests for the 2020 and 2021 budgets included significant increases, but it will depend on what the governor and the legislature are able to agree on.
Q. Following up on the report mentioned earlier, one conclusion was that outsourcing veterans healthcare should be seriously reconsidered. With that in mind, there are two new doctors that have been elected on the state level to the House. Would the UVLC and DVA consider putting together a non-binding resolution that could be promoted by House members that would sends a message to the federal legislators that outsourcing VA care is not a good idea?
A. I will certainly bring the idea forward.
Q. Do you have a link to the calendar of when meetings are happening?
A. I can send it out.
MN National Guard – Jon Jensen – Director Brian Winters reporting
*The MN National Guard supported the governor’s inauguration with the Color Guard and escorts for constitutional officers.
*We are working with the new incoming members on the state and federal side to help transition them into new officers and develop new points of contact.
*The 247th Financial Management Support Detachment is getting ready to deploy. Their deployment ceremony will be January 19th at Arden Hills Community Center at 11:30 AM.
*The Yellow Ribbon Company Kickoff with Ecolab was conducted in December. Ecolab is in the process of becoming a Yellow Ribbon Company.
*There was a Yellow Ribbon Company Kickoff with Anderson Windows on January 8th.
*Regarding the Support Our Troops license plate funds, these funds do not go toward Yellow Ribbon programs. MDVA and the Department of Military Affairs share the Support Our Troops funds. In terms of the military affairs side, those funds support our Family Readiness Groups. The funds also support the Minnesota Military Family Foundation, the Minnesota Military Radio Hour, and the Minnesota Military Museum.
*One of our legislative priorities this year will be replenishing the Yellow Ribbon account.
*The Yellow Ribbon Company Seminar will be held on March 20th at the Mall of America. T he fall seminar will be on September 5th at the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth and will involving an ESGR Boss Lift from the Twin Cities.
MN Assistance Council – Jon Lovald Reporting
*The 2019 Stand Down schedule and Vet Law clinics are being set. We are working with the Veteran Collaborative Impact group to determine if some of these events could be redesigned for greater efficiency and influence.
*The Minneapolis legal clinic will be held on January 10th. The St. Cloud legal clinic will be held the following week.
*The Spirit of Minnesota Tribute Bell is available for appearances by request.
*We are conducting a property search for two additional houses next year with the Minnesota Housing First Foundation.
*The Northeast Continuum of Care declared Functional Zero. However, this does not include Duluth.
Q. Do we have a current count on the Homeless Veterans Registry in Ramsey and Hennepin?
A. Yes, but I will have to look it up.
Q. Will the bell be available for Armistice or Veterans Day?
A. Yes, as long as there is an organization that wants to have it at their event and a vehicle with a trailer hitch.
Q. There have been pushes in the past to get the legislature to make Veterans Preference for homelessness a requirement by all counties, though ultimately these have not gone through. Is this something MACV will continue to work on?
A. I will provide an update for the next meeting. Hennepin and Ramsey both have new mayors. It’s difficult to say whether it would be easier to push this as a state issue versus county by county. However, some counties already do this.
Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser reporting
*The next MAG meeting will be on January 14th at 9:00 AM at 400 North room.
*The next meeting of the House Veteran Affairs Committee will be on January 15th at 2:30 PM in the Capital Building 120.
Q. Would it be appropriate to start pushing for a Veterans Omnibus bill at the MAG meeting?
A. That will depend on where the new House members stand.
County Veteran Service Offices – Robbie Robinson reporting
*Commissioner Herke will be visiting soon to familiarize himself with what the CVSOs do.
*We are continuing to work on the new website. It will be under review by the end of the month and we hope to launch it by the end of February.
*March 20th is Veterans Day on the Hill. It is the MN CVSOs turn to head that up. Planning is underway.
*Legislative priorities include the property tax exclusion, support for CVSO grants, and ensuring that MDVA has sufficient funds for the new veterans homes. We are also looking at the expansion of the Veterans Court state wide, working alongside with the Veterans Defense Initiative.
*Robbie Robinson will be recoding a short piece on My Minnesota Military radio next week and will be conducting a live interview with them on January 24th.
Disabled American Veterans – Trent Dilks
*Not present.
Veterans For Peace – David Cooley reporting
*This (https://www.hadit.com) is a good resource for those interested in issues facing disabled veterans.
*On December 28th, the Star Tribute put out an editorial that spoke negatively about the VA. This had to do with the VA using only a small fraction of funds to promote their anti-suicide message. Veterans for Peace wrote a counter to that, which ran on January
*The New York Times put out an article on January 4th that the new generations of vets are competing against the old for resources. This is worth considering since it lays out some of the generational divides between the groups. The Big Six carry most of the weight with legislative agendas.
Paralyzed Veterans of America – Tim Valentine reporting
*Due to budget cuts, we will not be holding our annual trapshooting fundraiser. Instead, we will host a Midwest fishing tournament for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa in Eely during the month of June. We are looking to raise approximately $15,000. Any help would be appreciated.
Minnesota Humanities Center – Blake Rondeau
*Not present.
Project Got Your Back – Allison Alstrin Reporting
*We have cards for the new Minnesota Military Veteran Exchange and have opportunities on the website for organizations to promote themselves under the collaborator page. We are also soliciting feedback on the website.
*We have decided to host a Minnesota Military and Veteran rally on January 16th from 5:00 to 7:30 PM at the Uptown VFW. There will be short remarks at 6:00 PM. Networking opportunities will be available. Food will be provided.
*The Spirit of Minnesota Tribute Bell will be at the rally. Twin Cities Veterans Initiative – Tommy Johnson reporting
*The 501 C3 has been obtained. The veteran suicide study for year 14 cities is moving along. Anoka has signed the data sharing agreement, meaning that all unnatural deaths in that county will be reported to the University of Alabama by name, birthdate, and social security number. All of those names will then be run through the DOD to determine potential veteran status. The study will include members of the Reserve, Guard, and retired veterans.
*Tommy Johnson has stepped down as the executive director to focus on pushing a Veterans Preference bill.
*The VA is discussing setting up a Homeless Veterans Summit at the VA MC as they did in 2015. They are considering a date in April. We are in discussion with MDVA over this. MDVA is looking at setting up a property owner/property manager summit with a listening session to determine what is working and what is not, and how to fix things moving forward. We are considering Veterans Choice and FHPAP (Family Housing Prevention and Assistance Program). Numbers indicate that there were 1,071 18+ individuals who served in Hennepin county from July 1st 2017 to June 30th 2018. Out of that number, only 13 were veterans. Additionally, a source stated that FHPAP providers are instructed to refer to veteran agencies. This is a problem we will need to address moving forward.
MN Military Museum at Camp Ripley – Randal Dietrich reporting
*Randal Dietrich has been elected as the new secretary of the UVLC.
*The next Vietnam War Roundtable will be on January 21st at 7:00 PM at Concordia University in St. Paul. The focus this time will be on naval operations in the South China Sea.
4. Announcements
The next UVLC meeting will be on February 6th.