Veterans Affairs

4.1 Preamble

Governors strive to honor the service of the men and women in our nation’s armed services. Service members often encounter challenges in the transition to civilian life and in accessing proper benefits and medical care throughout their lives. When the federal government provides inadequate coordination and outreach in the transition to civilian life, states can be left bearing undue responsibilities and financial burdens. Governors strongly support providing services to our nation’s veterans and their families and urge the federal government to work with states to help veterans, including members of the National Guard and reserves, reintegrate into the community. Many states have proactive programs and customized initiatives to reintegrate services members returning from active duty. Access to veterans’ health services is critically important, especially for those veterans residing far away from Veterans Affairs facilities. Improved state-federal coordination should include providing expanded access to programs, services and benefits that support veterans’ employment, education, health and housing needs.

4.1.1 Principles

  • The federal government should work with states to expand and improve veterans’ access to support programs, services and benefits through more effective and efficient sharing of information, data and records between federal and state agencies. States recognize that adequate steps to protect privacy of personal data should be taken as required by both federal and state law.
  • Federal agencies serving veterans (i.e., the U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor, Small Business Administration and Veterans Affairs) and Congress should identify areas where enhanced collaboration can reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, eliminate redundancy and create greater efficiencies in the delivery of veterans’ services.
  • The federal government should work with states and communities to enhance outreach to veterans and provide increased flexibility for federally funded resources such as the Disabled Veterans Opportunity Program and Jobs for Veterans State Grant Program, to fully meet the needs of veterans and their families.

Time limited (effective Winter Meeting 2017 – Winter Meeting 2019).
Adopted Winter Meeting 2017.