Sponsored by:
Senator DIANE B. ALLEN
District 7 (Burlington)
Senator JEFF VAN DREW
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator A.R.Bucco
SYNOPSIS
Requires DMVA to distribute military discharge upgrade information.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs to distribute military discharge upgrade information.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) affect over one-third of the Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans and over 500,000 veterans who served in Vietnam;
(2) Military discharges related to PTSD and TBI are often not honorable discharges and commonly referred to as “bad paper” discharges;
(3) “Bad paper” discharges prevent veterans from receiving certain benefits crucial to their welfare and livelihood;
(4) Veterans with “bad paper” often face barriers to employment because of the stigma surrounding the discharge; and
(5) The Secretary of Defense issued a call to action in 2014 to address “bad paper” discharge concerns and to upgrade PTSD and TBI related discharges, yet only a small percentage of those eligible have taken advantage of the opportunity.
b. The Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs shall collaborate with veterans organizations to proactively and comprehensively distribute, to the appropriate veterans, information on the opportunity and process to upgrade military discharge papers to reflect a PTSD or TBI diagnosis.
c. In State Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018, there shall be appropriated $100,000 to the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs from the General Fund to provide resources to implement the distribution of military discharge upgrade information in accordance with subsection b of this section.
d. Subsection b. of this section shall be implemented notwithstanding at any failure to appropriate the funds required by subsection c of this section.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the second month after the date of enactment, except that the Adjutant General of the Department may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act, and shall expire two years thereafter.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs to collaborate with veterans organizations to proactively and comprehensively distribute to the appropriate military veterans information on the opportunity and process to upgrade military discharge papers to reflect a diagnosis of PTSD and TBI.
The bill requires that, in State Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018, $100,000, be appropriated to the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs from the General Fund to provide resources to implement the distribution of military discharge upgrade information.