Tuesday, November 10, 2009

House Passes Veterans Bill

Massachusetts House of Representatives Passes An Act Providing Benefits to Veterans and Service Members

This afternoon, in honor of Veterans Day, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed An Act Providing Benefits to Veterans and Service Members. This important piece of legislation will help to ensure that the Commonwealth honors its commitment to veterans and all those currently serving in our country’s armed forces. As a veteran I was particularly proud to have voted for this bill.

The bill will honor veterans in a number of ways, including:
· Amending the Welcome Home bonus program, where service members receive a $1,000 bonus for a single overseas deployment, by allowing those deployed for multiple tours to reapply for up to 50% of the bonus for each subsequent return
· Creating a Medal of Liberty for the Governor to award to family members of servicemen killed in action
· Allowing town clerks to provide a list of veterans to the Executive Office of Veterans Affairs and local veterans’ service officers so that veterans are adequately counted and known to local veterans’ agents so that outreach efforts are more successful
· Allow for service members who are deployed overseas to have an extended amount of time for returning an absentee ballot, providing easier delivery of a ballot by fax, email or online, so every service member’s vote is counted
· Disabled veterans who are otherwise qualified are given a higher level of consideration for employment
· Creating commissions to study the history of discrimination toward service-disabled veterans and examine healthcare services currently provided by the Massachusetts Soldiers’ Homes
· Explores the possibility of construction of “state veterans homes” using federal and private funding
· Allows state licensing boards to grant exemptions for certain licenses to honorably discharged veterans with applicable training, such as truck drivers
· Creates a commission to study the feasibility and cost of creating a neuropsychological cognitive testing program for all military forces and an MRI scanning program for all service members
· Allowing qualified service members who meet eligibility requirements to receive a bonus for participation in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

As Veterans Day is once again upon us, it is important for all our veterans and active-duty service members to know that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is behind them, and to ensure that all those who have served our country are given the tools they need to succeed when they return home.