UVC Identifies 2022 Veterans' State Legislative Objectives

At today's executive committee meeting of the United Veterans Coalition, leaders identified Gold Star Spouses' property tax exemption as our Number One state legislative objective for the 74th General Assembly of the Colorado legislature. 

Colorado's Total Disability for Individual Unemployability (TDIU) veterans' property tax exemption was selected as the coalition's Number Two goal going into the next legislative season!

Both objectives deal with Colorado's Constitution, Article X Section 3.5 and the small partial property tax exemption presently offered seniors, totally and permanently disabled veterans, and their survivors.

The Colorado Bar Association had already indicated its support for both objectives.

Co-chairs Shelly Shelly Kalkowski and Robbie Robinson presented their state legislative committee 2022 general goals and specific objectives, finalized just prior to this morning's executive committee gathering. 

Thank you, UVC!

Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption: What A Convoluted History!

Amazing! And pretty disappointing, too, with what's been done to our veterans and
their survivors. 

Let's review the confusing history of this mess. Just follow the explanation of how we've tried but only partly succeeded in protecting our disabled veterans.

In 2014 the Colorado legislature passed HB14-1373 to include survivors of totally disabled veterans with the veterans and seniors over age 65 for the small, partial disabled veteran property tax exemption. This was a blatant modification of the state constitution without first bothering the voters for our okay. 

Please understand: We voters first created our state constitution and then authorized constitutional amendments. Years later the legislature took it on themselves (yes, for good reasons, of course) to make changes they felt useful by passing HB14-1373. Regardless of intent or outcome, this was a no-no and an unconstitutional action by the legislature: the legislature has no power to modify or change the constitution. The estimated cost was around $100,000.

They simply did it. Folks involved at the time today agree it "abused" the constitution but hey – they did it anyway.

Regardless of procedure, that was a good thing with a very small footprint, not likely to invite any challenge: Indeed, there has been none. I can't find any notice ever made about this "extra-constitutional" legislative action that added a few hundred widow(ers) to a program already attracting attention for its cost. I make mention of it only because it was done and it should be done again!

You see, the legislature passed SCR06-001 in 2006, then presented it to Colorado voters as Referendum E. We approved it overwhelmingly, extending the senior property tax exemption to a few thousand totally and permanently disabled veterans. The original version of that tax exemption covered only seniors and its genesis was HB00-1002. The legislature passed that in 2000 for presentation to the voters as Referendum A. It passed, with an estimated cost of just over a million dollars.

Those two referenda – A in 2000 and then E in 2006, made totally and permanently disabled veterans and seniors as the two categories of homeowners qualified for the property tax exemption. Then HB14-1373 added the veterans' survivors.

Let's review:
1. 2000, Referendum A + HB00-1002 = the senior exemption, apparently also including survivors
2. 2006, Referendum E + SCR06-001 + HB07-1251 = the disabled veteran exemption
3. 2014, HB14-1373 = the disabled veteran's survivor exemption
4. 2016, HB16-1444 = aligned the statute with the constitution, adding disabled military retirees' exemption 

HB21-1002: We must note the dastardly action by the senate in June 2021 rejecting the unanimous house bill for a referendum adding Gold Star Spouses to the disabled veteran property tax exemption. 

Survivors of military personnel lost in the line of duty are presently denied the exemption by a stupid and illogical technicality: The exemption recognizes only survivors of veterans who die while in receipt of the exemption. Dying in combat very obviously prevents a veteran from returning to Colorado to qualify for the exemption, so we deny it to the widow. Dumb in the extreme.

The senate's unpatriotic rejection dishonored Colorado but "saved" the state about $95,000.

COLORADO LEGISLATURE & GOVERNMENT: "TDIU VETS ARE ON THEIR OWN"

 Colorado voters approved Referendum E in 2006, not knowing that the legislature had already defined "qualified veteran" so as to exclude vets with the VA "total disability for individual unemployability," (TDIU.) 

Colorado's legislators and government officials chose to interpret the requirement for the "VA 100% rating" so as to exclude totally and permanently disabled veterans who are compensated at the 100% level...because they are in fact totally and permanently disabled. The only difference being, 

TDIU veterans have a totally disabling injury, worse than standard VA tables are meant to recognize, that is in fact totally and permanently disabling. These are the same totally and permanently disabled veterans – one honored by Colorado with a small property tax exemption and the other totally ignored. Are they less somehow than worthy in the eyes of our mostly non-veteran legislators?

Actually, to be completely correct, TDIU vets haven't been truly ignored. That's because the only attention given TDIU veterans by
Colorado's legislature and government has been opposition to extending to these vets, totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty, the small property tax exemption.

That's the extent of their efforts. Less than zero, because it was years of "absolutely not" instead of "let's find a way." That has meant years of being denied the specific constitutional benefit voters were told we approved as Article X Section 3.5 for all of Colorado's veterans with honorable service who became permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. 

Have we abandoned thousands of Colorado's TDIU veterans?

How Colorado (mis)treats thousands of our totally and permanently disabled veterans - refuses TDIU vets Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption

 Colorado extends its small, partial property tax exemption only to veterans with the VA 100% disability rating, but REFUSES the exemption to every totally and permanently disabled veterans with the VA "total disability for permanent unemployability" (TDIU) rating. Same total disability in the line of duty, but TDIU vets have injuries that are WORSE than standard tables.

Colorado DAV asked to lead the way on TDIU property tax exemption effort

The Colorado Department of the Disabled Veterans of America has been asked to lead the effort to get the Colorado Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption for our TDIU veterans (total disability for individual unemployability.)  CLICK to read the brief sent their state commander.

Doesn't ANYBODY in Colorado care about TDIU Veterans?

I've found encouragement about veterans with TDIU (total disability for individual unemployability) only from the Colorado Bar Association's Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, and the United Veterans Coalition.

Outside of those two worthy organizations who "really get it"...zero interest among Colorado's citizens for the needs of the state's totally and permanently disabled veterans of honorable service who are rated "TDIU."

Not your problem, right? You're probably not a vet although perhaps the child or grandchild of one. You're probably not the father of a young man or woman in service. So...simply not your problem.

TDIU veterans make up about 30-40% of Colorado's totally disabled veterans. VA has two categories: 100% rated, for vets whose injuries are typical for the type injury suffered, and TDIU, for vets whose injuries are worse than typical for the type injury suffered.

Colorado permits the 100% rated vets our too-small partial property tax exemption, and specifically refuses it to TDIU veterans.

Are these veterans any different than each other? Yes, because the TDIU vet is specifically evaluated as having a worse-case type injury rather than "typical," and is thereby totally and permanently disabled and never able to work again.

Why do we treat them differently? Ask your legislator if they can explain...I can't. I care, but only a rare handful in the legislature seem to care.

Not their problem. They really don't care.

 

The legislature hid their cards from us with Referendum E in 2006

 In 2006 the legislature referred an issue to the public for a small property tax
exemption for totally and permanently disabled veterans. This was done via SCR06-001. But the legislature hid some of their cards, not telling us all the details, so what we approved was not what we got!

This issue reached the voters as Referendum E in 2006 and was then overwhelmingly approved. Colorado voters believe in protecting our disabled veterans with such important benefits!

The legislature then created "enabling legislation" in the form of HB07-1251 to set into our statutes the provisions of the newly-approved Referendum E.

That sums up the trouble we now have in our state's small disabled veteran property tax exemption.

You see, we were asked to vote on a straightforward text the legislature gave us in the Blue Book:

"AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3.5 OF ARTICLE X OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, CONCERNING THE EXTENSION OF THE EXISTING PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR QUALIFYING SENIORS TO ANY UNITED STATES MILITARY VETERAN WHO IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PERMANENTLY DISABLED DUE TO A SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY."

We didn't see the cards the legislature hid behind up their sleeves (or is it behind their backs?) They didn't show us anywhere in the Blue Book that SCR06-001 also had a description of the qualified disabled veteran that, in effect, eliminated almost half of Colorado's veterans who'd been totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty. They didn't tell us anything about their description in what we approved, but they certainly put their hidden cards into Article X Section 3.5 and the enabling statute HB07-1251:

(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

The words in highlighted yellow cut thousands of Colorado's totally and permanently disabled veterans, injured in the line of duty and with honorable service, from the property tax exemption we thought we approved for them. We never saw and we never approved those words or anything like them!

The VA has two types of disability ratings for veterans who are totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty. One is called "100% rated" and the other is "Total Disability for Individual Unemployability," or TDIU.

Both ratings are based on the fundamental concept in the VA for compensation based the degree of an injury's impact on the veteran's ability to earn a wage after service: 

• The "100% rated" is based on standard tables for the average earning loss caused by the average injury.

• "TDIU" is based on the actual earning loss caused by a worse-than average injury. A TDIU veteran has been individually assessed by VA as having an especially worse-than-average injury rendering him/her actually unable to ever work again.

Colorado's voters thought we were voting for, as the Blue Book put it for us to better understand:

"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's legislators and administrators would have us accept that 100% is not the same as total. That the amendment and the statute exclude TDIU veterans with total and permanent disabilities but accept 100% veterans with total and permanent disabilities.

Folks, the legislature simply hid their cards....or did they have them up their sleeves? 

We didn't get what we voted for. We didn't protect all the veterans we thought we were protecting with Referendum E!

Colorado says thousands of our vets (TOTALLY & PERMANENTLY DISABLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY) aren't our right kind of vets (TOTALLY & PERMANENTLY DISABLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY) to deserve benefits

 I recently exchanged correspondence with a very courteous state official. The point I wanted to make is that when veterans were granted the small partial property tax exemption for totally and permanently disabled veterans via SCR06-001 that led to Referendum E in 2006, what we voted approval for clearly wasn't what ended up as the wording of the constitution's Article X Section 3.5. 

Did we get snookered? Did the legislature pull a fast one to keep from wasting too much money on disabled veterans?

The official's correspondence and expertise was very kindly offered to me and I appreciate it, but he just didn't address my point and instead stressed, the law is what the law is, and for changes visit your legislator. He wrote, "In Colorado, the factors that affect the determination as to whether a veteran is a "qualifying disabled veteran" who is eligible for the property exemption are:

"(1) the eligibility requirements set forth in the Colorado Constitution; and (2) Most significantly for the purposes of this response, the purpose for which the federal government has determined a veteran to be "totally" disabled."

I do understand. I'm not the official's client but the state government is his actual client so he steps forth in support, despite the oath of office to the national and state constitutions that one must take for public service. I tried to make the point that I agree with his second point, that "total disability for individual unemployability" (TDIU) is a VA classification for....totally and permanently disabled Colorado veterans injured in the line of duty. My point was that total and 100% are the same words, and we follow the "plain meaning" of words in our state.

Here is what the people of Colorado were told we voted for when we read the text of the referendum in the 2006 Blue Book:

"AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3.5 OF ARTICLE X OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO, CONCERNING THE EXTENSION OF THE EXISTING PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR QUALIFYING SENIORS TO ANY UNITED STATES MILITARY VETERAN WHO IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PERMANENTLY DISABLED DUE TO A SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY."

I've made the point already that "one-hundred-percent" and "total" as in TDIU mean the same; voters made no distinction and weren't asked to do so...we approved 100% which is the same as total. However, here's the version of what we ended up as Article X Section 3.5 of the constitution once administrators and legislators reworded what they sent us to vote on and what we voted for into what they wanted for us. We got the text of the referendum, but the legislature had in SCR 06-001 their very restrictive definition of a "qualified veteran" that we voters didn't get to see:

(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.

We didn't get to see the part highlighted in yellow although it was in SCR06-001 and it also ended up in the constitution as Article X Section 3.5. We do know that the legislature wasn't all that concerned about its own wording because when they did the enabling statute for the referendum once it was approved they decided, without regard for the constitution they'd just given to us to approve, that they'd leave out the text highlighted in yellow.

"(3.5) ‘Qualifying 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 United States department of veterans affairs as one hundred percent permanent and total disability pursuant to a law or regulation administered by the department.

That's right. HB07-1251, the statute the legislature passed didn't have the part about totally disabled military retirees, so for the next fifteen years Colorado taxed these veterans, despite their constitutional entitlement to the property tax exemption:

I spotted the problem in 2014 and worked with my state senator to fix it. In May 2016 the legislature passed HB16-1444 to put those constitutional words protecting totally and permanently disabled military retires back into the statute, but Colorado has ever since ignored that law by simply not providing any form with which those qualified veterans can apply. No form = no exemption, despite the nagging minor detail of these veterans having the benefit enshrined in our hallowed constitution. I refer back to the oaths these folks take upon assuming office to support the state constitution...but it seems not of any importance if things like this aren't of interest to them.

Is there any real value to the Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Is the Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption actually worth anything?

Easy answer: not as much as when voters approved it back in 2006.
The US dollar has dropped in value by other a third. Our 2006 dollar has lost 35 cents, while the exemption has remained static (half of the first $200,000 in assessed value) since creation in 2006.

We see the opposite in property values. Denver's average home sale in 2006 was $288,000, and by 2021 had more than doubled to $612,000.

What voters sought for our disabled veterans back in 2006 cut 34% of an average home's tax bill. Today, the exemption covers less than 15% of the home's taxes; this drop in real value means the exemption is worth less than half when first authorized.

The value of the exemption voters approved for disabled veterans is worth much less today. While property values, property taxes and other expenses keep going up each year, the real value of the property tax exemption for disabled veterans, seniors and their survivors, is worth less and less each year as we watch the dollar deflate. And property taxes in real dollars keep going and up

The 2020 cost to Colorado for all categories of the property tax exemption was about $159,000,000. Disabled veterans and their survivors are only 2% of that.

Colorado isn't especially generous in our exemption. Nineteen other states exempt 100% of a totally disabled veteran's property taxes. No other state restricts TDIU veterans from their exemption.

"They just did it." Used statute to modify Article X Section 3.5 & added survivors

GOLD STAR WIVES:

HB14-1373 added surviving spouses of seniors and disabled veterans to the property tax exemption in Article X Section 3.5. 

That means the legislature modified a provision in the Colorado constitution without bothering with an amendment!

Oops.

That is "extra-constitutional." But it was done. Can we do the same "extra-constitutional" approach to add Gold Star Wives (spouses) to the survivors?