Senator Honig, Representative Foster, Senator Gordon and Representative Anderson, and members of the Veterans’ and Military Affairs Committee, my name is Alison Weir, and I am the executive director of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. I am here in support of the following bills:

• SB 376, an Act eliminating service in time of war as an eligibility criterion for certain state and municipal benefits
• SB 1151, an Act Concerning Certain Federal Veterans’ Benefits and Income Eligibility Determinations for Certain Public Assistance Programs. HB 6441, an Act concerning the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Advocacy and Assistance
• SB 721, An Act recognizing National Women Veterans Day
• HJ 6, A Resolution Honoring the Members of the 6888^th Central Postal Directory Battalion.

The Connecticut Veterans Legal Center provides free legal assistance to low-income Veterans living in Connecticut. Our mission is to support, empower, and improve the lives of Veterans by providing free legal assistance to remove barriers to housing, healthcare, income, and recovery. Approximately 44% of our clients have a service-connected disability rating from their service and receive VA disability benefits.

I support SB 376. I support eliminating the requirement of service during “time of war” for benefits offered in the state and federally.  It is long past time for us to remove the artificial distinction between service during a congressionally declared “time of war” and otherwise. For instance, the service members who served during the Cold War, officially not a “time of war,” faced the same rigors of training, exposures to weapons testing, and heightened readiness as those who served during a “time of war” in a stateside billet. They all exhibited the same willingness to serve their country and go where they were needed. As the recent expansion of the PACT act presumption of service-connected disability due to toxic exposure in stateside locations demonstrates, service members are exposed to risks during all times. Training accidents occur and studies have shown that repeated firing of artillery rounds, even if during training, can cause traumatic brain injury. Even peacetime drills, such as a nuclear attack drill, can result in trauma – you do not have to be deployed during wartime to have been injured by your service. And most people assume when they join the military that they MAY, whether they do or not, be called upon to serve in war. The wartime distinction is meaningless with regard to people’s willingness to serve their country, and it is this willingness that should be recognized and rewarded.

Moreover, the educational benefits addressed by this bill are comparable to veterans benefits the federal government offers without consideration of wartime service. The federal education benefits — the various GI bills, and the Veteran Readiness and Employment, and other education programs administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — are not contingent on wartime service. With the declared end of the Global War on Terrorism of September 2021, we are no longer in an official time of war. That said, we still need men and women to join our armed forces. Their period of service may or may not include a future period of war, but they will train and prepare as if it will, no matter what. Veteran education benefits are a powerful incentive for people to join the service. They should not be tied to whether the veteran happened to serve during a time of war or not. If the state wishes to attract young veterans to stay in the state by offering educational benefits, it should not limit those benefits on an arbitrary distinction that the federal government itself does not impose.

I also support Raised Bill 1511: The VA nonservice connected pension, often referred to as the VA pension, is means tested and administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Eligible veterans must have assets less than $159,240 and incomes less than the maximum allowable pension rate, which is based on one’s level of disability and dependents. The nonservice connected pension is available to Veterans who do not have a dishonorable discharge, served during a period of war, and are over 65 years old, determined to be permanently and totally disabled by the VA, live in a nursing home, or receive either SSDI or SSI. Aid and Attendance is an additional pension amount available to Veterans who qualify for nonservice-connected pension who need additional assistance with the activities of daily life (ADLs) or are bedbound or have very limited eyesight. Because the maximum allowable pension rate under Aid and Attendance is higher, the income limit for this means tested benefit is higher than a basic nonservice connected pension. There is another additional pension program, the Homebound pension, that is short of Aid and Attendance in that it is available to any veteran who qualifies for a VA pension and is homebound due to illness or disability, but not necessarily bedbound or reliant on assistance with ADLs.

Veterans who receive nonservice connected pensions, but not Aid and Attendance, are very much in need of additional state support. They are elderly and/or disabled and have limited incomes. A single Veteran receiving a VA pension can have an annual income of no more than $16,551, or just slightly higher than the federal poverty level. Any pension the veteran receives is the difference between the veteran’s income and the maximum allowable pension rate.

The number of veterans who receive nonservice connected pensions is a small one, and getting smaller every year as our veteran population shrinks. At the end of FY 2023, there were 934 individuals receiving any sort of nonservice connected pension according to the Veteran Benefits Administration Annual Benefits Report (see link to report below). I fully support excluding the nonservice connected pensions from calculations of income for eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program, medical assistance, and energy assistance.

I also support Raised Bill 6441, which would increase the number of veteran service officers (VSO) on the staff of the Department of Veterans Affairs from eight to not less than fourteen. VSOs are trained and accredited to represent veterans before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Benefits Agency. The VA’s benefit application process is far more complicated than it should be, and it is very important to have an advocate such as a VSO to help veterans work through the process. VSOs provide this service free of charge and help veterans file claims to get all the benefits they are due.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, as of 2022, there are 131,603 veterans in the state of Connecticut. The current number of accredited VSOs and Veterans attorneys, between the state DVA, various veterans groups like the DAV and VFWs, and the accredited attorneys on the CVLC staff, is not enough to service the state’s veterans, leaving veterans open to claim sharks who will promise to obtain disability benefits in exchange for a fee. Because the VA does not allow representatives to collect a fee to file initial claims, this is not a need the market will fill. Where the market steps in, it is typically unaccredited “claims agents,” known among veteran circles as claim sharks, who will assist a veteran with a claim in exchange for a fee or a percentage of the veteran’s resulting disability payment in perpetuity. We have seen cases where such claim sharks file incremental claims for veterans, charging a large fee with each filing, delaying veteran receipt of their owed benefits and taking unlawful profits. Having more VSOs available to veterans will help ensure that veterans will not have to turn to claim sharks to receive timely help in filing claims.  

As a woman veteran, I would be remiss if I did not also support Committee Bill 721, An Act Designating National Women Veterans Recognition Day. Today, it is more important than ever to recognize the contributions women have made to in service in the military, dating back to the Revolution. It is not “woke” to acknowledge the sacrifices women have made in service to the nation, and their role in ensuring the effectiveness and lethality of the U.S. Armed Forces.

In the same vein, I fully support HJ No. 6, a Resolution Honoring the Members of the 6888 Central Postal Battalion. Ten women, including two who lost their lives while in the line of duty during a vehicle accident, from Connecticut served in the battalion, the only all-Black women unit deployed overseas during WWII, to do the utterly unglamorous, but essential for morale, job of processing mail for the service members overseas. Their service, and their story, should be told and celebrated.  

Thank you for your work to improve the lives of Connecticut Veterans.

This testimony was given by CVLC Executive Director Alison M. Weir before the Veterans’ and Military Affairs Committee for the State of Connecticut on January 30, 2025.