Veterans groups tell JBC: don’t sweep Veterans Trust Fund reserves for other uses

Representatives of veterans service organizations told the Joint Budget Committee that the Veterans Trust Fund (VTF) and Veterans Assistance Grant (VAG) are critical emergency safety nets and urged the committee not to remove or redirect reserve funds.

"This fund is often the difference between stability and crisis," said Jesse Eastburn, state adjutant quartermaster for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Colorado (SEG 012), noting rapid interventions for eviction prevention and emergency household supports. Barbara Green (SEG 011) described a local VFW post's $50,000 VTF grant and said the post used $48,038 in six months to assist 31 veterans, many with job loss and urgent bills.

Speakers asked the committee to avoid using trust reserves to balance the general fund and requested stakeholder input before any flexibility is built into program structures. The United Veterans Coalition (Shelly Kowalski SEG 023) emphasized the statutory design of the VTF as a trust financed by 1% of annual tobacco settlement receipts and warned that further sweeps would harm rural communities first by depleting grants used to distribute local help.

Members of the committee asked clarifying questions about which department administers the grants; witnesses confirmed the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs handles the program. The session closed with veterans groups requesting that any proposed reallocation be paused until practitioners who distribute grants can review and advise on alternatives.