Massachusetts Veterans Equality Review Board

Section 16 of chapter 115 solves a problem that every other state in this catalog leaves to the federal government, and it does so by decoupling state benefits from the character of the federal discharge. The problem. Nearly every benefit in every state file in this catalog requires a discharge under honorable conditions. A veteran discharged other than honorably under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, or before it under earlier prohibitions, holds a document that closes those doors. The federal remedy is a discharge upgrade through a service Discharge Review Board or Board for Correction of Military Records, which takes years, requires evidence about events decades old, and does not always succeed. The Massachusetts answer. There shall be a veterans equality review board to ensure veterans who received an other than honorable discharge under 10 U.S.C. 654, also known as the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, or any other policy, on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, receive state-based veteran benefits. The board's remit is then widened twice in the same subsection. It shall ensure that veterans receive state-based veteran benefits if they received an other than honorable discharge on the basis of sex, race, colour, religious creed, national origin, age, genetic information, ancestry, marital status or disability. And if they fall within any VA category eligible for a discharge upgrade, including but not limited to mental health conditions, military sexual trauma and traumatic brain injury. That third limb is the one most likely to be overlooked and it is very wide. A veteran discharged for misconduct that was in fact a manifestation of post-traumatic stress, a traumatic brain injury or the aftermath of a sexual assault falls inside a VA discharge-upgrade category, and section 16 reaches them whether or not their case has anything to do with sexual orientation or gender identity. How it works. A veteran who received an other than honorable discharge and believes the characterisation was based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression may file an application, and may include evidence supporting the claim. The Executive Office of Veterans Services creates a standardised application form, lists the required documentation on it, and publishes it with filing instructions on its website. The board reviews each application and makes a recommendation to the Secretary of Veterans' Services on whether the veteran's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression was more likely than not the primary basis for the discharge characterisation. Note the standard: more likely than not, which is the civil balance of probabilities, and not the higher standards a federal correction board may apply. The timetable is in the statute. The board shall complete review of each application not later than 30 days after receipt, and render a written recommendation to the Secretary not later than 30 days after completing the review. The Secretary shall issue a written decision not later than 10 days after receiving the recommendation. If the Secretary approves, the veteran shall be eligible for state-based veteran benefits. If the Secretary denies, the veteran may file a request for reconsideration with additional documentation within 30 days. So the outer limit from filing to decision is about ten weeks, against federal correction board timelines measured in years. A veteran should pursue both: the federal upgrade for federal benefits, and section 16 for the Massachusetts ones, at the same time. The board itself. Three members appointed by the Secretary of Veterans' Services, one of whom shall represent the interests of the LGBTQ veteran community, and two appointed by the Governor. All members must by education or experience be knowledgeable about veterans benefits and programmes and have demonstrated interest in veterans affairs. A majority must be veterans. Members serve five years without compensation, elect their own chair, and meet as often as the chair deems necessary based on the number of pending applications. What the section reaches and what it does not. It opens state-based veteran benefits, which is the whole of the Massachusetts file: chapter 115 benefits, the annuity, the property tax clauses, the excise exemption, the civil service preference, the soldiers' homes. It cannot alter the federal discharge, and it cannot open a federal benefit. VA health care, compensation and the GI Bill still turn on the federal characterisation or on a VA character-of-discharge determination. Two pieces of housekeeping a reader will hit. Subsection (g) requires the Executive Office, the Board of Registration in Medicine and the Board of Registration in Pharmacy to independently adopt regulations to implement the section, which is a sign that professional licensure consequences were in contemplation too. And the statute has no subsection (f); the official text says so expressly, which is disconcerting but not an error. One citation warning. There are two provisions numbered section 16 in the 2022 session laws, and section 138 of the 2024 HERO Act repealed the one inserted by section 18 of chapter 154 of the Acts of 2022. The surviving section 16 is the one inserted by section 53 of chapter 126 of the Acts of 2022 and amended by section 136 of the HERO Act. Cite it by subject rather than by number when writing to the Executive Office.