The Minnesota Legislative Auditor has recommended closer supervision of the state's County Veterans Service Offices.
James Nobles said in a report that the system is generally working well. However, "state oversight and technical support needs improvement.
"Currently, the department has few supervisory tools to monitor service officer's activities, and there is wide variation among counties in the percentage of veterans receiving benefits and the amounts received."
Nobles recommended to the Legislative Audit Commission that CVSOs collect and submit key performance data to the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs on a regular basis.
The state DVA has lawful control over the CVSOs, but has little actual means of monitoring or enforcing control around the state.
Such data, Nobles said, could be send back from the state DVA to county boards so that they could improve their local systems.
The Minnesota American Legion has written a letter commending the CVSOs for the overall quality of their service, and recommending implementation of the legislative report to bring service to even a higher level.
The letter noted that the Legion supports the CVSOs one hundred percent.
Nobles also recommended that counties consult with the Department of Veterans Affairs before hiring CVSOs.
The CVSO program was created at the end of World War II to help veterans and their families obtain the federal and state benefits they earned. Each county in the state is required to staff and fund the service offices.
The level of staffing, however, is very uneven. Over 40 percent of the counties only have part-time service officers.
The report, which has been given to Legislative committees in January and February, recommends that the CVSO system remain under the control of the county.
However, the report also recommends the following:
--The state's role in overseeing the service officers needs to be clarified.
-- CVSOs need to be certified by the state DVA.
-- In an annual report to the Legislature, the DVA should include date on "outcome measures." Such data would report on how well veterans are served in each county.
-- The Department of Veterans Affairs should implement a user-friendly statewide information system that would address both state and county needs.
-- Performance goals need to be set to ensure that performance grants to CVSOs are being used effectively.
-- The training of CVSOs should be changed to allow them to attend either the spring or fall meetings at their choice.
-- An alternative method of giving the certification test should be found so that the CVSOs don't take the test as a group.
-- County veterans web sites need to be improved, and the state should help.
In other legislative business, a major theme that has emerged for the 2008 session was the possibility of adding a new veterans home in an outstate area.
Communities seeking state money to expand current homes or build a new one include Montevideo, Brainerd, Sauk Centre, Willmar, Fergus Falls and Hastings.
The Montevideo plan was different in that it asked no state money for constructing the home, only money to operate it after it is built.
Pawlenty had introduced a major priority in this year's bonding bill to build a new $35 million, 100-bed facility at the Minnesota Veterans Home at Minneapolis.
It will be up to the Legislature to decide whether to follow the governor's proposal for Minneapolis, or to look to another community for a new home, or both. Or neither.
Legislative Chairman John Cox said the official Legion position this session is to support the governor's priorities. He said outside of the scramble for veterans homes, many of the Pawlenty priorities have not been dealt with yet.
That priority list includes:
-- Increasing funding for the state veterans claims office, including hiring a female service officer.
-- Adding case workers to the Link Vet hotline service so that veterans in need will have a professional to help them through several areas at once.
-- Increase funding for CVSOs.
-- A 100 percent exemption from state income tax for military pay and military pensions.
-- More outreach for traumatic brain injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
-- More money for the State Soldier Assistance program.
Other bills introduced in committees include designating March 29 as Vietnam Veterans Day in Minnesota, designating May 1 as Silver Star Families of American Day, and appropriating money to Richfield to build a veterans memorial.