Veterans

I feel I am the most blessed person to have ever walked on the face of this earth. Through a father that was a Marine Corps veteran of WWI, a brother that was an Army Vietnam Veteran (a member of the 101st Airborne Division) and U.S. Senator Max Cleland who professes being my brother's brother, I was taught the true price of freedom and true cost of war.

As the Chief Operating Officer of the Gobel Veterans Center & Museum (first and only veterans' center and museum in the history of Nevada) and a National Veterans Service Office I have reinforced our belief that a grateful nation can never repay the debt we owe to the defenders and protectors of freedom. To that end, I am extremely proud that my husband has contributed towards repaying OUR heroes by opting to become a primary care physician caring for our veterans in the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare system.

Myself and my brother have authored and passed numerous pieces of legislation for veterans which have not increased a single burden to taxpayers.

Senate Bill 327 (1997 Legislative Session)
In 1997, we authored SB327, which totally reorganized the Nevada Office of Veterans Services and authorized the construction and operation of the first veterans' home in Nevada history. The construction would have been accomplished with sixty-five of the cost being borne by the Federal Government for a facility that would accommodate 180 skilled nursing care beds a size of 115,600 square feet. The economies of size and the ongoing subsidies for operations by the Veterans Administration (paid for by veteran with their service to our country) would have greatly reduced Nevada's Medicaid contributions for skilled nursing care that was currently being paid and expected to increase at a rate of at least fifteen percent per annum.

Senate Bill 156 (2001 Legislative Session)
In 2001, we authored and passed the first increase in the veterans' property tax exemption since 1953. While payments to illegal immigrants and welfare had more than quadrupled in these same forty-eight years, the veterans property tax exemption had not increased once. Even if the veterans property tax had increased at the same rate as other state benefits or by the consumer price index, it would have increased ten fold!

The veterans property tax exemption was created in 1953 to thank Nevada's heroes for their service in time of war. It was intended to be an alternative to "bonuses" offered by other states for their heroes. In Nevada, for veterans who were not disabled sixty percent or more, it was expected to result in virtually no property taxes to be paid. For veterans totally disabled by their service for OUR country, it was intended to result in a property tax liability of zero. Even with doubling the property tax exception and making it the first state benefit indexed to the consumer price index for inflation, this benefit will never approach its intended target.