The American Legion, Department of Minnesota

DATE:  January 4, 2008

SUBJECT: Governor Pawlenty's and American Legion Legislative Initiatives

In November Governor Pawlenty announced his 35 initiatives to support Veterans and the Military.  The Commander's Task Force consisting of all nine major Veterans Organizations met and approved all of the Governor's initiatives.  The Commander's Task Force and the Legislative Chairpersons from all Veterans organizations met and recommend the following initiatives receive special emphasis during the legislative session starting in February 2008.

They are listed in order of priority.

• Veterans Claims Office: Funding would be increased for outreach and training to improve services and benefits to veterans. This includes adding a female Veterans Service Officer/Coordinator.
• Link VET linkage line funding and funding for State Veterans Case Workers: The Link Vet linkage line is a toll-free number which veterans can use to connect with veterans services officers that can help veterans and their families with an array of services such as benefits. This funding will continue the operation of the vital toll-free hotline service, including program software crisis connection contract, staffing, and training.  The case managers will provide comprehensive individual assistance to veterans and will coordinate services for veterans, military members and their families.
• County Veterans Service Officer grant increase: The Governor proposes to build upon his successful initiative to provide additional funds to County Veterans Service Offices. These competitive grants from the state can be used by counties for a variety of purposes, such as reducing homelessness, reintegration of combat veterans and emergency assistance.
• 100% Exemption from State Income Tax for Military pay and pensions: To reward their service, help recruit future soldiers, and to encourage veterans to make Minnesota their home, Governor Pawlenty proposes to fully exempt military income and pensions from state income tax.  Minnesota soldiers and veterans would be allowed to subtract 100 percent of their pay for military service, military pensions and retirement payments when computing state income tax.  These payments are currently considered taxable income.  Current members of the military, military retirees and survivors of military retirees will be allowed to claim the exemption.  It also covers the pay of all active duty service members who claim Minnesota as their state of residence. Forty-two other states currently have some degree of tax exemption for military pensions. The exemption will be phased-in over a four year period and is expected to save veterans and military members $6.3 million in taxes in the first year (FY2009) an approximately $25 million annually in (FY2012) when fully phased-in.
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) outreach and education: Existing federal screening programs will be promoted for veterans and a follow-up study about future mental health needs of returning veterans with TBI and PTSD will be conducted.
• State Soldier Assistance program supplemental funding: Additional cash assistance will be provided to this essential program, which provides assistance to soldiers in need by making emergency payments for housing, utilities, and other personal needs.

District Commanders and their Legislative committee chairman are encouraged to contact their Legislative representatives as soon as possible and ask them to support all the initiative, but with special emphasis on the Six Initiatives we have listed above. Talk to members of all your posts and have them start making the telephone calls NOW.  The sooner we have our American Legion Family Members call all our Representatives the better the end results will be.

We will notify the District Chairman when important Committee hearings are scheduled.  The more members of The American Legion Family we have present for these meeting wearing their caps the better. It gets their attention when they look out in the audience and see all of us there supporting the initiatives that support our veterans, past, present and future.

The Governor is very supportive of the service men and women of all branches of the Military in Minnesota and we as a Veterans Organization need to be there to support the initiatives he announced in November 2007.

We will need the support of all members of our American Legion Family to succeed in passing a majority of these initiatives. Telephone calls and personal contact will let them know that we support the Military and the Veterans 100%.  If we don't do our job we can't complain when the initiatives do no get approved by the Legislature.

Each District Legislative Chairman will receive a members directory with all the names, telephone numbers and office numbers in either the State Office Building or the State Capitol. This book lists all the committees that each House Member and Senate Member is on. It also lists all of Minnesota's representation in Washington D.C. This information can be found in the back of the book.

If any District Commander, District Chairman or the Chairman of The Sons of The American Legion or Auxiliary have any questions please call John Cox at 651-777-6366 or email at genjohncox@comcast.net.