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Senate Committee Approves Robbins' Bill Preserving
National Guard Education Funding
HARRISBURG -- Legislation
sponsored by State Senator Bob Robbins (R-50) that would preserve full funding
for Pennsylvania’s National Guard Educational Assistance Program was approved by
the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee today. The
Committee also approved legislation supported by Sen. Robbins that would clarify
the state veterans preference law.
Sen. Robbins wrote the 1996 law which established
the National Guard Educational Assistance Program. In exchange for six years of
service in the National Guard, members may receive free college tuition for up
to five years. Guard members can attend any public or private university in
Pennsylvania; however, tuition assistance cannot exceed that charged by the
State System of Higher Education. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance
Agency administers the program.
“This program has been a fair exchange for National
Guard members and the Commonwealth,” said Robbins. “However, several factors
are causing uncertainty in the funding of the program. As a result of the
reduction of the national Army in the 1990s and the aftermath of the 2001
terrorist attacks, the role of the National Guard has increased substantially.
With the number of guard members entering and leaving the Educational Assistance
Program as a result of deployment, it is difficult to project future
participation rates and costs. Senate Bill 981 would provide that any unspent
funds remain in the program at the end of each fiscal year, rather than going
back into the General Fund. This bill will help protect the commitment to
provide 100 percent of tuition for our guard members. We should do everything
possible to make sure that this commitment is kept.”
The Committee also approved House Bill 2055, which
is identical to legislation introduced by Sen. Robbins. This legislation would
ensure that the state veterans preference law is extended to military reservists
and members of the National Guard who are federally activated for war or armed
conflict, then released from that active duty to serve out their remaining
service obligation.
“This bill would clear up a gray area in the law
that prevents the State Civil Service Commission from awarding veterans
preference to a deactivated reservist because they were ‘released from active
duty’ rather than ‘honorably discharged’ from military service, as is required
in current state law,” said Robbins. “The truth is, the dangers faced by
reservists in Iraq are just as real as those faced by other servicemen and
women. The intent of the veterans preference law is to acknowledge the special
contributions of military veterans, and reservists activated for combat clearly
fit into that category.”
Senate Bill 981 and House Bill 2055 will next be
considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee before being voted upon by the
full Senate.
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