You asked for a summary of veterans' benefits.

SUMMARY

Veterans who served at least 90 days on active duty in the U. S. Armed Forces during a time of war are eligible for a range of benefits not available to those without wartime service.

At a minimum, wartime veterans are eligible for:

1. local property tax exemptions (a reduction of the property's assessed value for tax purposes);

2. education benefits, including tuition waivers at the state's public colleges and universities;

3. financial aid from the Soldiers', Sailors' and Marines' Fund and the veterans' affairs commissioner;

4. employment benefits, including bonus points on initial civil service examinations;

5. retirement benefits;

6. motor vehicle registration and license fee exemptions; and

7. other miscellaneous benefits.

All veterans, including those without wartime service, are eligible for miscellaneous benefits, including admission to the Veterans' Home and burial in the state veterans' cemetery, and other motor vehicle, employment, occupational licensing, employment, and housing benefits.

Veterans' benefits are not granted automatically. The veteran or his qualified dependent must claim them. To make a claim, the applicant must document his eligibility. The most common proof of eligibility is the Department of Defense honorable discharge document (DD 214). Other examples are a “Report of Separation” and a “Certificate of Service. ” A veteran's surviving spouse or dependent children are eligible for some benefits to which the deceased veteran was eligible.

For further information on programs and eligibility requirements, veterans should contact the Veterans' Department Office of Advocacy and Assistance at 1-800-447-0961 and the Veterans' Department at www. state. ct. us/ctva/.

VETERANS' BENEFITS

State law defines a “veteran” in several ways with some statutes defining a veteran especially for a particular benefit program. In the absence of a specific definition, eligibility is determined according to a general definition in CGS § 27-103. This law defines a veteran as an individual honorably discharged or released under honorable conditions from active duty in the armed forces.

To qualify for some benefits, a veteran must have at least 90 days wartime service during or in specified wars, operations, or conflicts unless he was separated from service sooner because of a Veterans' Administration (VA)-rated, service-connected disability or he served for the duration of any military operation that lasted for less than 90 days. Other benefits are available to all veterans honorably discharged from active-duty service, irrespective of whether they served during wartime.

WAR SERVICE BENEFITS

Property Tax Exemptions

State law provides a basic $ 1,000 municipal property tax exemption for qualified veterans. It also provides for an additional mandatory exemption and an additional optional exemption for veterans who qualify for the basic exemption and meet certain income limits. An exemption is a reduction in the property's assessed value on which taxes are owed, not a credit against the amount of the tax. Exemption amounts depend on income, disability, and other factors.

Generally, to be eligible for veterans' property tax exemptions, a veteran must have been honorably discharged from service after having served at least 90 days of active-duty service in the U. S. Armed Forces during a statutorily defined time of war, unless he was separated earlier because of a Veterans' Administration (VA)-rated service-connected disability or the war lasted for a shorter period and he served for the duration. Veterans still in the service are eligible if they meet the 90-day requirement, as are veterans who retired after 30 years of service. For World War II, veterans with certain Merchant Marine service and military service with allied armies also qualify. A veteran's spouse is ordinarily entitled to the property tax exemption for which the deceased veteran qualified. A sole surviving parent and the minor child of a veteran who died while serving in the armed forces or after receiving an honorable discharge is also entitled to an exemption.

To get an exemption, an applicant must document his eligibility to his local town clerk. He must reestablish his eligibility for income-based exemptions every two years. If he is no longer in service, he must establish eligibility only once to receive the basic exemption; if he is still serving, he must send the town clerk a written statement every year signed by his commanding officer or other appropriate officer attesting to his service.

(For a more detailed discussion of veterans' property tax exemption, see attached OLR Report 2005-R-0884. )

Education Benefits

Tuition Waivers. The law requires the state's public colleges and universities to waive tuition for wartime veterans who have been accepted at an approved institution. The waiver applies at community-technical colleges, Connecticut State University, and the University of Connecticut. It covers the cost of tuition for credit-bearing undergraduate and graduate programs. It does not apply to other charges or fees, such as student activity and course fees, or parking, and room and board.

A veteran's dependent children also qualify for a tuition waiver if the veteran is declared missing in action or a prisoner of war while serving in the armed forces after January 1, 1960. The child must have been accepted to the institution (CGS §§ 10a-77(d), -99(d), and -105(e)).

Financial Aid. The law provides state education aid to veterans' children between ages 16 and 23 if the veteran was killed in action, died from an illness or accident while on active duty, or is totally and permanently disabled. The amount of aid, which is based on need, is up to $ 400 per year (CGS § 10a-166).

Honorary High School Diplomas. Local or regional school boards may award high school diplomas to honorably discharged World War II veterans who did not receive their diplomas because they left high school for military service (CGS § 10-221a(g)).

Financial and Other Aid

Soldiers', Sailors' and Marines' Fund. This fund provides benefits, such as food, clothing, medical and surgical aid, and general care and relief, or burial expenses to needy wartime veterans or (1) their spouses living with them or who lived with them when they died or (2) their dependent children under age 18. The veteran must live in the state when he applies for, and while getting, the assistance (CGS § 27-138 et. seq. ). Further information on this fund is available at http: //www. state. ct. us/ssmf/ or by calling (860) 953-4345.

Commissioner's Assistance. Wartime veterans who need help because of disability or other service-related cause are eligible for temporary financial assistance from the veterans' affairs commissioner in an amount and for a time she decides. She may also help the spouse, children, or siblings of any veteran who died as a result of such service if they cannot support themselves because of the veteran's death (CGS § 27-125).

Employment

Civil Service Exams. The law gives bonus points to wartime veterans who achieve a passing score on initial state and municipal civil service examinations. A wartime veteran not eligible for or receiving VA disability compensation or pension payments, and unable to pursue gainful employment because of the disability, receives 10 bonus points; any other wartime veteran ineligible for VA disability compensation or pension gets five bonus points. A qualified veteran's spouse is also eligible (CGS §§ 5-224 and 7-415).

If an honorably discharged or released veteran has served in a military action and got or is entitled to get a campaign badge or expeditionary medal and is not otherwise eligible to receive bonus points, he qualifies for five bonus points if he receives the passing grade on the examination (CGS § 5-224).

Retirement

Members of the Municipal Employees' Retirement System who leave municipal employment to enter the armed forces while the United States is at war, engaged in hostilities, or during national emergencies and are reemployed by the municipality within six months of discharge, are credited with the period of service as though they had been continuously employed. This six-month limitation can be extended in cases of a service-related disability (CGS § 7-434).

Wartime veterans who become members of the State Employees' Retirement System or Teachers' Retirement System may purchase retirement credit for time of service. The system allows credit for up to 30 months for peacetime military service. Veterans purchasing teachers' retirement credit may not be receiving or eligible to receive retirement credit for service from any other government source (CGS §§ 5-180 and 10-183e(b)(3) and (11)).

State police officers and correction guards and instructors who were granted military leave and returned to service within 90 days after discharge receive retirement credit for any period of wartime service. They may also get retirement credit for wartime service prior to such employment, provided they make the appropriate contributions to the retirement fund (CGS § 5-173).

Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Exemptions

The law grants free motor vehicle registration to disabled wartime veterans with certain service-connected disabilities, former prisoners of war, and recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Disabled veterans are eligible for fee exemptions for up to three vehicles in the (1) passenger; (2) camper; or (3) combination passenger and commercial registration categories, whether the veteran owns or leases them. The other two categories of veterans are eligible for exemptions on two vehicles. The spouses of the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and former prisoners of war may retain the registration for life or until remarriage (CGS §§14-49(o) & 14-21d).

Disabled wartime veterans with certain VA-rated disabilities are entitled, upon application, to free special license plates. The plate exempts the veteran from overtime parking fines, provided he does not leave his vehicle at the same spot for more than 24 hours. Surviving spouses may keep the plates and identification cards until death or remarriage (CGS § 14-254).

Miscellaneous War Service Benefits

Funeral Honor Guards. A veteran is entitled to an honor guard detail at his funeral if he served in wartime or in the National Guard for more than 20 years or died while serving as a guard member (CGS § 27-76).

Burial Expenses. When any veteran dies and does not leave enough money to pay for burial expenses, as determined by the commissioner after consulting with the appropriate probate court, the state must pay $ 150 toward his funeral expenses or cremation. Claims must be made within one year after the veteran dies or his remains are returned from abroad (CGS § 27-118).

Itinerant Vendor Permit Fee Exemptions. Wartime veterans are exempt from the $ 200 fee for a town hawker and peddler permit (but not from the requirement to get a permit. The veteran must live in the state for at least two years before he qualifies (CGS § 21-37).

Wartime veterans are entitled to an exemption from any local itinerant vendor's license fee, if they live in Connecticut for two years before applying (CGS §§ 21-30).

Veterans' Service Ribbons. A new law requires the veterans' affairs commissioner, in conjunction with the adjutant general, to award a ribbon and medal to wartime veterans who lived in Connecticut when they were called to active-duty service or are domiciled here on the date of the award. They cannot make awards posthumously (PA 05-3, June Special Session).

Bonus Program. A new law establishes a bonus program for current or former guard members called to active service on or after September 11, 2001. The bonus is $ 50 for each month of active service or major part thereof, up to a maximum of $ 500 for such members who (1) are or were in active service for at least 90 consecutive days; (2) while in such

service, are or were deployed in a combat zone; and (3) if discharged, were honorably discharged or discharged because of a line-of-duty injury. The member has three years after the date when the operation in which he served ends to apply for the bonus (PA 05-3, June Special Session).

Depleted Uranium Exposure Tests. A new law requires the adjutant general and the veterans' affairs commissioner to help eligible guard members and veterans get federal treatment services, including a best practice health screening test for exposure to depleted uranium, if they (1) are assigned a risk level I, II, or III for depleted uranium exposure by their branch of service; (2) are referred by a military physician; or (3) have reason to believe that they were exposed to depleted uranium during military service. The best practice test must use (1) a bioassay procedure involving methods sensitive enough to detect depleted uranium at low levels and (2) equipment capable of discriminating between different radioisotopes in naturally occurring levels of uranium and the characteristic ratio and marker for depleted uranium.

The law applies to (1) Connecticut National Guard members who served in the Persian Gulf War or in an area designated as a combat zone by the President during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom and (2) honorably discharged veterans who served as guard members under these same circumstances (PA 05-3, June Special Session).

BENEFITS NOT REQUIRING WAR SERVICE

Admission to the Veterans' Home

Veterans who need medical or surgical care and treatment are eligible for admission to the Veterans' Home or any other veterans' hospital. Those with no adequate means of support are also eligible for admission to the following Connecticut hospitals at the state's expense: tuberculosis sanatorium, state chronic disease hospital, and mental hospital or training school for the mentally retarded (CGS §§ 27-108 & 27-103(b)). The veterans' affairs commissioner has sole power to determine who is admitted to these facilities.

Burial in the State Veterans' Cemetery

Veterans and one spouse are eligible for burial in the state veterans' cemetery (CGS § 27-122b).

Motor Vehicle

A veteran who applies within two years of receiving an honorable discharge is exempt from paying motor vehicle operator's license and examination fees for one licensing period (CGS § 14-50(c)).

A veteran may request waiver of the motor vehicle license examination if he applies within two years of separation from previously held a military operator's license (CGS § 14-36(e)).

State law allows any type of motor vehicle owned or leased by a veteran or his surviving spouse for one year or longer to qualify for special veterans' license plates (CGS § 14-20b).

Employment

When an employee leaves a public authority or agency to enter the armed forces, his employer must reinstate him to his former position if he applies within 90 days after he gets his certificate confirming satisfactory military service (CGS § 7-462).

Occupational Licenses

A veteran whose hairdressing or cosmetology license expired while he was in the armed services may have it reinstated without paying the required fees (CGS § 20-256).

The Department of Public Health (DPH) may suspend any provision of law governing qualifications for opticians with respect to World War II and Korean War veterans if the department deems the provision unjust and the suspension does not jeopardize public health and safety (CGS § 20-147).

When a veteran's embalmer and funeral director's license expires while he is in the service, DPH may waive the examination required for reinstatement, provided the department approves the veteran's professional qualifications. The veteran must apply within a year of separation from service (CGS § 20-228).

Housing

The entity operating any Department of Economic Development-funded low- or moderate-income rental housing project must give preference to veterans competing with other applicants when housing needs are substantially equal (CGS § 8-75).

Veterans' Registry

A new law requires the Veterans' Affairs Department to develop and maintain a contact list of armed forces members, including guard members, and honorably discharged veterans living in Connecticut, to facilitate informing listed persons about benefits and services available to, and legislation affecting, them (PA 05-3, June Special Session).

Probate Records

When the VA needs a probate record to determine a veteran's eligibility for benefits, the official with custody of the record must provide a certified copy for free (CGS § 45a-12).

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