HD16 - Report of The Commission on Veterans' Affairs


Executive Summary:
In the course of 1986-87 the Commission held nine meetings, six of which were public hearings at which any individual veteran, veterans' organization representative, or concerned person could address the Commission on any matter affecting veterans or their dependents. Thirty-seven proposals and suggestions were presented to the Commission at these hearings and through correspondence. Based on testimony presented at these hearings, on correspondence, and on its own deliberations, the Commission makes the following recommendations:

• Appropriate $8 million ($4 million in each year of the upcoming biennium) for the creation of a state veterans' cemetery and state veterans' home;

• Require that applicants for veterans' services from the Virginia Employment Commission present evidence of their veteran status;

• Require that honorably discharged veterans be provided a higher level of service by the Virginia Employment Commission than those holding less than honorable discharges;

• Strengthen present Virginia law providing for a veterans preference in state hiring;

• Memorialize Congress to provide compensation and medical treatment for veterans who suffer from the effects of exposure to Agent Orange or nuclear radiation while on duty with the military;

• Exempt from taxation one dwelling house and one motor vehicle owed by any veteran with total and permanent service-connected disabilities;

• Provide adequate state financial support to the Division of War Veterans' Claims, its programs and personnel;

• Allow veterans, their surviving spouses and other dependents to receive, free of charge, copies of any state-maintained records they may need to establish their eligibility for federal or other veterans' benefits;

• Inform the public -- especially public school pupils -- of the role of black veterans in American history.