AUGUSTA — A bill that creates a short-term task force of veterans to review and make recommendations for change to the state’s Bureau of Veterans Services is among a group of 65 bills in legal limbo as the Legislature and Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s lawyers prep to duke it out in the state’s highest court.
The bill, LD 729, sponsored by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, passed the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, and was supported by the LePage administration, before the governor vetoed the bill earlier this month.
Whether the vetoes stand is one of the questions justices on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court will attempt to answer Friday. LePage requested their advice on whether the Legislature adjourned in June, preventing him from returning the bills within the 10 days allowed under the state constitution.
Golden, a Marine Corps veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, brought the bill after several meetings with younger veterans who suggested that the bureau, while providing some important services, needed an overhaul.
The measure received a neutral recommendation from outgoing bureau Director Peter Ogden, who retires this year and has been replaced by Adria Horn.
In his written testimony to the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, Ogden said he was concerned about staffing the commission’s meetings and expanding the bureau’s work without increasing the staff.
“From past experience, I would caution the committee that the brunt of any recommendations and changes will fall on the shoulders of the Bureau of Veterans Services to take on,” Ogden said. “This will not work unless the addition of appropriate staff to complete the task is part of the recommendation of the commission.”
In his veto message, LePage references Horn, writing that the commission the bill creates is unnecessary because Horn was already working on reforming the bureau and said those with suggestions could her call or email her. In the veto message, LePage included Horn’s office contact information, including her phone number.
Attempts to reach Horn for comment Wednesday were not successful.
Those testifying in favor of the bill, including the American Legion’s Department of Maine, agreed there were “gaps” in services for veterans in Maine. The legion, in its written testimony, suggested the commission be tasked with finding ways to ensure National Guard veterans, who may not have served on active duty, also be provided benefits from the state.
“We agree there are gaps, duplications and possible inefficiencies in how services within the state of Maine are provided to veterans,” the American Legion wrote in its testimony. “This alignment of services should include identifying and resolving these gaps, duplication and inconsistencies, especially in current state law, as quickly as possible to better serve our veterans, dependents and survivors.”
The bill directs the commission in six areas and any others it identifies, including:
* Review the services provided by the state to veterans for gaps, duplication and inefficiencies;
* Study improving the state’s engagement and communication with veterans of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq;
* Study how the state can provide health care and mental health services to the state’s veterans when there is a clear gap in federal services;
* Study how to better align community, state and federal services and resources for homeless veterans;
* Study how the state can develop and implement a campaign and marketing strategy to communicate with veterans and military retirees, and encourage them to attend state colleges and to live and work in Maine;
* Make recommendations to the commissioner of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management concerning practices and rules regarding services and programs for veterans and the development of a five-year work plan.
Under the bill, the commission would be made up of 11 people, including the director of the bureau or her designee. The commission would also include three members of the House of Representatives, two senators and five citizens, including at least one member between the ages of 30 and 40 and one between the ages of 41 and 64 to be appointed by the speaker of the House and the Senate president. The commission would be required to have both male and female membership to ensure the specific concerns of veterans of both genders are considered.
Nonlegislative members of the commission would be required to have experience working with a veteran service organization or other nonprofit group that provides services to veterans.
The commission has a deadline to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature with suggested legislation no later than Jan. 15, 2016.
But even the appointments to the commission are being stalled while the high court determines whether the bill became law without LePage’s signature or whether the Legislature will be required to override LePage’s veto of the bill.
The bill passed in the House on a vote of 143-0 and in the Senate on a vote of 35-0 and appears to have the support it would need to override a veto.
In his testimony in favor of the bill, Golden drew on his experience as he transitioned from his life as a combat Marine to the life of a civilian college student, detailing some of the obstacles and difficulties he was able to overcome with support from family, friends and federal and state veterans’ programs.
One of the greatest challenges, he said, was making sure all Maine veterans were made aware of what was available for them and that outreach for his generation had to be different from the outreach that worked for previous generations of veterans. “… we are not doing a great job in meeting this challenge,” Golden said.
On Wednesday, Golden said the commission will start its work in September.
“I think it’s really important that the Bureau of Veterans Services has representation, and it’s our intent to work hand in hand with them to help them fulfill their mission, but we will do our work with or without them,” Golden said.
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