COUNTY VETERAN SERVICE FUND                                                                  H.B. 5536:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                      REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bill 5536 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Jason Wentworth

House Committee:  Military and Veterans Affairs

Senate Committee:  Veterans, Military Affairs and Homeland Security

CONTENT

The bill would amend Public Act 192 of 1953, which allows a county board of commissioners to create a county department of veterans' affairs, to do the following:

-- Establish the "County Veteran Service Fund".

-- Require the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency to create and operate a grant program to provide grants to counties for county veteran service operations.

-- Prescribe the formula for determining the total disbursement for each grant.

-- Prescribe the conditions a county department of veterans' affairs would have to satisfy to receive a grant, such as maintaining a minimum level of county funding for veteran service operations and establishing remote access to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs computing systems.

Proposed MCL 35.623a                                                      Legislative Analyst:  Jeff Mann

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs' Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA), which would be required under the bill to establish and run a grant program. Assuming it would be funded, the program would distribute grants to counties to assist them in providing services to veterans. While the MVAA currently has staff who are responsible for overseeing certain existing grant programs, the size and potential oversight needs of the proposed county veterans services operation grants could require the Agency to add another employee--perhaps at an annual cost of $150,000, including benefits, to assist in carrying out the bill's provisions.

The bill would provide no appropriations for the County Veteran Service Fund. The current Department of Military and Veterans Affairs FY 2018-19 budget proposal, House Bill 5570 (which may be rolled into Senate Bill 848 prior to passage), would appropriate $2.1 million to the County Veteran Service Fund. Should appropriations for the Fund be signed into law, the MVAA will be faced with additional administrative responsibilities and each qualifying county in the State could receive fiscal assistance in the operations of its veterans services offices. The bill would allow for $25,000 to be distributed as a base grant to each eligible county. If additional funds became available, the money could be distributed to counties on a veteran population per-capita basis. Under a scenario where the Fund contained $5.0 million, total disbursements, when combining the base grant with a per capita grant, could result in a range of distributions among counties from $26,472 for Keweenaw County to $463,571 for Wayne County.

Date Completed:  6-6-18                                                      Fiscal Analyst:  Bruce Baker

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.