OLR Bill Analysis

SB 861

AN ACT CONCERNING RETIREMENT FROM MILITARY SERVICE.

SUMMARY:

This bill makes all enlisted guard members, not just officers and warrant officers who meet certain service criteria, eligible to be placed on the National Guard list of retirees (“retired list”). Members on the retired list may be voluntarily recalled to active duty by the governor and, when performing such duty, receive the same pay and allowances as members of a similar grade on the active list.

The bill also sets the mandatory retirement age for all guard members, not just officers and warrant officers, at 64 or as set by laws and regulations governing the National Guard. The current federal age limit for service in the armed forces, including the National Guard, is as follows: (1) enlisted personnel and officers at or below the rank of colonel, 62 and (2) brigadier general and above, 64.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

RETIRED LIST

Under current law, an officer or warrant officer who served 10 years as an officer or enlisted person, including at least three years as a commissioned officer or warrant officer, may apply and be placed on the retired list in the highest grade in which he or she served. An officer or warrant officer who served 20 or more years may apply and be commissioned and placed on the list at the next highest grade at which he or she was ever commissioned, but no higher than a general.

The bill allows (1) all members who served 10 years to apply to be placed on the list in the highest grade in which they served and (2) all members who served 20 or more years to apply to be placed on the list at one grade above the highest grade they ever held, up to but not above brigadier general or sergeant major.

The bill allows each member only one promotion, and it requires that applications be timely and submitted to the adjutant general through the chain of command before a member retires. Under current law, an officer may apply (1) while in service, through proper officers, or (2) after leaving service, directly to the adjutant general.

By law, members on the retired list (1) serve without pay (unless called to active duty); (2) must be withdrawn from command and line of promotion; (3) are subject to the National Guard's rules and regulations; (4) may wear, within the limitations of law and regulations, the uniform of the rank at which they retired; and (5) may, if they consent, be detailed from the retired list and placed on active duty at any time at the governor's order. When on such duty, they are entitled to the same pay and allowances as officers of a similar grade on the active list.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Select Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Joint Favorable Change of Reference

Public Safety and Security Committee

Joint Favorable