Plates offer praise, cash, for veterans
"MN Governor"12/20/2005
BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press
Minnesotans may now buy “Support Our Troops” license plates to show their backing of U.S. military personnel and provide financial help to military families and veterans.
The new plates, featuring a bald eagle in the foreground and an American flag backdrop, went on sale Monday at deputy registrar locations across the state.
The plates cost $18.50 plus an annual contribution of $30 or more. The contribution is deductible from federal income taxes.
The plates can be displayed on passenger cars, pickup trucks and recreational vehicles. Motorcycle plates will be available in the spring.
At a Capitol news conference at which he unveiled the plate, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said his administration estimated the plates would raise $675,000 in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and $1.7 million the following year.
Half the money will go to the state Military Affairs Department, which will distribute it to needy families of active-duty Minnesota soldiers and sailors through the Minnesota Military Family Foundation. The other half will be distributed through the state Veterans Affairs Department to outreach programs, service organizations and rehabilitation programs for veterans.
Pawlenty and the 2005 Legislature enacted a law authorizing the plates as a way to say thank you to past and present military personnel, Pawlenty said.
“We would not have the country we have without the tremendous courage and dedication and patriotism and support of the men and women who are serving in the United States military now and in the past,” he said. “They are in the end the final line of defense between us and a lot of bad things happening.”
In addition to the plates, Pawlenty proposed a series of benefits for veterans and military personnel. They would:
• Create state tax exemptions for military retirement pay. When phased in over four years, these tax breaks would save about 15,000 veterans $15.4 million a year.
• Increase funding for the State Soldiers Assistance Program. Pawlenty will ask the Legislature for an additional $3 million a year to provide veterans and their families with services such as family therapy and temporary financial aid for new veterans who experience problems in getting Veterans Affairs benefits.
• Create an on-campus veterans-assistance office at every public college and university.
• Require all public colleges and universities to grant credit for military training and experience that meets American Council on Education standards.
• Allow nonresident soldiers and veterans to attend Minnesota public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. Currently, some Minnesota soldiers who are based outside the state have to pay out-of-state tuition when they return to a Minnesota college.
• Delay the due date for tuition payments for veterans until they receive their federal GI Bill