*State Veterans Legislative Update 21 March 2017: SB 1203 (S/E): ‘veterans’ donation fund: tax credit’ | MOAA CORONADO – MOAA 5 STAR LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE AWARD AND FIVE STAR COMMUNICATIONS AWARD FOR 2023

Action is needed to get Arizona SB 1443: ‘veterans’ donation fund: tax credit’, now SB 1203 Strike Everything (S/E) Bill to the House and Senate for a vote. It would establish the current Veterans’ Donation Fund (VDF) as an AZ Tax Credit donation organization for the period 1 Jan 2018 to 31 Dec 2025 to augment its current source of funding to benefit Arizona Veterans of all eras including post 9/11/2001 (9-11) Veterans who are now served by the Military Family Relief Fund (MFRF). The Bill would terminate tax credit donations to the MFRF at the end of 2017, a year earlier than currently scheduled, but would extend the time for disposition of unused funds at the end of 2017 to post 9-11 Veterans through 31 Dec 2025. The MFRF currently has over $6 million in unused funds of the approximately $9 million dollars in donations received over the past 9 plus years. Any unused funds as of 31 Dec 2025 would be transferred to the Veteran’s Donation Fund as originally planned for the MFRF program in 2018. This extension of time to dispose of remaining MFRF funds will “maintain faith” with those Arizona taxpayers who specifically donated for the purposes of assisting post 9-11 Veterans and their families, and it will encourage accomplishing this by 2025. Concurrently, establishing the current Veterans’ Donation fund as an AZ Tax Credit donation organization will benefit Veterans of all eras through at least 2025.

SB 1203 S/E is scheduled to receive a vote on 23 March in the House Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and be passed to the full House and Senate for final votes this Legislative Session.

Please consider sending the draft message at the end of this Email to all Arizona State Representatives and Senators ASAP to encourage their support for this Bill

When you are ready to send the Draft Message at the end of this Legislative Update to all State Representatives, copy everything beginning with this paragraph and the instructions that follow, the list of Arizona House of Representatives Email addresses, and the Draft Message that is shown below the list of Email addresses.

Then open a New Email on your computer as you usually do and paste what you just copied including these instructions as the text of that New Email. Then add your name at the ‘X’ after ‘Respectfully’. Don’t include your address as some legislators may delete your Email if they see the address is not in the area of their constituency. Then copy ” SB 1203 S/E: veterans’ donation fund: tax credit ” here and paste it as the subject of your New Email.

Then copy the list of Arizona House of Representatives Email addresses with Semi-colons Email Addresses from the text of your new Email and paste it on the Bcc: line of your new Email. Be careful not to hit Send until after you complete the next step in this process!!!!!

NOTE: After completing the next step, Return to this link and repeat the process using the Arizona Senate Email addresses with Semi-colons.

Then delete everything before “Dear State Representative” in your New Message, and review what’s left to see that it just includes the Message that you want to send and you signature. Change the font and font size of the text if desired. Then you can hit SEND.

Arizona House of Representatives Email addresses with Semi-colons:

House of Representatives addresses with comas:

Arizona Senate Email addresses with Semi-colons:

Senate Addresses With Commas:

Draft Message

Dear State Legislator,

As an Arizona Veteran, I encourage you to support the intent Senator Griffin’s original Senate Bill SB 1443: ‘veterans’ donation fund: tax credit’. It is now engrossed in Strike Everything (S/E) Bill SB 1203. This S/E Bill, as was the case with SB 1443, would establish the current Veterans’ Donation Fund (VDF) as an AZ Tax Credit donation organization for the period 1 Jan 2018 through at least 31 Dec 2025 to augment its current sources of resources for financially assisting Arizona Veterans of all eras of service and their families, including post 9/11/2001 (9-11) Veterans who are now served by the Military Family Relief Funds (MFRF). It would cap annual donations at one million dollars, as has been the case for the MFRF over the past 9 plus years. And it would extend the time for use of the some $6-million dollars of currently unused MFRF funds to post 9-11 Veterans and their families through at least 31 Dec 2025.

Please urge your colleagues to support SB 1203 S/E and do what you can to get it through the 23 March House Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee vote and on to a full House and Senate vote and to the Governor for signature ASAP during this Legislative Session.

Respectfully,