The Assembly State and Local Government Committee cleared Assemblyman Alex Sauickie’s bill on Thursday to make more New Jersey veterans eligible for certain benefits. 

“This legislation recognizes a vet is a vet,” Sauickie (R-Ocean) said. “Currently, veterans are excluded from benefits they deserve because they may have only served 13 days in a specific combat zone instead of 14, were deployed to Libya instead of Haiti, or didn’t meet some other detail of the existing law. My goal is to eliminate the eligibility confusion by ensuring all veterans who honorably served this state and country can access vital services and benefits.” 

The bill (A3161) allows any veteran with federal active service in any branch of the United States Armed Forces or a Reserve component thereof to qualify for a veteran’s allowance and military service credit under certain state-administered retirement plans, as well as civil service preference.  

“New Jersey should remove arbitrary obstacles preventing our veterans from staying in the state after retirement and finding gainful employment,” Sauickie said. 

Veteran civil service preference gives qualified veterans with passing exam scores top billing on an open competitive employment list ahead of non-veterans. Voters would have to approve amending the state Constitution for that part of the bill to take effect. 

“What does it mean to be a veteran in New Jersey? It means we recognize your service and contributions regardless of your specific deployments listed on your DD214 discharge papers,” Sauickie said.