Saluting PA Veterans

The Senate Democrats recently introduced a comprehensive package of legislation designed to help veterans and their families transition back into civilian life from military service.  “Saluting PA Veterans” contains measures that promote veterans’ education, housing and jobs in addition to initiatives that provide monetary assistance, counseling services and relief for families. 

I am a co-sponsor to a number of bills and authored Senate Bill 241 which would strengthen the veterans’ preference component in the state’s civil service law by increasing preference points for civil service exams from 10 to 15.  This adjustment is a reasonable and fair offering to our service men and women. The proposal is also revenue neutral imposing no cost on the Commonwealth budget. 

The other bills in the Saluting PA Veterans package include:

·         Senate Bill 1132 (SB 1132) – Authorizes the issuance of up to $40,000,000 in bonds to provide payments to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

·         Senate Bill 1133 (SB 1133) – Creates a pilot program for peer-to-peer counseling among veterans to address post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, and rising rates of suicide among returning veterans.

·         Senate Bill 1134 (SB 1134) – Authorize veterans’ housing projects as eligible projects for RACP and earmark $20,000,000 from the allocation available to housing units to these projects. 

·         Senate Bill 1135 (SB 1135) – Amends the Public Housing Authorities Law to require housing authorities to give preference to veterans and families of active duty military when leasing public housing.

·         Senate Bill 1136 (SB 1136) – Provides housing assistance grants to homeless or imminently homeless veterans and can be used in conjunction with the federal housing program known as the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH).

·         Senate Bill 1137 (SB 1137) – Provides down payment/closing cost assistance in the form of a grant, forgivable loan or deferred no interest loan to veterans seeking to purchase a home. 

·         Senate Bill 1138 (SB 1138) – Increases the amount of funds available to a veteran under the Veterans’ Emergency Assistance Program to a minimum of $500 per month; allows the veteran to receive monetary assistance under the Public Welfare Code; and double the time the veteran can receive assistance under the program from 3 to 6 months.

·         Senate Bill 1139 (SB 1139) – Increases the maximum Military Family Relief Assistance award to $10,000 (currently $3,500) per 12-month period. 

·         Senate Bill 1140 (SB 1140) – Makes changes to the Educational Gratuity Program including increasing the maximum amount available to a student from $500 to $1,000 per term or semester, increasing the maximum age limit from 23 to 25, increases the maximum number of scholastic years of eligibility from 4 to 5 and reduces the PA residency requirement for eligible applicants from 5 years to 1 year. 

·         Senate Bill 1141 (SB 1141) – Requires the Department of Health to create a training program for emergency service providers on how to recognize and interact with veterans and other persons suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

·         Senate Bill 1142 (SB 1142) – Gives priority for subsidized child care to veterans and families of active duty military if they qualify for the program.

·         Senate Bill 1143 (SB 1143) and Senate Bill 1144 (SB 1144) – Creates the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Military Sexual Trauma Public Service Announcement Fund to fund public service announcements informing veterans of the services and benefits available under State and federal law, which will be funded through an income tax return check-off program.

·         Senate Bill 1145 (SB 1145) – Makes changes to the Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption law by defining “income” consistent with the Senior Citizen Property Tax and Rent Rebate Act as well as removes language creating a “rebuttable presumption” of need if the applicant makes less than $75,000 annually and provides that applicants with less than $75,000 in annual income shall receive the exemption.

·         Senate Resolution 262 (SR 262) – Establishes a 17-member task force to study health care issues unique to women veterans, along with the quality of and access to care for women veterans. 

·         Senate Resolution 263 (SR 263) – Urges Congress to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs

Other bills associated with the Saluting PA Veterans that are a part of the Senate Democrats PA Works plan include:

·         Senate Bill 203 (SB 203) – Establishes a training program in DCED to provide veterans with access to training to develop small businesses.

·         Senate Bill 215 (SB 215) – Adds a $5 million veteran-owned businesses loan guarantee as a carve-out to the CFA’s loan guarantee program.

·         Senate Bill 231 (SB 231) – Creates a tax credit for new jobs for unemployed veterans.

·         Senate Bill 232 (SB 232) – Requires Department of Education to work with PASSHE, all state-related universities, and other institutions of higher education to join together with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to develop standards and methods to apply academic or workforce education credit to veterans and military service members in order to expedite the degree requirements for veterans and service members so they can enter the workforce earlier.

With over 2.6 million of our military personnel returning home since first being deployed to the Middle East 12 years ago, these initiatives in this package will help acclimate individuals from military service back to civilian life at home.  More importantly, all of these bills offer veterans a tangible way of recognizing their sacrifice and thanking them for their service to our country while at the same time realizing the promise of a productive and positive future in our communities.