Michigan Veteran Designation on a Driver License

Section 257.310(1)(e) requires the Secretary of State to indicate on a driver licence, on request, that the individual is a veteran of the armed forces of this state, another state, or the United States. The same designation is available on an official state personal identification card under MCL 28.292. The definition used is the wide one. Section 257.310 defines veteran as that term is defined in MCL 35.61, which asks only for service in the United States Armed Forces including the reserve components and a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable, with no minimum service. A Michigan Guard member who served an enlistment without a federal activation is eligible, and so is someone with an other than honorable discharge. That is broader than the test for the veterans preference in employment, for the property tax exemption, and for the Trust Fund. "A veteran of the armed forces of this state" reaches the Michigan National Guard and the state defence force in their state capacity, which the federal definition of veteran would not. Proof. The Secretary of State requires proof of discharge or separation of service and the nature of that discharge, and must consult the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in determining what proof to require. The section names no document list, so the acceptable evidence is administrative rather than statutory, unlike in several other states in this catalog. The referral clause is the part to read before applying. The Secretary of State may provide the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and agencies of the counties of this state that provide veteran services, with information provided by an applicant, for the purpose of veterans' benefits eligibility referral. Asking for the designation therefore puts the applicant's details in front of the state and county veterans agencies. For most veterans that is the point, and it is how Michigan reaches the large share of its veterans who have never contacted anyone. For a veteran who does not want to be contacted, it is worth knowing that the statute permits it and does not require consent beyond the application itself. There is no fee provision for the designation in the section. What the designation does. It is proof of veteran status at a counter and nothing more; no Michigan statute attaches a benefit to holding it. The Recreation Passport exemption and the hunting and fishing licence exemption are both keyed to plates or to VA determinations, not to the licence designation. The one place it is named in another statute is the veteran's employee resource notification act, which requires every employer's poster to tell employees how to get it.