Don’t Take Away Our Veteran’s Rights

Chair
House Committee on Rules – Regulatory Oversight
The Honorable Mike Haffner
Vice Chair
The Honorable Keri Ingle
Ranking Member
Chair Gregory, Vice Chair Haffner, Ranking Member Ingle, and Members of the House
Committee on Rules – Regulatory Oversight:

 

We the undersigned voters in your districts, as well as the districts of every member on
the House Committee on Rules – Regulatory Oversight, write in opposition to Missouri
House Bill 1490 (MO HB 1490).

 

While we are sure there are noble intentions behind this bill, the reality is, if passed, this
bill would take away the rights of Veterans in Missouri to obtain their disability benefits in
whatever manner works best for them and their families. A right that they fought for, and
a freedom they have earned.

 

The Missouri State Legislature should not force a Veteran to only use a free service or
wait until they are in the appeal process before they can hire expert help. If a Missouri
Veteran wants to hire experts to help them with their initial disability claim, then that
should be up to them – not the government.

 

Missouri Veterans are smart and capable of making decisions for themselves. Instead of
trying to deny Veterans access to expert claims assistance, a smarter approach would
be to legislate guardrails around the practices of these companies. Therefore, private
sector companies can still help Veterans – if the Veteran chooses to use them – but
companies have parameters to ensure Missouri Veterans are not being taken
advantage of by bad actors.

 

These good Veteran owned-and-operated companies have helped thousands of
Missouri Veterans. Why try and shut them down just because there might be a few bad
actors out there? Go after the bad practices…don’t shut down the whole industry.
As constituents, voters, and supporters of free choice for Missouri Veterans, we are
asking you to oppose MO HB 1490.

 

Thank you for considering the input of your constituents.

 

Sincerely,