Kossuth County veterans officer warns state proposal could cut local grants and centralize claims

Dean Green, the county's veterans service representative, told the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors that recent state legislation could change how the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA) distributes county grants and how claims are routed. Green said the measure now filed as a senate file (previously discussed as a senate study bill) would convert direct county grant awards into an incentive-based pool and could remove the county's regular $10,000 grant and an added $3,000 education grant after the next budget year.

Green said the bill would place some grant funding into tiers and award larger sums only to counties that meet unspecified performance metrics. "If it goes through, as I understand it, we would receive our $10,000 grant for this next budget year like we always have, but the following budget year it goes into this incentive program thing, and we wouldn't receive those monies at that point," Green said.

He also raised alarms about an IDVA proposal to use a central software platform to funnel county claims through the state system. "They want, at state expense, to create a software program where all 99 county VA claims get funneled through IDVA down to the VA," Green said. "We think that's a bad system. They want to use that to monitor our claims. They have no business doing that, to be quite honest." He said the central system could create privacy and HIPAA risks if remote access and filters allow statewide visibility into individual veterans' files.

Board members asked for clarification on the numbers Green quoted about federal benefits received in the county and where the legislature currently is on the bill. Green supplied a rough monthly figure and said the state and governor's office had been pushing the change as part of an effort to improve Iowa's ranking on federal benefits distribution. "By their metrics, Iowa was 47. By our metrics, it was 44," he said, adding there are differences in methodology and that the state has not yet finalized the metrics that would determine incentive awards.

Green asked supervisors to centralize stakeholder comments through his office so the state association and legislative liaison can negotiate potential fixes. He said service organizations including the American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans of America oppose the bill as currently written.

The board did not take action but asked staff to stay in contact with the county's legislative representatives and report back with any updates.

Ending: The veterans update closed with the board thanking Green and asking him to forward any legislative developments to the supervisors and their liaison.