OLR Bill Analysis

sSB 1063 (as amended by House “A” and “B”)*

AN ACT CONCERNING ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS FOR VETERANS IN SERVICE IN TIME OF WAR.

SUMMARY:

This bill expands the pool of people eligible for veterans' war service benefits by changing the start and end dates of Operation Earnest Will (escort of Kuwaiti oil tankers flying the U. S. flag in the Persian Gulf). The benefits include property tax exemptions; public college tuition waivers; and financial help from the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund.

The bill also specifies that the 90 days qualifying service required for veterans' wartime service benefits do not have to be consecutive, by defining “service in time of war” as “ninety or more cumulative days” in a statutorily defined period of war. Current law defines it as “ninety or more days. ” By law, unchanged by the bill, a veteran does not have to meet the 90-day requirement if he or she (1) left the service earlier because of a service-connected disability or (2) served for the duration of a war or operation that lasted less than 90 days.

*House Amendment “A” changes the ending date of Operation Earnest Will in the original bill from September 26, 1988 to August 1, 1990.

*House Amendment “B” specifies that cumulative service is qualifying service for war service benefits.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

OPERATION EARNEST WILL

Under current law, the dates of this operation are February 1, 1987 to July 23, 1987. The bill corrects and sets the dates at July 24, 1987 to August 1, 1990 to conform to Department of Defense regulations (32 CFR § 578. 25). It thus increases the defined length of the operation from approximately six months to 36 months. But it also eliminates pre- July 24, 1987 service as qualifying service for this operation.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Select Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Joint Favorable Change of Reference

Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute

Appropriations Committee

Joint Favorable