RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, disabled military retirees are prohibited from receiving the full amount of their retirement pay while still receiving the full amount of their full disability compensation — an issue some refer to as the "Disabled Veterans Tax"; and

WHEREAS, disabled military retirees are forced to pay for their own disability, as every additional dollar in VA disability compensation is taken directly from their retirement pay; and

WHEREAS, military retirees must choose between receiving a full, but generally taxable, retirement annuity and accepting the nontaxable veterans' benefit and, in exchange, forgoing an equal amount of their retirement annuity; and

WHEREAS, the prohibition on receiving both retirement and VA benefits affects about 545,000 retirees of the uniformed services with normal length-of-service retirements and about 147,000 retirees of the uniformed services with disability retirements; and

WHEREAS, together, those retirees had about $4 billion withheld from their annuity checks in that year to offset their VA disability compensation; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of the Combat Military Medically Retired Veteran's Fairness Act is to eliminate the requirements of a retired member of the uniformed services who has a service-connected disability, to offset that member's military retired pay by the amount of disability compensation that member receives from the Department of Veterans Affairs, with the eventual goal of providing for such a member full concurrent receipt of the member's retired pay and veteran's disability; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the legislature requests the Congressional delegation of the State of Hawaii to support the amendments of Title 10, Chapter 61, United States Code, to provide for payment of Concurrent Receipt Compensation under that title to members of the Armed Forces retired for disability with less than 20 years of the active military service, and those who were medically retired with at least 16 years of active military service, but less than 20 years; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to each member of Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.

Report Title:

Combat Military medically Retired Veteran's Act; support