House OKs military form release to government entity

A government entity is generally prohibited from releasing contents of a DD214 or DD215 form or any other certificate of military service discharge unless certain conditions are met.

However, an employee or official within a government entity can release such information to another employee or official within that entity for official duties.

Rep. Bob Dettmer

Sponsored by Rep. Bob Dettmer (R-Forest Lake), HF546 would extend the exception to include information release to another government entity.

“This would allow counties to release military discharge records to other counties for the purpose of building a private index with the goal of making it easier for families to locate the DD214, DD215 records,” he said.

Passed 125-0 Friday by the House, the bill goes to the Senate where Sen. Tom Saxhaug (DFL-Grand Rapids) is the sponsor.

We do periodically have some difficulty with service members — particularly when they’re not here in Minnesota — who are seeking some sort of benefit, usually outside the direct military system, Don Kerr, executive director of the Department of Military Affairs, told the House Veterans Affairs Division in February.

“The way the current law is written, if they have filed a previously earned DD214 with their local county, the county is prohibited from providing that to the Department of Military Affairs or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it leaves the onus on the service member to actually get a copy of that record and make it available. It’s not a huge, crushing burden, but it does slow down the processing of certain claims and grants.”