Posted: | January 8, 2018 02:03 PM |
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From: | Senator John T. Yudichak and Sen. Jay Costa |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Legislation Amending the Amputee and Paralyzed Veterans’ Pension Program |
We will soon be reintroducing legislation to open a short window of eligibility for any amputee or paralyzed veteran who was in the process of applying for the state’s Amputee and Paralyzed Veterans’ Pension at the time the law and eligibility requirements changed abruptly in 2014. As you may know, the state Amputee and Paralyzed Veterans’ Pension provides a benefit of $150 per month to eligible veterans. Act 180 of 2014 increased this program’s eligibility requirements in an effort to reduce program costs. However, the act did not provide sufficient time to ensure that all veterans who were in the process of seeking benefits from the program, including obtaining a federal disability determination, were able to complete their applications before the changes became effective. Accordingly, our legislation will provide a 90-day period to veterans who were eligible for benefits prior to Act 180 of 2014 to submit a benefit application to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. We believe it is only fair and reasonable to provide this opportunity to veterans who were unintentionally and negatively affected by the law change. We hope you will join us in supporting this important bill. Previous co-sponsors (SB 1067 of 2015) included: Baker, Brewster, Brooks, Browne, Dinniman, Farnese, Greenleaf, Haywood, McIlhinney, Mensch, Rafferty, Sabatina, Scarnati, Vulakovich, Ward |
Introduced as SB1021