August Krieser

joined the Paralyzed Veterans of America in 1980 and was elected to the WPVA board in 1990. Augie is the Government Relations Officer [GRO] and he is the Chair of the Advocacy/Legislation Committee. He received the Chapter President’s Award in 1992.

Employed by the City of Manitowoc, Wisconsin as a Firefighter for many years, Augie was also certified as an Emergency Medical Technician [EMT] and as an EMT Instructor. Due to a motorcycle accident in 1980 that resulted in quadriplegia, Augie received a medical retirement. He is a member of the Retired Professional Firefighter’s Association [RPFA] Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW], Disabled American Veterans [DAV], American Veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam [AMVETS], and the Vietnam Veterans of America [VVA].

From 1964-67, Augie was a member of the United States Army and trained in the field of aviation. While stationed in Vietnam Augie was a Crew Chief on an OV1-Mohawk and later a CV-2 Caribou. While in Vietnam, his duties included gathering military intelligence for the Marines on the DMZ and Ho Chi Minh Trail in I Corps by night aerial surveillance. He was assigned to the 20th ASTA Detachment at a small landing field at Hue-Phu Bai. He finished his stint in the military at Fort Benning, Georgia as a Maintenance Chief.

Augie Krieser graduated from Lincoln High School in Manitowoc with the Class of ’64. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc Campus and at Silver Lake College, Augie earned a BA Degree in Psychology and Family Studies, an MA Degree in Political Science, and a BSW Degree in Social work. He is currently working on his MSW Degree in Social Work.

Augie enjoys wheelchair racing, fishing, and target practice. He is a tireless advocate for accessibility, and he derives great pleasure in educating his hometown on ADA requirements. Augie resides in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and is employed full time by a disability rights and advocacy organization known as Holiday House.
ADVOCACY REPORT

PVA’s Advocacy staff took part in a mid-December roundtable discussion to discern steps that government and the private sector may take to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in the development and initiatives connected to the emerging “green” jobs economy. This event was jointly sponsored by the Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, and the National Technical Assistance and Research Center to Promote Leadership for Increasing Employment and Economic Independence for Adults with Disabilities. Participating in the meeting were representatives from private sector companies engaged in alternative energy development, state workforce agencies, the federal government, and disability advocacy and public policy organizations. There was also input from the workers view via input from union efforts to ensure the re-employment rights of members who return from military duty with disabilities. Also, a panel on state, regional, and local green economy efforts featured the director of a Cornell University pilot program that prepares veterans with disabilities for agricultural and renewable energy occupations by partnering with local veteran agencies and the higher education system. The director of operations for a new organization called Veterans Green Jobs shared information with the attendees about his group’s programs providing training and placement of veterans in energy conservation and environmental restoration occupations. The outcomes from the meeting as well as results from the numerous pilot programs highlighted at the symposium are being compiled by the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration and will be used as resource materials for additional initiatives throughout the nation. It is the intent of the Department of Labor to incorporate concepts from this meeting and a number of regional listening sessions to be held early this year into the Workforce Reinvestment Act.

Major healthcare reform legislation that passed in the House last fall and in the Senate in December is now in conference in an effort to reconcile the two versions into a final piece of legislation. That legislation, once out of conference, then must pass both the Senate and House before it can be sent to the President to be signed into law. At this point, staff members from House and Senate committees and the Administration are performing the difficult task of reconciling these bills. Political differences on how to pay for and implement the bill continue to slow the task. PVA staff has worked with these staff members for several years on numerous provisions that involve disability factors that are salient issues in each bill. Congressional leaders are hoping this can be done before the February President’s Day recess.

In most recent cases, courts have held that there is no individual right to sue under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). It is known that problems for air travelers with disabilities continue to exist; no effective means of enforcement are available. PVA encourages members and others to file informal complaints when any violation occurs even though this remedy may leave the consumer uncertain of the resolution of the problem or whether the resolution had any proactive changes in the discriminatory practices. An alternative means of enforcing the ACAA is to file formal complaints with the Department of Transportation (DOT). A formal complaint is covered by the Administrative Procedures Act and is essentially a lawsuit filed with the agency and heard by an independent administrative law judge. As in all courts, the DOT has specific rules as to how and when to file a complaint, what evidence may be admitted, when witnesses may be called, and other amenities that go with the legal system. The PVA Advocacy staff is developing a procedure to file formal ACAA complaints on behalf of PVA members. The staff will be looking for complaints that will have a broad impact, such as regular and blatant violations that would merit a formal complaint approach. All formal complaints must be filed within six months of the violation. Senior Advocacy Attorney Bob Herman will be leading this effort. If you or someone you know has borne discrimination that violates the ACAA, it is strongly advised to contact Mr. Herman at (202) 416-7699 or e-mail him at bobhn@pva.org

On the state level, the Independent Living Council-Wisconsin had its first quarterly meeting on February 8-9 in Madison, WI. A number of issues were addressed A primary issue that was discussed is the concept of Family Care in the state. Family Care was authorized by the Governor and the Legislature in 1998, and serves individuals with physical and developmental disabilities and frail elders. This program presents the option of living independently (with assistance) and not being institutionalized. At this point, 48 counties are involved with Family Care and by April 1st the number of counties will increase to 56. More information on this and its variants can be found at http://dhs.wi.gov/ltcare/Generalinfo/WhatisFC.htm

A great deal of information is available at this site. February 10th, ILC-W met with our legislators.

GRO REPORT

On January 20th, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a roundtable discussion with the major veteran service organizations and from many organizations representing the military service organization community as well. PVA stressed the importance it places on addressing issues important to our members (veterans with spinal cord injury/dysfunction) and to all veterans. PVA’s five priorities include ensuring adequate funding for the VA for FY 2011 as well as ensuring that the Administration, Congress and the Government Accounting Office (GAO) follow through on their requirements for advance appropriations for FY 2012; completion of comprehensive veterans’ legislation as provided in S. 1963 ( one aspect of eliminating co-payments for Category 4 veterans) and in multiple bills passed by the House; addressing the on-going problems with inappropriate billing by the Veterans Health Administration, to include eliminating all billing for veterans rated with a permanent and total disability. Other priorities include improvements to the claims process that will ensure that veterans receive their compensation and ancillary benefits in a timelier manner, and to improve benefits for the most severely disabled veterans to include an increase in the adaptive motor vehicle rant and an annual to increase the value of the grant with the cost of inflation, an increase in the rates of Special Monthly Compensation paid to severely disabled veterans as well as additional adjustments to the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant.

On February 1st, the Administration announced a proposed $125 billion budget next year for the VA. This budget request, which has to be approved by Congress, includes $60.3 billion for discretionary funding (mostly healthcare) and $64.7 billion in mandated funding, which includes primarily VA compensation and pensions. Secretary Shinseki informed all interested parties that the VA’s 2011 budget request encompasses many facets, but focuses on three central issues that are critical to our veterans. They are easier access to benefits and services; faster disability claims decisions, and ending the downward spiral that results in veterans’ homelessness. These are the central issues and out of them arise a number of ancillary issues such as targeting mental health and suicides, automating the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, and improved healthcare for women veterans. These are a sampling of some of the ways the funding will be spent. To read the full venue, it can be found on the Internet at http://www.1.va.gov/opa/prressrel This is the VA website which is updated in a timely manner and provides a great deal of information. For all practical purposes, this Administrative budget coincides with this year’s Independent Budget (IB) co-authored by the PVA, DAV, VFW, and AMVETS and signed on by the vast majority of other veterans’ service organizations. The IB may be viewed at www.pva.org

On the state level, WDVA Secretary Ken Black is suggesting a wider spectrum of representation on the Veterans State Board. Secretary Black feels there is a heavy concentration of board membership in the immediate area of Dane county. His reasoning for a wider dispersal of Veteran State Board members would enhance services throughout the state. The most heavily concentrated area of veterans within our state is in the southeastern section of the state (Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha counties) and there is virtually no one on the Veterans Board serving that area. Secretary Black has taken it on himself to send a high ranking member of his staff to Milwaukee county to assist in alleviating the caseload of state veterans’ benefits requests from that area. In addition, as past practice, a veteran was encouraged to utilize federal GI Bill funding for educational purposes. With the backlog of Post 9/11 GI Bill federal benefits, the state veteran may utilize his/her state educational benefits immediately, thus eliminating the wait to gain entrance to a WDVA approved institution of higher learning. This will most likely be a temporary measure until the backlog of payments for entrance to higher education is caught up by the federal government.
On the local level, the first quarterly meeting of the Manitowoc County Allied Veterans Council was conducted. All veteran’s service organizations who have posts or chapters within the county are members. Last year, with the assistance of the former CVSO and the present one, WPVA was given a waiver to join with full membership privileges. This is one of five Allied Veterans Councils within the state. The annual dues was paid for by the WPVA representative, so we continue to be a service organization in good standing. At this meeting, all three candidates for the office of County Administrator were invited to speak before the body. Only one appeared and he is a Navy veteran. Also, our County Veteran Service Officer (CVSO) is an integral part of the Council. She is a retired Army NCO and belongs to a number of the service organizations represented on the Council. She has been instrumental in getting WDVA Secretary Black to address our next quarterly Council meeting on May 11th and attend our Veterans Day banquet this coming November.