|
The Ohio National Guard's legislative liason is Johann Klein.
Contact information:
office phone is 614-336-7198 or email at
johann.klein@us.army.mil
Links of interest:
The National Guard
Association of the United States (NGAUS) has helpful information
about legislative issues and initiatives for the National Guard.
For more information, go to...NGAUS
New military tax
provisions, go to... link
New Information:
Guardmembers and
Reservists get new break on student loans (Posted 28 Feb. 2008)
A college education bill signed this September by President Bush
included a provision to give mobilized Guardmembers and
reservists a break when it comes to repaying student loans.
The College Cost Reduction Act, which expands the federal Pell
Grant program, includes a provision that allows mobilized
National Guard and Reserve members to defer repaying student
loans for up to 13 months after they are released from active
duty.
Previously, Guard and Reserve members were not required to make
student loan payments while mobilized but had to begin making
payments as soon as they were released from active duty.
The 13-month post-mobilization break on payments is intended to
provide time for servicemembers to get their personal and
financial lives in order before loan payments are due.
State Legislators Propose New Benefits for Servicemembers and
Veterans (Posted 28 Feb. 2008)
In November the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill
372 which proposes several benefits for current and retired
Guardmembers. The House -passed version of the bill includes
many provisions that have been offered by legislators during
past sessions. Among them:
The bill prohibits discrimination based on military status with
respect to the Ohio Civil Rights Act and various other
anti-discrimination laws regarding employment and work related
issues, housing and real estate acquisition, health care and
insurance.
It requires the Attorney General to appoint a staff member of
the Consumer Protection Division to expedite certain cases or
issues raised by a person, or the person's immediate family, who
is deployed on active duty.
It requires a licensing agency to consider relevant military
experience in determining whether a licensee has fulfilled
continuing education requirements.
It eliminates all fees and taxes charged for "Purple Heart"
license plates except for the additional fees charged for
initial reserve and personalized "Purple Heart" license plates,
which are reduced by percent
If a taxpayer receives retired pay under federal law that
combines retired pay for both civilian and military service, the
taxpayer is entitled to deduct the total amount of retired pay,
for both civilian and military service.
It exempts estates of members of the United States Armed
Services who died while serving in a combat zone from being
charged any fees associated with the filing of the decedent's
will for probate or the administration of the decedent's estate
or any fees for relieving the estate from administration or
granting an order for summary release from administration.
It allows Ohioans to deduct retired military pay from the state
income tax
It grants renewal of professional licenses to deployed members
of the National Guard or Reserves within six months of their
return from deployment. The bill also expands the definition of
deployment to include "under the order of the Governor" which
would cover state active duty and duty in national disasters
such as Hurricane Katrina.
More News (Posted 28 Feb. 2008)
The Ohio Senate will soon begin hearings on another benefit
package for Servicemembers and Veterans in the form of Senate
Bill 248. The bill has not received any hearings in the Senate
as of this writing but the chamber is expected to hold hearings
on the bill after the first of the year. The bill's provisions
include:
The creation the "Ohio Military Medal of Distinction," to
recognize Ohio soldiers killed in the line of duty and
designates an annual joint convention of the Ohio General
Assembly as an appropriate venue to honor those recipients.
The bill would also increase educational benefits to members of
the military and their families by ensuring that all members of
the U.S. Armed Forces, their spouses or dependents are eligible
to receive in - state tuition rates
The bill prevents personal identifying information appearing on
military discharge records does not get into the wrong hands.
The bill will protect veteran's discharge records, specifically
by requiring that all U.S. Armed Force's discharge records,
including DD214, DD215, DD220, NGB 22 and NGB 22A forms which
have been recorded by a county recorder be exempt from public
access by limiting access to the records held by Ohio's county
recorders to the individual who is the subject of the record,
their designees, the county veteran's service officer or courts
if they can show good cause for why they need access to the
forms.
Since both bills have yet to pass the legislature and be signed
by the Governor, many of these provisions may be removed or
changed. The General Assembly will continue debating both
measures when they return to session in January.
|
