VFW, AMVETS urge higher state subsidies, stronger protections and suicide outreach in committee hearing

Representatives of two major veteran service organizations told the Ohio House Veterans and Military Development Committee on an informational panel that rising claims work since the PACT Act and other pressures have strained state-level veteran service programs and that modest increases in state subsidy would allow them to hire more accredited service officers.

David Root, state legislative chairman of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Ohio, told the committee that "there's 2 bills in the house and 1 in the senate right now addressing the enhanced homestead exemption for veterans" and that the VFW supports expanding state protections for veterans against predatory claim preparers. "The VFW is calling these predators claim sharks," Root said, and he urged a state law that would add penalties in addition to the federal accreditation rules administered by the VA Office of General Counsel.

Root told the committee the VFW currently operates seven VA-accredited…