Relative to veterans' benefits, rights, appreciation, validation and enforcement

What it means

Makes a range of changes to veterans' laws. It creates a court diversion program in which eligible veterans and service members charged with crimes, who have no prior adult convictions, can be placed in a treatment plan for up to 1 year (18 months at most) and have charges dismissed if they complete it, with some driving offenses and dangerousness cases excluded. It bars civil service employers from asking for military medical or personnel records other than the DD-214 form, lets cities and towns reserve town hall parking for veterans with a $100 fine for misuse, changes a military leave limit in section 59 of chapter 33 of state law from "34 days in any state fiscal year and not exceeding 17" to 40, and changes several local property tax exemption rules. It also sets veterans' burial payments at not more than $4,000 toward a funeral costing not more than $5,000, provides an added $1,000 payment under a 2005 law (chapter 130 of the acts of 2005) for people who died in active service, excludes certain state veterans' annuities and federal VA payments from income counts, creates Gold Star Wives Day (April 5) and Gold Star Mothers and Families Day (last Saturday in September), and orders a study of emergency ambulance costs for veterans due March 1, 2019.

Source: official text and history of S.2454 on malegislature.gov. This describes the bill text posted there; amendments may have changed the version that was voted on.