Fallsnewspress.com - Could take year for vets to get Issue 1 bonuses

by Marc Kovac

Capital Bureau Chief

Columbus -- It likely will be at least a year before veterans of recent and ongoing military conflicts in Iraq and the Middle East receive state bonus payments OK'd by voters through Issue 1 Nov. 3.

That's because it will take time for the rules for the program and the bonds backing the payments to be finalized by state officials.

Jim Gravelle, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, said it could be about a year before checks are issued, though other states have taken longer to implement comparable programs -- Pennsylvania took 18 months.

Issue 1 passed handily, with 72 percent of the vote for it and 28 percent against.

The constitutional amendment will allow the state to borrow up to $200 million to pay cash bonuses to Ohio military men and women who served in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq -- those serving in current conflicts in the area, plus those involved in Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

Veterans will be paid $100 per month, up to $1,000, for time served in those areas or $50 a month, up to $500, for those serving in the military at the time in other locations. Families of veterans who died in action will be eligible for a $5,000 death benefit. Similar cash bonuses were approved by voters and paid to veterans of other wars and conflicts, dating back to World War I.

But it will take months before the bonus payments are in veterans' hands. After the Secretary of State certifies the election results, the Ohio Department of Veterans Services will begin developing rules for the bonus payments, outlining the application process.

A state lawmaker panel, the Ohio Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, has to sign off on them before they're final. The process is expected to take about three months, Gravelle said.

Afterward, the state's Public Facilities Commission will have to issue and sell bonds to pay for the program. Those funds will be used to hire staff and rent office space needed to implement the program. The bonds process is expected to take about three additional months, Gravelle said.

Once veterans begin submitting applications, the department will have to check them for eligibility, verifying service dates and Ohio residency.

Marc Kovac is the Dix Newspapers Statehouse Bureau chief.

E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog. His Capital Blog can be found online at blogs.dixcdn.com/capitalblog/.