Who Counts as a Veteran in Missouri

Missouri does not write a service test. Section 42.002(5) defines "veteran", for sections 42.002 to 42.135 and section 143.1001, as "any person defined as a veteran by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs or its successor agency", and stops. That is unusual and it has two consequences worth stating plainly. The first is that there is no Missouri number to argue about. Most states in this catalog write their own test, commonly 90 or 181 days of active duty with alternatives, and a veteran can read the statute and know. In Missouri, for the chapter that governs the Veterans' Commission, the homes and the cemeteries, the answer is whatever 38 C.F.R. 3.1 and 3.12 say on the day the question is asked, including the character-of-discharge rules and their exceptions. When the federal rules change, Missouri's definition changes with them, without a session of the general assembly. The second is that the delegation is narrow. It governs sections 42.002 to 42.135 and section 143.1001. It does not reach the rest of the statute book, and the other benefits in this file use their own tests, which are worth listing because they do not agree with each other. The veterans homes in section 42.105 take the federal criteria or an honorable discharge from the National Guard, with preference to the Missouri National Guard. The Guard route reaches someone VA would not call a veteran. The property tax credit in section 135.010(1) asks for a veteran of any branch of the armed forces of the United States "or this state" who became one hundred percent disabled as a result of that service, which reaches the Missouri organised militia. The Returning Heroes' Education Act in section 173.900 asks for a combat veteran, defined by armed combat evidenced by theater service, combat medals, or imminent danger or hostile fire pay, plus Missouri voter eligibility or residency, plus discharge under honorable conditions. The survivors grant in section 173.234 asks for service after September 11, 2001 during time of war, plus a combat death, a combat injury, a VA-certified illness or accident occurring in combat, or eighty percent disability from combat injuries. The procurement preferences use two different federal certifications: section 34.074 asks for a veteran "disabled as certified by the appropriate federal agency" with no percentage, and section 34.069 asks for an honorable discharge "as certified by the appropriate federal agency" with no disability. The disabled veteran plate in section 301.071 is the narrowest thing in the file: an automobile-grant disability or compensation at the total rate. And the driver's licence designation in section 302.188 is among the widest, accepting a discharge status of "honorable" or "general under honorable conditions", a retired or reserve retired identification card, or a VA photo identification card. So a Missouri veteran with a general discharge can put VETERAN on a licence, may be admitted to a veterans home if VA counts them, and cannot get a disabled veteran plate without a total rating or an automobile-grant disability. The word does different work in each place, and the only safe approach is to read the section that carries the benefit rather than to reason from a single definition. Section 42.380, the Veterans' Bill of Rights, declares that veterans in Missouri have a right to assistance from a local veterans service officer, to counselling and information about federal and state benefits, to preference in public employment as described in section 36.220, to be treated with dignity and respect and to receive accurate, courteous and timely service, and to fair and equal treatment without regard to sex, race, religion, handicap, ethnicity or national origin. The section creates no remedy, names no enforcement body, provides no penalty and defines "veteran" nowhere. It is a statement of policy that points at other sections, and it is worth exactly what those sections are worth.