Rep. Stanley Helps Pass Veterans Bill

Rep. Stanley Helps Pass Veterans Bill to Support Veterans, Service members and their Families

BOSTON – Rep. Stanley and his colleagues in the House unanimously passed “An Act Relative to Housing, Operations, Military Service, and Enrichment” (HOME Act). This legislation continues the commitment of the Massachusetts General Court to the Commonwealth’s veterans, service members and military families by focusing on housing and long-term support services.

This passage of this legislation builds on the successes of the Valor Act I passed in2012 and the Valor Act II passed in 2014, which helped Massachusetts become the number one state in the nation for providing for veterans services.

The bill establishes the Office of State Veterans’ Homes and Housing which will advise the Department of Veterans’ Services and provide oversight for the Commonwealth’s two soldiers’ homes in Chelsea and Holyoke. It creates an Executive Director position to head the new office. The Executive Director will focus on long-term care and will be responsible for the coordinated implementation and enforcement of laws, regulations and policies.

To increase access to housing for veterans, the bill grants veterans preference in admission for scattered site housing units where no low-income family housing has been developed.  The bill also requires housing authorities to exclude amounts of disability compensation paid by the federal government when computing rent for a disabled veteran.  In addition, the bill gives eligible veterans a preference in elderly and disabled housing in all communities, not solely the community in which the veteran resides.

To honor the service of veterans and their families, the bill provides a property tax exemption for the surviving spouse of any veteran or service member who, during active duty, suffered an injury or illness which led to his or her passing. Veterans who have a 100% disability rating for service connected blindness will also be granted a property tax exemption.

Other provisions of this legislation include:

·         The expansion of the Public Service Scholarship to children of any military or service person missing in action or prisoners of war;

·         Allows employees of the Commonwealth who are members of the armed forces reserves and are ordered to service for more than 30 consecutive days to be paid the regular base salary reduced by the amount received as base pay for military service.  It also preserves the seniority and accrued leave time the veteran has earned prior to their deployment;

·         Allows cities and towns to appoint a veterans agent for up to 3 year terms instead of the current 1 year term;

·         Extends the Veterans’ Long-term Care Commission and reworks the Post-Deployment Council, both of which were created through the 2014 VALOR Act and focus on housing and support services for veterans transitioning from active duty to civilian life.

·         Adds veteran status as a protected class under the statute prohibiting discrimination in employment;

·         Allows municipalities to create a voluntary check off box to donate money to a municipal veteran’s assistance fund to provide support for veterans and their dependents in need of immediate assistance with food, transportation, heat, and oil expenses;

·         Provides excise tax exemption for veterans while deployed;

·         Extends assistance from the Military Relief Fund to service members whose death was related to their military service. Previously the Fund was only for service members killed in action;

·         Businesses with more than fifty employees must grant veterans a paid leave of absence on Veterans Day;

·         Prohibits municipalities from transferring the right to receive debt payments if the municipality receives notice that the debtor is a veteran;

·         Expands eligibility for Gold Star Family license plates, and establishes Bicentennial Park in Fall River as the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument of the Commonwealth;

·         Instructs the departments of veterans services to study the implementation of a sliding scale property tax abatement for disabled veterans, costs of transporting incarcerated disabled veterans to VA medical facilities, and the implementation of tax rebates for veterans who lease dwellings to veterans.

The bill will now be sent to the Governor for his signature.