Report

•  The next UVLC meeting will be held virtually on February 17th at 9:30 AM.
• Call to order – 09:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance
• Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests
• Announcements – Jerry Kyser, Chair; Mike Rivard, Vice Chair
• Online Meeting Format –
  • Reports from Congressional Representatives and Senators, followed by Federal agencies (in order listed below)
  • Report format – limited to three minutes
  • Address as many of the following questions as possible and submit written responses/additional materials to UCVLC secretary Randal Dietrich after the meeting.
    • Major events
    • What is going well?
    • What are the challenges?
    • What do you need in terms of programs or legislature
• Please contact Jerry Kyser to ensure all contact information is current.

1. Federal Congressional Representatives and Senators

Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson reporting

• The National Defense Authorization Act was passed. All of those funds are now being allocated. The Newborn Care Improvement Act also passed, which increases the number of days that veterans who give birth at a VA facility can spend at a VA hospital if necessary. The Pandemic Care for Burn Pit Exposure Act also passed.

• Lloyd Austin was nominated as the Secretary of Defense. He will be the first African American Secretary of Defense in American history.

• Hearings are underway for the Veterans Affairs secretary. Denis McDonough has been nominated.

Senator Tina Smith – Alex Schueller

Not present.

1st District Representative – Jim Hagedorn – Joe Steck reporting

• Hagedorn’s office is reviewing a number of legislative items that they signed onto last session to ensure that none of the wording has changed before pushing them forward.

• Hagedorn’s office is also putting the final touches on Minnesota’s 100th Anniversary for the VFW. Announcements will be forthcoming if the Minnesota delegation signs off.

• Hagedorn has also spoken with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, and the CVSOs to push their priorities this session.

2nd District Representative – Angie Craig – Mike Siebenaler

Not present.

3rd District Representative – Dean Phillips – Rollie Olson reporting

• Phillips has joined the Small Business Committee.

• Phillips also visited a number of the Minnesota National Guard troops who were protecting the capital last week. He brought them some Pearson Salted Nut Rolls alongside Lieutenant-General Jensen.

• Twenty-eight candidates were nominated to the service academies.

Q. The house is in session now. Are the legislators there, or do they conduct business by Zoom?
A. Phillips himself is in D.C., but some business is conducted virtually.

4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland reporting

• Sixteen candidates were nominated to the service academies and are awaiting decisions from the academies.

• McCollum was confirmed as the chair of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee on January 26th. In fiscal year 2021, the bill funded 1.35 million active-duty service members, 764,000+ civilians, 336,500 Army National Guard, and 108,00 Air National Guard. There are fourteen university-affiliated research centers that lead the way in innovation cyber security, renewal energy, and more with the Department of Defense. Additionally, the Defense Healthcare Program rolled in at $33.3 billion last year.

• McCollum will continue to serve as the vice-chair of Interior Environment Appropriations. She will also serve on the Ag Rural Development, FDA, and related agencies appropriations subcommittee.

• McCollum’s physical office is staffed but not open to the public.

5th District Representative – Ilhan Omar – Akolade Gbadamosi

Not present.

6th District Representation – Tom Emmer – Alejandra Henriquez

Not present.

7th District Representative – Michelle Fischbach – Craig Bishop

Not present.

8th District Representative – Pete Stauber – Margaret Cavanaugh reporting

• Seventeen candidates were nominated to the service academies. Three have received appointments so far.

• Most veteran-involved casework this year concerns disability or compensation claims because the National Personnel Records Center is so far behind that the VA has been unable to get copies of their military records. We have written to the VA about this issue.

2. Federal Agencies

VISN 23 – Ron Woolery

Not present.

VBA Regional Office – Kim Graves – Ron Sackett reporting

• Introducing Johanna Yanez, the manager of the Pension Management Center (PMC). She is the manager of the three largest pension centers in the country. Her group processes claims for non-service-connected disability pension, survivor benefits, disability and indemnity compensation, and burial benefits.

• As part of the NDAA, three more conditions have been added to the Agent Orange presumptive list. These include bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism or Parkinson-like symptoms. The VA is in the process of reviewing to determine the next steps and will provide the information as soon as possible. In the meantime, veterans are encouraged to submit claims for these conditions. However, there is no official guidance yet and no sense of what the effective dates will be.

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

• We continue to push forward with the telehealth program. As more vaccines become available, the number of face-to-face appointments has also increased.

• The weekend of the 23rd and the 24th was the first weekend push of vaccines for veterans. In total, 949 veterans received vaccinations on Saturday and 940 received vaccinations on Sunday.

• We continue to move forward with vaccinations seven days a week. Veterans will get a letter when they have been identified as a vaccine candidate explaining all of the details. Vaccinations will be by appointment only. Veterans will also need to get a flu shot two weeks prior to receiving their vaccine. The vaccine also takes two shots.

• This year is the 75th Anniversary of the Veterans Health Administration. The VHA will be conducting celebrations. The Minneapolis VA will highlight a number of academic affiliations, since Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota are the second oldest academic affiliated hospital in the VA system. We will be highlighting positive work the VHA has done over the years.

• This year is the 100th Anniversary of the Minneapolis VA or the Minneapolis hospital taking care of veterans in some manner.

• A form letter will go out when a veteran is identified as eligible for the vaccine. Information is included for how to schedule an appointment. Information about the vaccine itself is also available on the Minneapolis VA website.

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

• Vaccination efforts are underway. The St. Cloud has a slightly different program than Minneapolis but is making good progress. Through Monday, over 2,100 outpatient veterans in the highest risk group have received vaccinations. This week, St. Cloud is focused on providing the second doses to the community living center residents and VA healthcare personnel. We are moving through the risk prioritization model provided by the CDC and VHA in concert with the vaccine supply and are now scheduling veterans who are seventy-five years of age or older. Efforts are dependent on the supply rate. Phase 1B, veterans who are seventy-five or older, describes over 9,000 veterans in the St. Cloud area. The sixty-five- to seventy-four-year-old group includes almost 15,000 veterans.

• Veterans will be contacted when vaccines are available. We ask for your patience.

• Ground will be broken on the new parking garage on February 1st. This will cause some disruption around the main entrance. Temporary lots will be added in the meantime. This will be a two-year project.

Ft. Snelling Cemetery – John Knapp

Not present.

3. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations

MN Dept. of Veteran Affairs – Larry Herke – Ben Johnson reporting

• The governor released his proposed budget on January 26th with recommendations for all the state enterprises, including the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. MNDVA received all they requested, including the base budget and an operational increase to cover operations in programs and the veterans homes. Two years ago, MNDVA identified savings and didn’t secure an increase, self-funding an increase. Now the time has come to ask for additional support. The operational increase will cover existing services and retain good employees.

• We are also pursuing a homelessness initiative to develop a program similar to the HUD/VASH program run by the federal VA. This will be funded and target veterans on the veterans registry in particular, and former service members who are not eligible for HUD/VASH vouchers for whatever reason. This will be an ongoing initiative.

• We also have an initiative to address veteran suicide in Minnesota. The governor approved a request for a million dollars to start an office within MNDVA with two staffers, consolidate the existing resources, and work with the federal partners to identify opportunities to reduce the annual number of veteran suicides. The documented number of annual veteran suicides is 100, but MNDVA believes the actual number is closer to 130.

• We are looking for some one-time funding for the 9/11 and Global War on Terrorism task force. This September is the 20th anniversary of the attack on Washington and the World Trade Center. We would like to collect and consolidate the stories of Minnesotan service members and their families and put together an operation to commemorate those sacrifices over the last twenty years, as well as an event held in September of 2021 to commemorate the 20th anniversary. A volunteer taskforce has already been mobilized. UVLC’s Randal Dietrich has played an integral role in the project.

• In terms of policy initiatives, there are a number of cleanup items that were passed out of committee last year but didn’t get a final vote due to COVID.

• The Veterans Restorative Justice Act was recently heard in the senate. Chair Rodger Chamberlain is still preparing it in the senate. It has a new author in the house and will get a new hearing soon.

Q. Will a message be sent out about the 9/11 and Global War on Terrorism task force so we can coordinate?
A. Yes. Please direct specific questions to Mike McKellen.

Q. Will the grant committee be convened this year? It was canceled last year.
A. Yes, we anticipate spinning it back up this year. COVID interrupted the operations of that particular committee. We don’t have a specific date yet, but we expect it to be live in summer 2021.

MN Military Affairs – Jon Jensen – Brian Winter –Annette Kuyper reporting

• Service members within the MN National Guard have returned from covering the inauguration. The MN National Guard has approximately 1,000 service members currently deployed. Over the last four years, the MN National Guard has averaged around 1,000 service members deployed each year. We anticipate another 1,400 deploying within 2021 into 2022, in addition to the state active duty to help with the COVID fight. We anticipate state active duty to cover the George Floyd trials in March and into the summer.

• After thirteen successful years of the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program, we are reviewing the program with new taskers from General Manke. The community networks will continue to help fill the gaps in services and support for all service members and veterans of any era and all military families.

• Information for the new program will be rolled out soon. Invitations will also be sent out for the May 14th Joining Community Forces gathering. There will be an in-person option at Camp Ripley as well as a virtual component. More information will be forthcoming, including an agenda.

• Travelers Insurance in St. Paul will present their action plan to state board on the afternoon of January 27th. If accepted, they will become the 74th Yellow Ribbon Company.

MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) – Neal Loidolt – Jon Lovald reporting

• For the first time in many months, the statewide homeless registry number is back under 300. WCCO recently highlighted MACV and other organization’s efforts to end homelessness on the Home for the Holidays program, including MN DVA, the Yellow Ribbon Network, CVSOs, and Disabled American Veterans. We are thankful for all the help from other veteran organizations and our elected officials.
• We continue to add more units to our housing portfolio and more options with landlords and other options.
• We have no standdowns currently planned.

Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser reporting

• The next MAG meeting will be held virtually on February 8th at 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. Please contact Representative Dettmer’s legislative assistant, Rebecca Mead, for an invitation.
• Our objective is to get legislators and interested party stakeholders together so they can come up with legislation. Recently, Representative Dettmer has focused on the tax regulations for VFWs, American Legion, and other organizational posts so they don’t have to pay property taxes. However, the counties have opposed this as a potential loss of tax revenue.

Q. Andrew Peters with the American Legion District 1 has been working since 2018 to get the counties involved. A Zoom meeting with Senator Carl Nelson, chair of the senate Tax Committee, has been scheduled to discuss this issue. Legion and VFW posts were supposed to get a 33% reduction, but none have received it. The Department of Revenue has been dragging their heels. Senate File 51 will hopefully address these issues and enact some enforcement measures. Alan Lund, director of Allied Charities, has also been contacted to help with the gambling tax. Additionally, about a year ago there was a discussion about veterans’ issues and creating a resolution to change the discharge reentry program with an eight-week training program to help them exit the military and to address both medical issues and benefits. Is there any interest in continuing this?
A. The Yellow Ribbon Program serves that purpose now.

Q. Connie Haddeland suggested looking into the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP), a multi federal agency that works with veterans when they depart the military. It is open to everyone. There are systems in place, but the issue continues.
A. Thank you.

Disabled American Veterans –Trent Dilks reporting

• If a veteran is less than 50% and a military retiree, there is currently an offset. This means that it takes some of the retirement pay for the VA disability compensation. HR 333, the Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act, would allow for concurrent receipt for veterans who are service connected and less than 50% disabled. It would also extend eligibility of concurrent receipt to Chapter 61 veterans. HR 333 currently has no cosponsors in the new congress. We would like support on this.
• Butch Whitehead remains the national commander and has returned to his role as department adjutant. He is also the command sergeant-major of the 34th Infantry Division. Trent Dilks now serves as the executive director for the DAV Minnesota foundation, as well as the legislative director.

Q. HF 182, authored by Bob Dettmer, will eliminate the property tax on the VFW. The senate file is 259, authored by Senator Lang. He is also the chair of the senate Veterans Committee. This is a priority.
A. Thank you.

Q. Does HR 333 include separation pay as well, or is it just for people who retire?
A. Please send me more details about the question and I will get you an answer.

Q. Andrew Peters will have a discussion with Senator Nelson about SF 259 on January 28th to hopefully add an amendment where the Department of Revenue will inform all county commissioners and auditors to push this tax to all Legion and VFW posts as identified by the Department of Veteran Affairs.
A. Thank you.

MN CVSO – Greg Peterson reporting

• We have received word that President Trump signed HR 7105 on the 5th of January that expanded the timeline on what is considered the Vietnam era from 1964 back to November 1st of 1955. This adds nine additional years of eligibility for VA compensation and pension. However, we have received no information about this from anyone. Please look into this.

• MN CVSO is now meeting monthly. We have approved a white paper that addresses the flawed population data in the Gross Distribution of Expenditures (GDX) every year. It also lists the number of veterans by county, the number that drives the CVSO grant funding. There are $1.1 million allocated to the counties annually based on veteran population data. Counties with more veterans get more money. The VA conducted a study that projected that from 2015 to 2045, the Minnesota population of veterans will decrease by 57% down from 347,000 to 148,000. This will impact not just the CVSOs, but any other entities that deal with veterans. However, these numbers do not include families and widows even though they receive services.

Q. HR 7105 opened up the enrollment period for the American Legion back to 1954. A white paper was released concerning the bill. Please contact Mike Maxa for more information.
A. Thank you.

Vets for Peace – Arlys Herem reporting

• Arlys Herem and Jeff Roy serve on the national committee for the Save Our VA campaign and will be working to fully fund, staff, and expand VA services over the next year.

Minnesota Humanities Center – Blake Rondeau reporting

• The MN Humanities Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary in October. It is unclear whether that program will also loop in the Veterans Voices awards at this point, and whether or not the event will be held virtually. More information will be forthcoming in February.

• We plan to create a community advisory board of veterans and non-veterans to discuss how to boost community engagement across the state.

Paralyzed Veterans of America –Tim Valentine reporting

• The national legislative week will begin in the first week of March. It will be held virtually this year.

• We support the Veterans Restorative Justice Act.

Project Got Your Back / MNME – Paul Davis reporting

• Paul Davis has taken over from Allison Alstrin, though she will remain on the board during the transition.

• The MNME network has reached a stable/self-sustaining phase in its growth. Project Got Your Back is also in the process of launching the next steps with the navigator program in 2021.

MN Military and Veterans Museum – Randal Dietrich reporting

• We are in the process of designing a new military museum at Camp Ripley.

• The name has been changed to include the word “veteran” in the title.

• The museum is gathering 9/11 and War on Terror stories, which will become part of the museum’s permanent collection.

• The museum’s first virtual 9/11 roundtable happened on January 25th. A roundtable will be held every month throughout 2021. The next event will be held on February 22nd and will look at the history of the region dating back to the aftermath of WWI. All roundtables will be virtual.

• Snowglobe PR has been helping to spread the word about the roundtables.

MN Historical Society – Chris Belland reporting

• We are busy planning the new season. Many plans will depend on how the summer looks.

• Work on the visitor’s center continues. The staff plan on moving in later in 2021 and opening the center in 2022.

• The official name remains Historic Fort Snelling. There have been no updates with the name change.

The Posse Foundation Announces Tuition Scholarship – Sidney Johnson reporting

• Submitted after the meeting.

• “I am a Navy veteran who served a tour in Afghanistan and received a scholarship to Vassar College in New York through the Posse Foundation. They also do career services and help with job placement after school. Anyone who was active duty, active reservist or National Guard qualifies to apply. As an alumni of this program, they recently contacted me to explain that because of Covid the application numbers are very low this year and so anyone who applies will have a very good chance of receiving a scholarship. Please feel free to contact me with any questions: Sidney Johnson III (732) 963-5233.”

• More information can be found at https://www.possefoundation.org/

4. Discussion Period

a. Mike Rivard provided an update on the UVLC veterans survey. The information deck has been drafted and will be ready for review soon. The next step will be getting formal sponsors. The third step will be designing the questions collaboratively. Sample questions will then be shared on a test survey for review. We are working with the CVSOs and the Commanders Taskforce, among others.

5. The next UVLC meeting will be held on virtually February 17th.