OLR Bill Analysis
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
This bill increases the number of veterans eligible for burial in the state veterans' cemetery and admission to the state Veterans' Home and Hospital (VHH), which the bill renames the Veterans' Home. It does this by eliminating war service as a criterion for burial or admission, making any veteran honorably discharged from active service in the U. S. Armed Forces eligible.
The bill specifies that the Veterans' Home should be located in Rocky Hill. It makes the law conform to practice by explicitly allowing funds, other than state funds, to be used to pay for hospital expenses incurred by veterans who have no adequate means of support.
The bill removes obsolete provisions pertaining to the deputy commissioner's role as head of the veterans' advocacy and assistance unit and a nonvoting member of the Veterans' Affairs Board of Trustees. (The deputy commissioner's position was eliminated several years ago. ) It allows the commissioner to appoint a head for the advocacy unit.
The bill repeals provisions requiring the Department of Consumer Protection to issue a club permit allowing the retail sale of wine and beer at the VHH. The department no longer operates a facility requiring this permit.
The bill makes conforming and technical changes, and it removes obsolete provisions on the Persian Gulf War Information and Relief Commission.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
BACKGROUND
Eligibility Criteria for Admission to Home and Cemetery Burial
By law, honorably discharged veterans are eligible for admission to the state VHH if they served 90 days on active duty during wartime, as defined by CGS § 27-103, unless they were separated earlier because of a service-connected disability or the war lasted less than 90 days and they served for its duration. "Period of war" includes any time served since August 2, 1990.
By law, honorably discharged veterans who served during wartime as defined in CGS § 27-122b are eligible for burial in the state veterans' cemetery. The listed wars do not include any fought after the Lebanon peacekeeping mission (1982-1984), nor does the law include any minimum service requirement. It appears that, in practice, the Veterans Affairs Department uses the wars listed in CGS § 27-103 to determine eligibility for burial in the cemetery.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety Committee
Joint Favorable Report
Yea |
22 |
Nay |
0 |