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MOAA Texan    Spring-Summer 2007 A Message from the Editor Texas Council of Chapters First Quarterly Meeting of 2007 Bills passed by the 80th Texas Legislature Minutes of the First Quarter Meeting in Austin Pictures of the Texas Council advocacy activity at the Texas State Legislature. Chapter Reports Legislative Information Forthcoming Information

Texas Council of Chapters-Chartered February 23, 1966

A Publication of the Texas Council of Chapters

Spring- Summer 2007

A Message from the Editor

I have been a very delinquent in getting this publication out to our chapters. I apologize that this has happened, but I have had many obstacles to contend with. This has been a very active year, thus far and looks to be even busier as we move to the second half of the year.

Texas Council of Chapters First Quarterly Meeting of 2007

Our first quarter 2007 meeting was held in Austin and was designed to put the Texas Council in front of our Senators and Representatives, letting them know that we were advocating passage of many bills of interest to active duty and retired veterans in the state. We learned that Texas has approximately 1.7 million veterans at this time and this number is increasing on a daily basis.

With the close of the 80th session of the legislature, we passed many bills that we wanted, but didn't get all that we would have desired. Some very important bills passed that had to do with the Hazelwood Act and who was eligible to use it. SB1058, a bill aimed at assisting vets and their families with the effects of PTSD, drug addiction and alcoholism as well as the vets reintegration with their families passed filling in some gaping wholes that exist in the VA health care system. Below is a listing of the bills that passed during the session. If you wish to see more detailed information about them, you can go to www.tvc.state.tx.us.

Bills passed by the 80th Texas Legislature

If you want to read the full text of any of these bills, you can use the bill lookup feature on the Texas Legislature website, www.tvc.state.tx.us.

Following are some pictures of the Texas Council advocacy activity at the Texas State Legislature.

The first picture shows the Vice President Legislative Affairs and member of the Alamo Chapter-San Antonio, Jim Cunningham; President Bob Rymal; Ed Stone, President of the El Paso Chapter; and John Biggerstaff, Vice President for Chapter Development and member of the Northeast Texas Chapter getting a briefing on Texas Veteran Bills from Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs and Military Installations Committee.

In the next two pictures, Ed Stone, President of the El Paso Chapter and John Biggerstaff, Vice President for Chapter Development, TCC are awaiting a briefing from the Staff of Representative Corte, a Marine Reserve Colonel and Veteran of two tours in Iraq, who is the Chair of the House Committee on Military Affairs.

In the second picture, Gil Rodriguez, member of the Alamo Chapter and Secretary for the Texas Council, waits with Ed Stone for another briefing.

In this picture, Alice Karr, member of the Rio Grande Valley Chapter; Louraine Robertson, Treasurer of the Texas Council and Virginia Alloway, member of the Highland Lakes Chapter and Board Member for MOAA National are being briefed in Representative Cortes office.

After the activities at the Capital, visiting Texas Council Chapter members and TCC Officers met with the sponsoring Austin Chapter at their Chapter Meeting.

J. Robert Howard, President of the Austin Chapter, conducts their business meeting.

Bob Rymal, President of the Texas Council of Chapters, addresses the Austin Chapter during their business meeting.

Minutes of the First Quarter Meeting

Other Attendees:

Chapters Not Present

Abilene Chapter TX-01, East Texas Chapter TX-04, Ft. Wolters Chapter TX-06, Heart of Texas TX-07, Houston TX-09, Kingsville Chapter TX-10, Lone Star Chapter TX-11, Greater Lubbock TX-13, Greater Texarkana TX-17*, Coastal Bend TX-18*, Texas Panhandle TX-19, Brazos Valley TX-21, Central Texas Chapter TX-22, Texas Hill Country TX-24, Rose Capital Chapter TX-25, Golden Triangle TX-26, Ft. Clark-Del Rio TX-29, Oil Patch TX-30, North Dallas TX-31, North Coastal Bend TX-32 (TX-12, TX-14, TX-15. TX-28 all not assigned). *Not part of TCC for 2006.

Meeting Minutes

Eight chapters were represented at this quarterly meeting of the Texas Council of Chapters (TCC).

The TCC met that afternoon, and the meeting was called to order on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 21, by President Rymal at around 1500 hours. The invocation and Pledge of Allegiance were made by President Rymal.

The President's remarks centered around the purpose of meeting on a Wednesday and Thursday; using this time on the first day to organize and set some schedules, and Thursday morning, Feb. 22, would start very early with a specific schedule.

The first order of business for President Rymal was to accept the minutes of the last meeting in El Paso presented by LCDR Gil Rodriguez. The minutes were approved.

Due to the nature of this TCC meeting, namely advocating "on the Hill" with the State Legislature and specific Senators and Representatives, the regular reports by the 1st VP, 2nd VP and Secretary, were not given.

Treasurer's Report - Louraine Robertson - This report covers 1 October, 2006 to 31 December, 2006. The beginning balance on 1 October was $4,130.15. We took dues in the amount of $22.00, and the interest on the account was $13.30 for a total income of $4,165.45. The only expenses were $250 for the El Paso Chapter. Our ending balance on 31 December 2006 and the amount in American Bank was $3,840.45. Louraine summarized the TCC expenses from 1 January to 31 December 2006 as income from 2006 and 2007 dues as $1,108.80, and interest of $36.25 for a total of $1,145.05 added to the beginning balance of $3,820.40 for a total of $4965.45. Expenses for quarterly meetings were $1,000, Veteran's Coalition Dues of $50, and $75 to the MOAA Scholarship Fund for a total of $1,125. This gave the TCC and ending balance on 31 December 2006 of $3,840.45 which agrees with the figure given above. The treasurer' report was approved and accepted unanimously. Louraine indicated on the Treasurer's report handed out on the second page was a detailed list of chapters and their dues. Three chapters (TX- 21 Brazos Valley, TX-32 North Coastal Bend, and TX 26 Golden Triangle) did not pay 2006 dues. Further, TX-17 Greater Texarkana and TX-18 will not be joining TCC in 2007. TX-10, Kingsville, has ceased to be a chapter and turned in their charter.

Auxiliary Membership Report - Alice Karr - There are several issues coming before Congress shortly; so, we will be asked to send in our cards and letters. During the last Presidential election, several times Alice received a phone call asking for support for candidates, even those outside Texas. Alice wondered if that might work inside Texas. The idea is to send postcards to more (even all) of the Representatives in Congress. Alice asked for and received a list of all of the current Representatives. She is sending around this list to everyone present. Just use the House of Representatives zip code of 20510. With regard to the Auxiliary, Alice hoped members will encourage their chapter members to mail all Texas Congressmen and women MANY cards asking them to follow MOAA's lobbying efforts concerning DIC especially. Alice would again ask everyone present to create an Auxiliary Corner in the chapter's newsletter. Since many of the chapters do not have an auxiliary as such, you can use information from the auxiliary corner in the Affiliate, the Military Office, and MOAA legislative updates. It's a great filler for smaller newsletters.

Chapter Reports

Some of the following reports were made in person, and some were sent to Secretary Rodriguez to read into the minutes.

El Paso Chapter TX-05 (Ed Stone)

The following major events during Q4 CY 2006:

1. October 5, Thursday: Chapter dinner meeting at Airway Jaxon's Restaurant & Brewery with VADM Norbert Ryan, Jr., President, MOAA, and El Paso Chapter Board.
2. October 6, Friday; General membership meeting featuring VADM Norbert Ryan, Jr., President, MOAA, as guest speaker, 50th anniversary as a MOAA Affiliate Celebration, 155 in attendance.
3. October 7, Saturday morning: Supported Fort Bliss Retiree Appreciation day, manned Chapter booth. VADM Norbert Ryan, Jr., President MOAA, as guest speaker.
4. October 7, Saturday afternoon; El Paso Chapter hosted 4th Q TCC meeting at the Fort Bliss Officers Club.
5. Three Board and two general membership meetings.
6. German Luftwaffe Schuhplatteriers, a folk dance group, performed at December 9 general membership meeting.
7. Chapter charitable activities for 2006: During the 50th Anniversary Celebration, last year, the Chapter treasurer reports we donated $4,018 to local activities. Here's where it went: West Point Founder's Day Dinner $250; Fisher House $250 regular donation plus another $250 in memory of the Ylinens - Fisher House total $500; Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference, $350; 11th ADA Bde Dining-in $250; Texas Nursing Association Scholarship $250; 4/1 CAV Family Day Picnic June 29, 2006 $350; 4/1 is deployed forward; Arizona Youth Leadership Conference (JROTC) $463; 5 local college scholarships $1,250; JCAP Scholarships (Texas A&M) JROTC $100; and $250 was contributed to cosponsor along with the West Point Society and AUSA, the annual Army Navy Day Game festivities at the Fort Bliss Officer's Club.
8. 2007 Officers installed at December 9 meeting.
9. 12/13 Telcon about GMT with Col. Lee Lange, National and others.
10. Chapter continued aggressive CMT recruiting. Unofficial count is in excess of 200 members, new and renewals under the 2006 program.

The following is planned for 1st Q CY 2007:

1. Began developing 2007 GMT program to commence March 1.
2. Board meeting 1/9
3. 1/24 luncheon with James D. Rickels, US Army Regional Quality of Life Regional Liaison, 2/10 Guest speaker.
4. 2/10 General membership meeting
5. 3/25 Represent MOAA National at Bataan Memorial Death March activities at White Sands Missal Range (http://www.bataanmarch.com)
6. El Paso Chapter on the web http://elpasomoaa.org.

Rio Grande Chapter TX-27 (Alice Karr)

As she reported at the last TCC meeting, the Board received a list of potential members in the area from Victoria Twyne. February 1, we mailed out 410 flyers to these potential members. So far, the Chapter has been contacted by about 15 of them. The Chapter has gained only 5 new members. (Currently they have 30 members but are still collecting dues. The chapter just elected new officers. The chapter had trouble finding people to fill the offices but one of our auxiliary, a man, agreed to be the treasurer. The chapter is still sending boxes to Iraq. We are setting up a table at the Commemorative Air Show in Brownsville in March. In the past it has been very showy, stacked with MOAA brochures, etc.

Lone Star Chapter TX-11

It was moved and seconded that the following report be entered into the minutes.

Lone Star Officers Club (LSOC) ended a most successful '06 with a well attended LSOC formal Christmas dinner/dance. Over 100 attended the annual bash which featured a formal sit-down dinner, 7-piece dance band, installation of 2007 Officers, attachment of our MOAA 5-Star Level of Excellence Ribbon to the chapter flag, and importantly, celebration of LSOC's 50th anniversary. LSOC satisfied or exceeded all 2006 chapter goals. Goals regarding the scholarship program, recruitment and effective legislative interface/liaison. Specifically: 1) the chapter scholarship program was reorganized and reenergized; three $2,000 LSOC scholarships were presented to deserving JROTC recipients, and chapter members presented 17 medals/certificates to outstanding area ROTC and JROTC cadets; 2) Recruitment efforts resulted in the addition of 20 new members, and 3), Legislative initiatives/endeavors included on-going member education regarding MOAA/LSOC legislative goals and effective communication with congressional reps. In that regard, preprinted postcards requesting action or legislation pertinent to MOAA/LSOC interests were presented to members each meeting. Hundreds of signed postcards were mailed at Chapter expense to representatives. Postcards were also made available to the Officer's Wives Club. Commander John Whitsell, 2007 President, and his able staff hit the ground running. LSOC 07 goals are being formulated, and associated planning for continuing chapter vitality and viability are underway.

Highland Lakes Chapter TX-08 (Virginia Alloway)

Like many other chapters, the chapter received reimbursement from MOAA National for the Chapter's participation and new member's enrollment in Give Me 10. The chapter has since increased with members moving into the area from other out of state chapters. The Board voted to cancel two meeting dates, June and December. Usually the Dec. dance is a big draw, but this year participation was drastically down. Feb '07 meeting was one of the chapter's better attended. When asked if it was a change of venue, most said no.

Wichita Falls TX-20 (Cleveland Pratt)

Our December Christmas Dinner Meeting was held on Monday, 11 Dec at the Sheppard Club. The program was the Rider High School Choir presenting their Christmas music selections. Election of the 2007 officers were conducted, and the new officers were installed by Past President LTC Jack Mezzo, USAF. The new officers are:

• President: Maj (Lt Col Select) CJ Bausano USAF
• Vice President: Lt Col James Chilcott USAF (Ret)
• Secretary: Lt Col James Kincaid USAF
• Treasurer: LTC Charles Simons USA (Ret)

Our ENJJPTP Officership Award continues with the latest award being presented to Capt Ryan L. Ismirle USAF. In addition to the Certificate Capt Ismirle was also given a free one year membership in MOAA. In January we held our first monthly "No-Host Lunch" meeting at the Sheppard Club. It was attended by approximately 20 members and a good time was had by all. Because of other functions previously scheduled at the Club our March "No-Host Lunch" will be held on March 1st. Our next regular Dinner Meeting will be held on Monday, March 12th. The guest speaker will be BGen Marshall H. Scantlin, Commanding Gen. Texas Medical Rangers.

Alamo Chapter TX-16 (Ed Marvin)

The MOAA Alamo chapter is alive and well, and thriving. They were very humbled by the fact that the chapter is now a Five Star chapter among the chapters across the land. This Five Star rating did not come easily; it came as a result of hard and dedicated work from an extraordinarily strong group of leaders. That basically is the element that is driving the chapter forward. They had a committed Board of Directors that provided the broad overview and oversight for the chapter. They also had been hard at work, believing in the premise that if you have the leadership, the chapter will thrive. They have worked very diligently at getting new officers into the various departments to make the chapter be what it is. That has paid of in big dividends. A recommendation is that in your recruiting efforts always be recruiting more leaders. Identify those leaders and put those leaders in positions of responsibility and empower them - repeat, empower them. Remember that they have been successful in their endeavors as an officer in the military and have every capability, given the resources and the empowerment, to do the job, and they will.

Secondly, the chapter identified that we needed to take our chapter into the 21st century and along those lines we have been blessed by having a person come our way. Col David Patrick, USAF Ret, is a facilitator and a strategic planner of the highest order. David has a vision for the chapter and he has led the chapter over the last several months in preparing a strategic plan and an operational action plan that will take our chapter very excitingly into the future. They are hopeful that they will be able to present a copy of it to the Texas Council at the 2nd Quarterly. Col Patrick has been ably assisted by the leadership of the chapter, all playing a vital part in the creation of this plan. They are now anxious to get it to the Board for approval and to implement the operational plan. Along those lines they know that an active and good website is extremely important, and in that regard they have recruited a person who is a very capable and knowledgeable of the MOAA organization, and he is willingly serving as webmaster, and the website is being constructed as we speak. Again, the chapter looks forward to making an announcement at the next quarterly meeting.

It seems that the first line of communication is the newsletter, and the editor, Rhoda Philby, has grabbed this requirement by the horns and has continued to produce a marvelous newsletter for the chapter membership. They are excited to say that it was an award winning newsletter last year, and they have submitted it again for consideration for an even higher award this year.

Hand in hand with the leadership initiatives, the planning initiatives, the webmaster initiative, and the newsletter initiative there is another person, namely Lt. Col Phyllis Smith USA Ret, who is doing a great job at getting the word out through the media and other ways. Phyllis has taken this job seriously and she is getting the chapter in front of other organizations that have the same general mission that they do, namely the Association of the United States Army, the Navy League, the Air Force Association etc. This is helping the chapter get around the community in better numbers.

Of course, recruiting always has to be a center point to continue to recruit active members - they are very important for the financial stability of the organization and tying in with that they are aggressively pursuing what is called non dues income through various mediums such as advertising and a golf tournament to bring revenue into the chapter. This has been a primary concern but under the capable controllership of Dan Cummings Lt. Col USA Ret. this aspect of the operation is now being taken care of nicely.

The chapter did raise dues this year to $25 for regular members and continued the $15 for auxiliary members. During the year the Board in its wisdom elected to do away with the lifetime membership category, given the fact that the chapter is not capable from an accounting point of view, to amortize the lifetime dues, so they opted to do away with that category. Of course, they grand fathered all of the existing lifetime members. In the dues paying statement they sent a letter to each of the lifetime members and told them that they would continue to honor that category, but if they saw fit to donate to the financial well being of the chapter they would be happy to accept their donations, and it is surprising how many people stepped forward and have done just that.

In closing, we are extremely proud of our continued support of the Texas Council of Chapters, and plan on continuing that support. They are proud to have the 2nd Vice President of the Texas Council and the Secretary of the Texas Council as active leadership within our MOAA Alamo Chapter. They are also proud of to say that the chapter has two past presidents of the Texas Council also in our midst.

Legislative Information

The next morning, Thursday, February 22, the members present gathered at the Capitol cafeteria to begin the day's activities. They were greeted by Jim Nier, Texas Veterans Commission. Packets and maps were passed out to members. From 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. members present went to see a number of representatives and senators to talk on the following points:
(Thanks to Jim Cunningham for providing the talking points and details)

Higher Education

Section 54.203, Education Code, known as the Hazelwood Act, provides for 150 hours of free tuition and some fees for Texas veterans. Several initiatives are out there that will change or expand Hazelwood. Each is described below.

1. SB 89, HBs 623, 712, and 897: Senator Van de Putte and Representatives Chavez, Noriega, and McClendon are all working to fix the problem created by two attorney general opinions released over the last year and a half. The effect of these opinions was to take away Hazelwood eligibility for veterans who were not US Citizens at the time they entered the service. Prior to these opinions, citizenship at the time of entry or at the time the veteran wants to use the exemption were not taken into account. We want to rectify this problem by reverting Hazelwood to its original form with respect to citizenship. These bills have been referred to the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education in the Senate and the House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations in the House. It would be good to visit with the members of those committees on these bills.
2. HB 125 by Delisi: Currently, Hazelwood can be granted to the children of a service member who is MIA or killed during or directly because of his service. This bill would expand eligibility to the children of a veteran who was service-connected wholly and permanently disabled and unemployable. This has been referred to the HCDASFR.
3. Representative Strama and Senator Van de Putte are working on a bill that will allow veterans to use Hazelwood concurrently with the GI bill. Right now, a veteran must exhaust all federal benefits available to him before using Hazelwood. This means that a lot of vets never get to use Hazelwood. This bill will allow a vet to use the money from the GI bill for other expenses while attending school and Hazelwood will pay for the tuition.
4. The Hazelwood Legacy Act: This started out last session as SB 774, and we are currently fine-tuning the language we want to start with this time before filing it again. It will essentially allow a veteran who has not used all of his 150 Hazelwood hours to allow a child to use it in his place.
5. HB 1163 by Rep. Gallego adds National Guard widows to Hazelwood (let a surviving spouse, in addition to the children, of a guard member killed or MIA use Hazelwood). I have visited with Patrick on Gallego's staff about expanding it to all widows rather than just guard- or at the very least, to reservists in addition to guard.

The National Guard's Tuition Assistance Program:

The National Guard has a program that allows guard members to get reimbursed for tuition for higher education. The program is funded through the Higher Education Coordinating Board but administered by the Adjutant General. Representative Noriega is working on adding mandatory fees to what can be reimbursed through the program, in addition to just tuition.

Additional Funding for the Texas Veterans Commission

Representatives, in particular those on the appropriations committee, need to be encouraged to provide additional funding for the Texas Veterans Commission. Funding is needed to provide for additional veteran's service representatives, upgrade computer facilities, and finance programs that the TVC is involved with.

Disabled veteran owned businesses as HUBs

SB 381, filed in the senate by Senators Van de Putte, Ogden, Watson, and Shapleigh, would consider a service connected disabled veteran owned business or a business owned by a purple heart recipient as a "historically underutilized business" for purposes of state preferences in contracting. We have some great bi--partisan support on this. It has not been referred to a committee yet. The house version will be filed by Representative Patrick Rose and Representative Mike Krusee may also be involved.

Mental Health Services for Returning Vets

This is something that has emerged very recently, but we think it will wind up being one of the most important things we do this session. This is one item that came up predominately at the TVC meeting as being something of a crisis. We are looking into some kind of pilot program that will help cover the gap for returning OIF/OEF veterans who need mental health care services. There is a dramatic need for this, as the federal government isn't doing a very good job of covering even a fraction of what they should when it comes to all health care, much less mental health issues.

Other notable things include tuition refunds for folks called up for duty who are attending career schools (SB 309); life insurance premium reimbursements for guard members (SB 374); disallowing the unauthorized use of a service member's name or photo (HB 331, SB 277); a scratch-off lottery game to fund the veterans assistance fund in the Texas Veterans Commission (not filed yet but nearly there); disabled veteran property tax exemption changes (something along the lines of giving a 100% DV a 100% exemption, 10% DV gets 10% exemption, etc.- also still in the research/drafting stage); requiring the Adjutant General and the TVC to assist a veteran in obtaining testing for depleted uranium poisoning (HB 711, SB 363); HB 285 relating to delaying collections on consumer debt owed by active duty service members. Senator Van de Putte and Representative Corte have filed SB 90 and HB 17, which will establish a pilot program to offer active duty service members the option, if they have not received their ballot through the regular mail, to receive a blank ballot via e-mail. They would still have to mail the completed ballot back, but this could cut in half the amount of time it takes to vote. There are procedures in place to ensure the integrity of the voting process. The senate bill has been referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee, and the house version to HCDASFR.

At around 4:00 p.m. the members met in the Hotel Conference Room for a debriefing. Many representatives and senators were contacted by each member present or groups of members.

Adjournment by President Rymal at 5:00 p.m. and a reminder that the next TCC meeting will be held in Del Rio on May 25 and 26, 2007. A notice will be forthcoming.

Forthcoming Information

The second Quarter TCC Meeting was held in Del Rio, Texas over Memorial Day weekend. A mid-summer edition of the MOAA-Texan will soon follow with details of that meeting and the minutes of same.

Please note that Nominations for Texas Council Officers are being solicited at this time. The Nomination committee will be taking nominations for President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President and Treasurer until July 1, 2007. Nominations should be forwarded to Ed Marvin at elmarv@swbell.net. Nominees will be announced at the third quarter meeting in Abilene August 17 and 18, 2007. New officers will be announced at the fourth quarter Texas Council meeting in Grapevine on October 5 and 6, 2007. This is being held in conjunction with the Presidents Symposium being held by MOAA National.

More information will be forthcoming on the third and fourth quarter meetings, lodging, etc.