Legislature, Romney Weigh Plans to Help Troops
By Cyndi Roy for the State House News Service
       The needs of Massachusetts servicemen are suddenly center stage on Beacon Hill.
       Gov. Mitt Romney filed a proposal Tuesday to boost the pay and education benefits for Massachusetts National Guardsmen. The plan, called the “Massachusetts GI Bill,” comes one day after the Senate defeated a Republican-sponsored budget amendment to boost the guard’s life insurance and death benefits. That amendment included proposals (H 37) filed by Romney in February.
       And the release of Romney’s plan comes as the Legislature’s Veteran’s Affairs Committee indicated it plans to endorse three other bills that give money and aid to all military men and women.
       Romney’s package includes a $2 million plan to waive fees for guardsmen attending a state public college or university. Guardsmen are currently exempt from paying tuition, but are required to pay fees, which account for nearly 75 percent of the cost of attending school.
       “This legislation will waive all fees and put Massachusetts in the
forefront of states providing quality benefits to its National Guard
members,” Romney wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
       The package also includes legislation to raise the minimum per diem pay of Guard members on state active duty from $75 to $100, the first increase in six years, according to the governor’s office.
       More than 9,600 Massachusetts National Guardsmen have been deployed since Sept. 11, 2001, the highest number since World War II, according to Romney aides. More than 800 are currently serving overseas, primarily in Iraq, Massachusetts National Guard spokesman Winfield Danielson said. Lawmakers have put forth their own proposals - more than 116 of them – to support Massachusetts troops and nearly 500,000 veterans.
       A bill sponsored by committee co-chairmen Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) and Rep. Anthony Verga (D-Gloucester) would give all servicemen who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan a one-time bonus of $1,000. Massachusetts military personnel who have served in other countries or inside the US for at least six months would be eligible for bonus of $750. Bonuses for those killed in active duty would go the surviving families.
       “Clearly we have the responsibility to do this,” Brewer said in a phone
interview. “If we can’t do it for the vets, who can we do it for?”
       The proposal has the bipartisan support of at least 60 House and Senate members.
        Another bill the committee will endorse Wednesday is legislation (S 1985) sponsored by Sen. Jack Hart (D-South Boston) to establish a military
service scholarship program to provide full scholarships to the children,
siblings, and spouses of servicemen and women killed or severely disabled
while on duty since Sept. 11, 2001.
       The third plan members will support creates the Massachusetts Military Relief Fund. Sponsored by Sen. Pamela Resor (D-Acton), the bill (S 2009) would give taxpayers the option of contributing through tax returns to a fund to provide aid to families of National Guardsmen called to active duty since 9/11.
       Lawmakers are also crafting two resolutions to show their support for the military, Brewer said. The first marks the 230th anniversary of the US
Army. The second would urge increased federal funding of veterans’ hospitals.
        “We need Washington to put their money where their bugle is,” Brewer said.