Our Testimony Supporting Senate Bill 16-147 (28 Apr 2016)

Statement of Wes Carter, Major USAF Retired

National Chairperson, The C-123 Veterans Association

also speaking for the united veterans committee of colorado

Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee,

I’m Wes Carter, National Chairperson of the C-123 Veterans Association. Today I also represent 450,000 Colorado veterans whose voice is the United Veterans Committee. Before you today is the terrible issue of suicide in Colorado and our hope that Senate Bill 16-147 can help.

I want to share some personal experiences with this issue. My town of Fort Collins lost thirteen children last year. Four were suicides. Four…over 30% if you want simple statistics. We don’t know all the causes, but we certainly know the tragedies our families were left with.

Military suicides are something I became familiar with 26 years service in the Army and then the Air Force. For twelve years I was a hospital administrator. Marvin, one of the officers who nominated me for my commission, faced demons he felt could only be driven away by ending his life. I flew medevac for several years with Diane, a flight nurse. I have a happy memory of her rushing from work to attend my wedding, without time to change from her hospital scrubs. I have been to her parent’s Massachusetts home only twice…each time for the funeral of one of her brothers, both of whom ended their lives while on active duty.

Military and veterans’ suicides. I can speak for the accumulation of life’s burdens in the military…extremely difficult technical and physical training, frequent deployments, injuries, career disappointments, loss of friends, family strife, relocations, financial stress. And then there’s all those people bombing and shooting at you. Life’s tough. We have an evolving understanding that it takes a warrior to call in help. I wish more warriors would reach out, but we see an average of one veteran’s suicide per hour, each and every day. 8000 a year, almost an Army division. Last year in our county, the 80 adults who ended their lives were 3.8% of all adult deaths, but remember what I said about the children…30% of all children’s deaths were by their own hand.

Senate Bills won’t solve everything but, along with recent action in the US Senate, they’ll help. I join Colorado’s 450,000 veterans in urging unanimous approval of Senate Bill 16-147. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Unanimous vote moves disabled veteran property tax legislation forward in Colorado legislature

IT WAS UNANIMOUS!

Yesterday after the two hour wait for a previous bill to be defeated, the Colorado House Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs approved House bill 16 – 1444. And the vote was all in favor of the proposed legislation.

Our thanks are due to Committee Chair Sue Ryden who not only sponsored the legislation but testified on its behalf as did Representative Terri Carver (Colonel, USAF, Ret.)  And also to the outstanding leg work done by the United Veterans Committee of Colorado, Senator John Kefalas, and other leaders behind this issue.

Next up? The House Appropriations Committee, to address the modest cost of bringing the laws of Colorado into alignment with our state's Constitution Article 10, Section 3.5.

House Veterans Committee Disabled Military Retirees Property Tax Hearing April 25 (HB16-1444)

The legislative process begins April 25 at the Colorado Statehouse, when the House Veterans  Committee takes up HB16-1444, the bill to put military disabled retirees into the state's disabled veteran property tax laws.

Committee Chair Sue Ryden, herself a sponsor, will call the committee to order at 1:30PM, and HB16-1444 is first on the schedule.

I will be presenting the basic argument as the first witness, speaking as chair of our own C-123 Veterans Association. The United Veterans Committee of Colorado will also have me represent their 450,000 members in supporting the bill. Even the state's Division of Veterans Affairs is behind this bill!

Although the state's constitution covers both VA 100% disabled veterans and military personnel retired by their service for total disability, only VA-rated veterans were specified in the law, so the new bill aligns the constitution with the law by adding the totally disabled military retirees.

Things are happening...our bill is now before the Colorado House Veterans Committee

Fix HB6-1251 to match the constitution's Article X Section 3.5

In his effort to align the constitution with legislation, Colorado's state senator for Fort Collins has a "late bill" now being worked on in Denver. It was a miracle that, so late in the Legislature's crowded final thirty days, this issue still got attention from leaders in both parties and both chambers.

Senator John Kefalas crafted the bill and with bipartisan support now has it before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and in the Senate awaiting committee assignment.

Bill Detail: HB16-1444

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Title	Definition Qualifying Disabled Veteran Prop Tax
Status	Introduced In House - Assigned to State, Veterans, & Military Affairs (04/15/2016)
House Sponsors	S. Ryden (D) T. Carver (R)
Senate Sponsors	J. Kefalas (D) L. Garcia (D)
House Committee	State, Veterans, & Military Affairs
Senate Committee
Date Introduced	04/15/2016
Description	The bill aligns the statutory definition of qualifying disabled veteran, as it relates to a property tax exemption for qualifying seniors and disabled veterans, with the language established in section 3.5 of article X of the Colorado constitution.
Amendments out of Committee	None
Link to Full Text	Full Text of Bill
Link to Bill Versions	Bill Versions
Link to Fiscal Notes
Link to History	History
Link to Lobbyists	(no lobbyist data)
Link to Audio	[This feature is available by subscription.]
Votes	House and Senate Votes
Vote Totals	Vote Totals by Party
Profile:

Colorado's Curious Management of its Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

 • Colorado Legislative Council, in describing the disabled veteran property tax exemption on the 2006 ballot:

"Veterans are rated 100-percent permanently disabled when a mental or physical injury makes it impossible for the average person to hold a job and the disability is lifelong."

• Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs:

VA "unemployability' total and permanent disability awards (TDIU, but only permanent and total) not acceptable for disabled veteran property tax exemption."

• Is there a disconnect somewhere in CDMVA? Are we stuck with this Catch-22 situation? Why does only Colorado treat TDIU differently than VA's other total disability rating (100% schedular?)

Gold Star Wives Day, April 5 2016. A resolution of the United States Senate

April 5, 2016

Gold Star Wives Day

by resolution of the

United States Senate

A Message from Bob McDonald, Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

A Message from Bob McDonald, Secretary of Veterans Affairs:

Our nation is currently commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, a long overdue opportunity to honor our 7.2 million living Vietnam Veterans and the 9 million families of those of us who served from November 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975. The Department of Veterans Affairs and more than 9,000 local, state and national organizations have joined the Department of Defense as Commemorative Partners in this important commemoration. 

For us, this partnership holds special significance in light of our mission to serve those who “shall have borne the battle,” their families and their survivors. Embracing our Vietnam Veterans and their families is in keeping with the intent and spirit of our MyVA transformation, focusing on our customers and improving their experience with the VA. 

Please take advantage of the opportunity this commemoration presents to express your gratitude for the service and sacrifice of this generation of American Servicemembers. Thank a Vietnam Veteran and welcome them home!

Briefing Package – Problems with Colorado's Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption, & Recommended Solutions

Background & source documents

We have summed up the issues with HB07-1251, Referendum E, and Article X Section 3.5 of the Colorado Constitution...CLICK to download the complete briefing packet.

Also quite informative is the legislative history for HB07-1251. CLICK to download that 33-page resource.

Paris reaches out to Brussels – Je suis Bruxellois

Je suis Bruxellois

VA Unemployability Disability Ratings (TDIU) – a little background for Colorado

There are two kinds of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs– 100% and TDIU; both are total and permanent disability ratings that should be recognized for Colorado's disabled vet property tax exemption – but aren't!

VA has 100% rating for total disability for unemployability...and also total and permanent disability individual unemployability (TDIU) or often in print, just IU.  

The Individual Unemployability Benefit is equal in every way to a 100% Schedular rating. The compensation is 100% and that dollar amount is equal to both ratings.  This VA permanent disability rating of TDIU meet Colorado's constitutional requirements for the disabled veteran property tax exemption.

(Note: VA has a temporary version of 100%, which is not eligible for the exemption as it is temporary, not permanent as the Colorado constitution and HB07-1251 require.)

This is the rating CDMVA should reject, not the permanent TDIU. All TDIU ratings are permanent, unless the veteran’s health improves and VA determines employment is possible.

If the veteran is VA-rated as 100% Schedular, he or she may work at any job they are capable of doing. The TDIU veteran is proven unable to hold "gainful employment." Nationwide, about 330,000 disabled veterans are rated TDIU. The IU veteran completes a yearly VA Form 21-4140 to verify that there has been no employment in the previous year. 

More about TDIU:

If awarded, this benefit allows the veteran to receive the total disability rating if he/she is proven unable to secure any gainful employment but only for reasons of very serious line-of-duty injuries worse than standard VA tables anticipate. Frequently state or VA experts will evaluate veterans using Certified Rehabilitation Specialists.

For TDIU, VA specifies basic disability ratings that reach the following levels:

a) a single service connected disability rated at 60% or more, or but which, in fact, is totally disabling

b) the result of 2 or more service-connected disabilities where the total rating is 70% and at least one disability is 40% or more and, in fact, are totally disabling.

This type of claim is automatically considered by the VA Regional Office whenever the Veteran’s service-connected impairment ratings reach the above levels. 

Should TDIU disabled vets qualify for Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption? Yes, we believe so, based on several points:

     1. Referendum E's Blue Book analysis clearly included veterans made unemployable due to line-of-duty injuries, and was overwhelmingly approved by the voters.

"Who qualifies for the tax reduction? Homeowners who have served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and are rated 100-percent permanently disabled by the federal government due to a service-connected disability qualify for the tax reduction in Referendum E. Colorado National Guard members injured while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces also qualify." 

The Blue Book described totally disabled veterans eligible for the benefit:

• Veterans are rated 100-percent permanently disabled when a line of duty mental or physical injury makes it impossible for the average person to hold a job and the disability is lifelong. 

But note that the same description, those same qualifications can apply to TDIU vets:

• Similarly, veterans are rated TDIU when an unusually severe mental or physical line of duty injury makes it impossible this specific veteran to hold a job and the disability is lifelong. 

 

Nationally, less than one percent of veterans have a 100-percent permanent disability rating. About 2,200 veterans were expected to qualify for the property tax reduction in Colorado.

     2. Article X Section 3.5 in the Colorado constitution describes the qualifying points of a veteran's disability for the tax exemption, and VA Veterans Benefits Administration confirmed that VA's TDIU rating has the same qualifiers:

 "(1.5) For purposes of this section, "disabled veteran" means an individual who has served on active duty in the United States armed forces, including a member of the Colorado national guard who has been ordered into the active military service of the United States, has been separated therefrom under honorable conditions, and has established a service-connected disability that has been rated by the federal department of veterans affairs as one hundred percent permanent disability through disability retirement benefits or a pension pursuant to a law or regulation administered by the department, the department of homeland security, or the department of the army, navy, or air force.