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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
appropriation; DPS; school safety program
(NOW: military family relief fund; criteria)
Purpose
Specifies, under the Military Family Relief Fund (Fund), that a service member who was deployed from a military base in Arizona must have been sent to a combat zone or received hazardous duty pay to be eligible for assistance.
Background
The Fund consists of private donations, grants, bequests and other monies received for that purpose. The Arizona Department of Veterans' Services administers both the Pre-9/11 Veterans Subaccount and the Post-9/11 Veterans Subaccount of the Fund. The Post-9/11 Military Family Relief Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) is established to determine appropriate uses of the monies in the Post-9/11 Veterans Subaccount (Subaccount).
The monies in the Subaccount must be used to provide financial assistance to eligible applicants. The service member of an applying family must have: 1) been deceased, wounded, injured or became seriously ill after September 11, 2001; 2) been deployed from a military base in Arizona; 3) claimed Arizona as their home of record; or 4) been a member of the Arizona National Guard at the time of deployment.
Assistance under the Subaccount must be based on financial need up to $20,000 per family. Eligible assistance is available as follows: 1) widows, widowers or dependent children of service members who died in the line of duty in a combat zone or a zone where the person was receiving hazardous pay may apply for a stipend that covers living expenses for up to six months; 2) an immediate family member who has a temporary residence near the medical facility where the current or former service member is being treated may apply for payment to cover costs of temporary residence near the medical facility; and 3) an immediate family member, service member or former service member may apply for living expenses and other appropriate expenses as determined by the Advisory Committee (A.R.S. § 41-608.04).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Specifies that a service member deployed from a military base in Arizona must have been sent to a combat zone or a zone where the service member was receiving hazardous duty pay to be eligible for assistance.
2. Makes technical changes.
3. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by the Appropriations Committee
· Adopted the strike-everything amendment.
Senate Action
TPS 2/12/20 DP 7-0-1
APPROP 2/25/20 DPA/SE 9-0-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 5, 2020
ZD/ML/kja