Text of Senator Candaras remarks from this mornings Veterans Day ceremonies. Good Morning, It is an honor to be here with you today to recognize and honor the veterans and active service members of the Commonwealth who have given so much on our behalf. The critical questions my colleagues and I in the Legislature have tasked ourselves with answering are these: “What services will our veterans need when they return home and where will they find those services? “Where will they find work, education and training opportunities?” “How will they reintegrate themselves into civilian life?” “How will they support themselves and their families? We have been very busy answering those questions with the assistance of our veteran legislators; Rep and Senators who have themselves been on tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and know the answers. Every year since 2005, For example veterans who served Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Noble Eagle veterans who were discharged under honorable conditions are eligible for a $1,000 bonus. VALOR Act We are proud to be able to say that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts leads the nation in terms of delivering services to our veterans and returning service members. We worked to pass and are implementing the most robust agenda for enhancing veterans’ services by any state government in the last half-century. Our latest omnibus veterans’ bill, “Veterans’ Access, Livelihood, Opportunity, and Resources” or VALOR Act II, builds on our prior legislation and incorporates common-sense proposals directly from the veterans’ community. WE are learning as we go what Veterans need and how to deliver it. First, we enhanced the legislation we passed in 2012. The VALOR Act or Valor Act I, gave the cities and towns of the Commonwealth an option to adopt a program enabling veterans to volunteer services in exchange for a reduction of their property tax bills. The VALOR Act II builds on this provision and includes the spouse of a deceased or disabled veteran under those eligible for the program. Second, this legislation works to aid veterans with disabilities and assist them in functioning independently within their own homes by requiring the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and Department of Veterans’ Services to establish guidelines for a program to modify homes to accommodate those wounded while serving our country. Additionally, as part of our ongoing effort to ease barriers that may prevent veterans and active service members from fully enjoying the benefits of employment and business ownership, the VALOR Act II addresses certification, licenses and hiring practices. This law directs the Division of Professional Licensure, the Department of Public Health and boards of registration to waive license and certification fees for service members and their spouses in areas where they have received training in the field. In addition, VALOR Act II enables private sector entities to give preference to veterans and the spouses of those veterans that are 100% disabled. WE are also interested in allowing veterans to use their experience overseas to fulfill the requirements for licensure and certification in various areas such as operating heavy equipment or mechanical repair work and, also, healthcare. The military is picking up on this as well and starting to incorporate civilian licensure and certification requirements in their training. The idea would be a smooth transition from the military to a civilian license or certification. Finally, the VALOR Act II looks to ensure that service members are not unduly burdened with payments for an education they are unable to take full and immediate advantage of because of their commitments to our safety and security. Students called to active duty who are unable to complete coursework will be given the option to finish their classes at a later date or withdraw with a full refund and a note in their transcript. We are also working to ensure that the credits they earned previously are transferable without penalty for their lengthy service overseas. NOW, that the U.S. role in Afghanistan is one of training, support, and targeted counterterrorism rather than leading combat, we can expect more service members to return home. However, many returning veterans will tell you that their biggest concern is finding a job! Their biggest disappointment, they tell me, is that they are told there are jobs waiting for them but, when they return to their communities, those jobs often vanish into thin air and they don’t really get the help they need. Though our efforts in Valor Act II will help veterans transition back to their previous lives, they will need specific and targeted jobs programs or they will be prone to joblessness and homelessness. A job is a high priority for a returning vet and As Chair of Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, I know the importance of providing all of our citizens with opportunities for training and employment; they need jobs with good pay and benefits; jobs where you can support a family. This is even more true for our returning vets many of whom are highly skilled and make excellent employees. They are not fearful of high-tech equipment. They’ve been working with it every day. They know how to show up on time properly dressed. They know how to take orders and complete a mission. They know how to work a full day and earn a day’s pay. We need these folks in our labor force, especially here in Western Mass where we are trying to bring back advanced manufacturing and precision machining. When our service members come home, they should not be met with unemployment and economic hardship. We are doing everything we can to ensure that employers give veterans preference in hiring and hiring a vet is a smart choice!! Let me tell you a great story. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Butch Marquis. Butch was a First Class Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy for two decades. Though he joined the Navy with just a high school diploma, his hard work and intelligence helped him earn the jobs of supervisor and instructor. Though he had extensive experience and a strong resume to show for his efforts, when Butch left the Navy in September of 2012 as a disabled veteran, he found that steady employment was illusive. Returning from his posting in Virginia to his home in Western Massachusetts, Butch spent six months looking for a full-time job that could pay the bills. He had a wealth of skills to offer but translating the two decades of high-level work for the U.S. Navy into a full-time position was proving to be an unexpected challenge. That was, until he found the Regional Employment Board’s Precision Machining Training Program. This program, a public-private partnership between the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County and local precision machining companies, has been a boon to veterans and other unemployed and underemployed individuals in the Pioneer Valley. The program aims to train unemployed and underemployed residents of Western Massachusetts in the skills required for cutting-edge precision manufacturing positions in the area. As of this spring, the program enrolled 89 area residents, 31 of whom are veterans. Nine of these enrolled veterans have already found full-time employment with local precision manufacturing businesses, including Butch. As the remaining veterans finish up their training, the Hampden County Regional Employment Board is confident that many additional veterans will secure positions in this field. Today, Butch is an Assembly Supervisor at Hoppe Technologies. Though he has only been a member of the Hoppe team since April, he has managed to more than double the output of the Assembly Department. They are very lucky and happy to have him. The achievements of Butch and other veterans across Western Massachusetts are truly impressive. They drive home the point that with the assistance of programs that bridge the gap between service and employment, we can truly unlock the potential of the men and women returning home from military service. Moreover, they are showing other veterans the way. We need our veterans to help us grow the manufacturing sector here in the Valley and we are ready to train and employ them. There is much work to be done for those who have given so much to serve and protect us all, we owe a debt of gratitude that we can only begin to repay through continued efforts at providing and improving services and opportunities for our veterans. As President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed—else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. We in the legislature honor all veterans today and every day and we are trying everything and anything to find ways to improve the lives of our veterans and their families and make sure our returning veterans collect their “Welcome Home bonuses,” and, then connect with all the services and, especially, help them find jobs, which is what they want most. If anyone knows a returning veteran who wants to give precision machining and advanced manufacturing a try, please have them call my office. Today and every day, we honor our veterans who have made the ultimate sacrifice and we work hard to make sure those heroes who return home enjoy the full blessings of the peace, life and liberty they earned for all of us here in the United States.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:11:25 +0000
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