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Committee defers decision on $3.22 million request for veteran skilled-trades center
Summary
Lawmakers deferred action on House Bill 11-63, a request for $3,218,777 in general funds to support construction of a veterans skilled-trades center; proponents said the project would serve recently discharged veterans, while the Bureau of Finance and Management raised questions about long-term costs and local commitments.
Representative Tim Goodwin introduced House Bill 11-63, asking the Joint Appropriations Committee for $3,218,777 in general funds to construct and equip a veteran skilled-trades center near Hot Springs, S.D. The committee deferred action on the bill.
The bill’s proponents described the project as a workforce-development and veteran-support initiative. David Gates, founder and president of Veterans Helping Hands Project (a 501(c)(3) cited in testimony), said the center would provide transitional job skills to veterans coming out of rehabilitation and asserted the project would reduce veteran suicide by giving participants work and purpose. “As soon as we put a hammer in Logan’s hands, he changed,” Gates said, describing two veterans he said his organization had assisted.
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