While several veteran organizations host legislative breakfasts, the annual United Veterans Organization of Nassau County's legislative breakfast and seminar, held regularly at the 1st Marine Corps District headquarters in Garden City, and this year held on Sunday, April 26, is the legislative breakfast to be at... not to miss.
About The UVO
The United Veterans Organization of Nassau County represents almost 3 dozen different Veterans Service Organizations whose members are residents of Nassau County. The UVO represents all eras, all service branches, and includes service organizations from a variety of different religious and ethnic veteran groups. One of the most recent additions is the Tuskegee Airman group.
About the UVO Legislative Breakfast
Historically, elected officials from our federal, state, county, town, and local governments have joined us at this breakfast and seminar. And while the questions asked and answered invariably cover a variety of topics specific to a certain veteran group, or veteran, they also are expected to cover some of the more general current veteran related hot topics.
Veteran Related Hot Topics
At the federal level, and as always, we have a variety of questions dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs. This year these questions are expected to include: funding for the department of Veterans Affairs and the operation of their facilities; VA access to Medicare dollars from non-service-connected Medicare patients; allowing disabled military retirees to receive both VA compensation and military retirement benefits without the need of an offset; and, military quality of life issues including equal pay as per private-sector counterparts, housing and work facilities, and healthcare for military families including active, reserve, and National Guard personnel classifications.
At the state level, the following topics are expected to be covered: expansion of healthcare to include nursing homes and assisted living facilities and in-home care for aging and disabled veterans; development of a homeless veterans program as it relates to the ever increasing problem of the homeless veteran and his family; service officer training programs to develop new and needed veterans service officers; with over $1.3 billion of stimulus money having been allotted to New York State for the benefit of keeping nursing homes open for veterans, why is our governor looking to make cuts to this program; the possible addition of real property tax exemption for school taxes; and, veteran civil service applications that allow belated application time frames for additional credit by a veteran place on an eligibility list but who has been ordered to active duty prior to entitlement.
--- Regards, Walt Schmidt
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