REFERENCE TITLE: blue water navy; Vietnam veterans

State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-third Legislature Second Regular Session 2018

HCM 2007

Introduced by Representatives Andrade: Lawrence, Peten

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

urging the united states congress to enact the blue water navy vietnam veterans act.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, United States service members who served in the territorial seas of Vietnam during the Vietnam War were exposed to more than 20 million gallons of the herbicide Agent Orange, a toxic chemical linked to a variety of detrimental health effects; and

Whereas, the Agent Orange Act of 1991 allowed the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs to expeditiously deliver veterans' benefits to veterans who suffer from any of the diseases the federal government linked to Agent Orange, but this act was limited in 2002 to only those veterans who could provide proof of "boots on the ground" in Vietnam; and

Whereas, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act would restore the presumptive coverage for blue water veterans and lift from these individuals the burden of having to prove their exposure to Agent Orange; and

Whereas, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act would lessen the suffering of veterans who are currently enduring diseases they received as a result of their honorable service to this nation.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1.  That the United States Congress enact into law the proposed Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act.

2.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.