From Deseret News archives:
Funding to benefit vets
Bill boosts VA outreach budget to $250,000
The 2007 Legislature last week easily passed a handful of military-related bills.
But the buzz among Utah veterans is HB426, which changes the name of Division of Veterans Affairs to Department of Veterans Affairs. While the name change may be more symbolic than anything, there is a chunk of new state funds that come with it.
The new name and related funding are developments that veterans say should elevate the emphasis on their plight.
"It sends a powerful message," said Terry Schow, director of the Utah Division of Veterans Affairs. "It says that, 'We support you."'
Pending Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s signature, the bill will provide support in the form of about $250,000, part of which will go toward hiring someone to get the word to Utah's estimated 160,000 veterans about health-care benefits and compensation or pension monies.
Schow said that in Utah about 16.6 percent of veterans, or 26,000 people, are enrolled in some kind of a health-care program through the VA. In Maine, which has about 150,000 veterans, those numbers are closer to 24 percent, or 34,000 veterans.
Only 9.1 percent of Utah vets, Schow added, are taking advantage of the compensation and pension benefits available through the federal government for vets with "service connected" disabilities. That amounts to about $150 million in pension and compensation monies for Utah veterans. But in Maine, the percentage is 13.3 for about $287 million, Schow said.
In the past, Utah's annual outreach budget for veterans has been about $75,000, compared to about $600,000 a year in Maine, which Schow said also devotes more offices and personnel to helping veterans.
But at least some of the disparity here is due to Utah's population of homeless veterans, which number in the neighborhood of 1,600. Without a mailing address, some homeless vets who may qualify for benefits are missing out.
Schow said another problem in Utah is that unless veterans are accessing services through the VA, no one knows who they are — and that makes contacting them about benefits difficult. Schow hopes that will change in the future as the VA gathers information from the state driver license division. The sharing of information assumes that as people fill out their license renewal form, veterans will check a box that identifies themselves as veterans.
Schow said there is also a reluctance to seek VA benefits for some veterans who equate asking the government for financial help with going on welfare. "And they don't like that stigma," he said.
Other bills that could impact veterans include, HB463, which makes it a crime when a person falsely represents getting a military-related award. Schow said people have been known to lie about getting a service medal to make themselves look better when applying for a job somewhere. If caught, the crime carries with it a class C misdemeanor charge.
Finally, HB309 creates a waiver of undergraduate tuition at state colleges and universities for surviving dependents of Utah (resident) military members killed while on federal active duty. At a cost to the state of about $5,200 per student, it's estimated there are about 40 dependents who could currently take advantage of the benefit.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com
