Guam Veterans Bill of Rights, the SERVE Act

The Securing and Ensuring the Rights Veterans Earned Act, Public Law 36-084 of March 11, 2022, put a Veterans Bill of Rights into 10 GCA § 67203. Most of it directs the Office of Veterans Affairs to do things. Two parts create entitlements a veteran can use directly, and those are why this entry exists. Academic credit for military training, free. Under § 67203(c)(1)(A), every veteran enrolled as a full-time or part-time student in good standing at any institution within the local university system and community college system shall, upon application, be granted academic credits, "without limitation," toward their degree for completion of courses that were part of that veteran's military training or service, if the completed courses meet standards of the local institution equivalent to or greater than the standards set by the American Council on Education for awarding academic credits. And: "No fee, tuition, or other charge shall be assessed against a veteran who qualifies for such credit pursuant to this Subsection." Two things there are worth pausing on. "Without limitation" means the statute sets no cap on how many credits military training can produce. And the no-fee sentence matters because many institutions charge a portfolio assessment or credit-for-prior-learning fee; on Guam a veteran cannot be charged one for this. Registration protections, under § 67203(c)(2)(A). Institutions that offer an early course registration period to any segment of the student population shall have a process to offer early registration to students who are veterans or National Guard members. A student called to active duty after regularly attending a course for thirteen or more weeks, or after completing eighty-five percent of the course's work through acceleration, may be given credit for each course in which they hold a letter grade of C or better. Students called to active duty may be entitled to a one hundred percent refund of tuition and fees if the institution provides no accommodation. Veterans with no previous college experience are permitted a one-week extension to file applications after the registration period ends and may begin classes pending completion of their application. And on return from active duty, veterans may register after the normal registration period without late fees or other penalties. The rest of the Bill of Rights is directive. On housing it tells the Office to target housing programmes and streamline federal and local processes through interagency agreements. On employment it tells the Office to use data to direct veterans toward in-demand fields and to report monthly to military outplacement offices, education centers and agencies. On healthcare it directs the Office to develop and operate a veteran health navigator service: to identify, train and deploy navigators who have direct knowledge of the veteran communities they serve, to identify all federal and other healthcare benefits available to veterans and their families, and to help veterans and beneficiaries apply for coverage and overcome barriers to enrolment. Suicide prevention and mental health access are folded into that navigator programme, with reporting duties attached. Burial benefits appear in the Bill of Rights by cross-reference to 10 GCA § 67105, which is covered by the Guam Veterans Cemetery entry here. The Act gave the Office one year from its effective date to implement the programmes and mandates. If a programme named here has not materialised, the Office is the place to ask, and the statute is the thing to cite.