EXPAND DEFINITION OF "VETERAN"
TO INCLUDE COLD WAR VETERANS
House Bill 6357
Sponsor: Rep. Terry Brown
Committee: Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security
Complete to 9-7-10
A REVISED SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 6357 AS INTRODUCED7-28-10
The bill would amend add a definition for the term "Cold War" to Public Act 190 of 1965, an act to provide for a System of Uniformity of Service Dates for Veterans. (MCL 35.61) Under the bill, the term "Cold War" would be defined to mean "the continuous period of hostile acts against theUnited States by Communist Bloc forces fromSeptember 2, 1945 toDecember 26, 1991."
The bill would also modify the definition of "veteran." Currently under the law, the term is defined as a person who served in the active military forces during a period of war or who received the armed forces expeditionary or other campaign service medal during an emergency condition and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions. "Veteran" also includes a person who died in active military forces. Under the bill, the words noted in italics above would be eliminated from the definition.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on state and local governments. Under this bill, about 190,000 new Cold War veterans would be eligible to receive emergency grant funds from the Veterans Trust Fund and from various county veterans relief programs. The number of Cold War veterans is expected to drop to about 175,000 by 2015.
The Veterans Trust Fund Board gives out approximately $1.1 million in emergency grant funds to veterans that apply for the grant money each year. Adding 190,000 more eligible veterans means that the Board will either have to limit the amount of grant funding provided to each applicant, or they will keep disbursing the $1.1 million in a similar fashion but will use up the $1.1 million at a faster pace, or they will have to dip into the Veterans Trust Fund corpus rather than using only the income that the Veterans Trust Fund receives from investments. As ofJune 30, 2010, the Veterans Trust Fund corpus was valued at $49,618,316.
It is estimated that counties that provide various types of veterans-related services will see about a 20 percent increase in Cold War veterans that apply for assistance. Each county that provides veterans-related services will have to determine how to administer funds and programs associated with this percent increase.
Fiscal Analyst: Jan Wisniewski
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.