Funding Cut For Veteran Service Officers Passes Committee
Air Date:02/10/2011
By Kealey Bultena
The House Appropriations Committee has sent a bill to the floor that eliminates state funding for county veteran service officers.
Currently the state of South Dakota pays twenty-five percent of salaries for people who connect veterans with programs and benefits. But House Bill 1245 stops state funding for the positions and no longer pays for travel expenses to required training. Ken Lindblad is one of those service officers.
"There’s no good that can come out of House Bill 1245," Lindblad says. "It can only serve to put additional financial burden on an already cash-strapped county which could potentially affect CVSO salaries, which could well have an effect on the quality of future applicants and which most definitely would have effect on our state’s veterans."
Lawmakers say this session is full of tough decisions and other areas of veterans affairs need the money more. They sent the bill to the House floor by a vote of 6 to 2.
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