Today, Governor Kim Reynolds introduced legislation to the Iowa House and Senate to improve the existing statewide system for delivering benefits to veterans.
Iowa is home to nearly 178,000 veterans, yet only one-third of the state’s veterans receive the benefits they earned protecting the freedoms of their fellow Americans. Currently, Iowa ranks 44th in the nation for Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation per capita.
“Iowa’s outdated and inefficient system means too many veterans aren't receiving the full benefits they’ve earned,” Governor Reynolds said. “By moving to a single claim system statewide, providing consistent training for all counties, and establishing performance-based incentives, we can achieve our goal of getting more benefits to more veterans.”
Gov. Reynolds’ bill proposes to improve the statewide VA benefits system by incentivizing counties to increase veteran benefits.
Currently, each of Iowa’s 99 counties receive $10,000 annually in state funding to support local veteran service officers (VSOs). The governor’s proposal instead ties state funds to outcomes and performance measures by county. Counties ranking in the top third for VA compensation per capita would receive $15,000 in funding, a 50% increase. The middle third of counties would receive up to $10,000 if compensation per capita is increased by 5%. Similarly, the lowest ranking one-third of counties would receive up to $5,000 by achieving a 5% increase in per capita compensation.
Gov. Reynolds’ bill also establishes training standards by providing a dedicated team from the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs to support county VSOs and provide enhanced, on-site training and technical assistance.
It would also require the use of a single online claim system, provided by the state, which would replace other systems and paper claims currently used by counties.