Sen. Clark remembers vets
The biggest Kentucky veterans legislation is Senate Bill 95.
About a year ago this idea started to gnaw at my core. I was familiar with the Kentucky homestead tax exemption and how it offered a discount to retired 65-plus and 100 percent disabled individuals, but veterans with substantial injury may not be classified as 100 percent disabled by the Veterans Administration. I thought there should be an equitable way to balance a veteran’s service with a proportional discount toward the homestead exemption.
I wrote to state representatives and then branched out, looking across the state for elected officials with military and law enforcement backgrounds. Honestly, I thought that I had exhausted all means when I got an email from Sen. Perry Clark stating that my proposal was headed into legal review for consideration. That day was also notable for a record Powerball drawing, but that didn’t matter anymore. I had just won in being heard, and Kentucky veterans were on a winning path, not monetarily, but because the whole commonwealth was shouting, “We have not forgotten you.”
This proposal hasn’t been draped in roses yet and has a long way to go, but this is the first step.
Andrew Rolfe
Louisville
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Sen. Clark remembers vets."