Date/Time/Location Held – Oct 29; 9am; Cordell Hull Bldg. office of Rep. Crawford – Nashville, TN
Purpose of Meeting – Steps to take in the 2026 TN Legislative Session to secure passage of new procedures to calculate the 100% Disabled Veteran Property Tax Reimbursement. This will be the third legislative session that TNVET has fought for 100% disabled veterans on this issue. Last session, our bill passed every House and Senate legislative committee without any “no” votes (HB0436/SB0651). However, as Governor Lee did not provide any funding to support the effort, despite TNVET having met with three subordinate offices of the Governor to gain budget support, the bill failed final passage on the last day of the full legislative session. Readers will remember that while the state offers $175,000 property tax reimbursement on qualified veterans property, the reimbursement is reduced by the market value increases that occur between new county property tax reassessments. In some counties veterans saw a 60%+ reduction in their yearly reimbursements amounting to hundreds to thousands of dollars lost to these veterans. In addition, in 2026, the basic reimbursement program does not have the state funding to operate and meet requirements as stated in current law.
Attendees – Representative John Crawford (who has carried the bill for TNVET each year), TNVET executive board members Joe Leurs (Chairman), Bill Summers (TNVET bill manager), Steve Singleton (TNVET bill manager) and Karen Reynolds (TNVET Co-bill manager for new veteran bill to establish a state veteran lottery).
Actions/Decisions Made – 1) Rep. Crawford’s office will work to set up a face-to-face meeting between TNVET and Gov. Lee on the issue to ask for budget support of basic program AND the proposed modified reimbursement calculation procedures. 2) TNVET will work to meet with the state Comptroller in the financial aspects involved with the program. 3) TNVET will contact the leadership of the Legislative Veterans Caucus asking for a full endorsement of the effort. 4) TNVET will engage the 50,000 members of TNVET to start contacting their legislators (again) and ask for their support and actions with Gov. Lee to fund and approve the new reimbursement procedures.