House Bill 3201 passes!

Oregon War Veterans Association today applauded the passage of Oregon House Bill 3201, an omnibus tax bill that includes multiple provisions to benefit veterans and their families.  The most significant provision is a tax incentive package to encourage more healthcare providers to enter the TRICARE system. TRICARE is the U.S. Department of Defense healthcare entitlement for active duty and retired members of the military, their families and survivors.

“This success marks the achievement of our number one objective this session,” said Greg Warnock, the Executive Director of Oregon War Veterans Association.  “One of the most critical needs for our veterans and their families is access to health care.  Those living in rural communities often have no local healthcare providers who will work with TRICARE.  These new incentives will help encourage more healthcare providers, especially in rural areas, to serve our veterans.”

House Bill 3201 directs the Office of Rural Health to establish a program to provide tax incentives for healthcare providers to enter the TRICARE system by providing a one-time tax credit of $2,500 for participation and an additional annual credit of $1,000 for treating TRICARE patients.  The legislation also gives healthcare providers tax free income in Oregon from their first 24 months of TRICARE revenues.

“We want to help TriWest with its goal to bring 2,000 more healthcare providers into the system,” Warnock stated, referring to TriWest Healthcare Alliance.  TriWest is a contractor to the Department of Defense that administers the TRICARE program in the 21-state western region, including Oregon.  “House Bill 3201, combined with other legislation passed this session, will assist TriWest in meeting this objective.”

House Bill 3201 contains other important provisions for veterans and their families.  It creates a tax credit for doctors who provide treatment to residents of an Oregon veterans’ home.  Furthermore, it raises the current deduction for military pay from $3,000 to $6,000, adjusting an index that has remained unchanged, despite inflation, for over 30 years.  It also adds staff of Oregon Youth Challenge, an alternative school for at-risk youth run through the Oregon Military Department, to the list of those eligible for this deduction.  The bill also includes numerous other tax provisions unrelated to veterans, such as business energy taxes and incentives to lure industry into Oregon.

House Bill 3201 was sponsored by Oregon State Representative Donna Nelson (R-McMinnville) on behalf of Oregon War Veterans Association.  It originally consisted of a single provision, but towards the end of the legislative session, it became the omnibus tax bill of the year through a series of amendments.  These amendments incorporated the pro-veteran contents of House Bill 2400, House Bill 3197, and House Bill 3202 into a single bill, combined with many other unrelated provisions.  David Gulliver, the chief of staff for Representative Nelson, explained:

“It is usually easier to pass a tax bill that offers several provisions, so that many legislators with different priorities can get behind it.  Our office sponsored several tax bills for Oregon War Veterans Association, because we believe veterans’ issues are so important—especially with so many current members of the Oregon National Guard being called to serve their country.  When it became clear that some of these bills wouldn’t pass on their own, we worked with the chair of the House Revenue Committee, Phil Barnhart (D-Eugene), to amend one bill to include many provisions.  Thus, the omnibus bill was born.”

Greg Warnock expressed his pleasure that the bill passed, but also his frustration that the separate components of the bill would not have passed individually.  “Veterans’ issues are important enough to stand on their own,” Warnock stated.  “But the history behind House Bill 3201 shows that we still have a lot more work ahead of us in convincing politicians how critical veterans’ needs truly are.”