CNMI Office of Military Liaison and Veteran Affairs

The Office of Military Liaison and Veteran Affairs was created by the Military Liaison and Veteran Affairs Office Act of 2002, Public Law 13-34, effective December 5, 2002. It took the old Division of Veterans Affairs out of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs and moved it into the Office of the Governor, renaming it. It is headed by an Executive Officer appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the Governor. Read the name in order, because the statute does. The findings behind Public Law 13-34 are mostly about the military half: the legislature wanted a nationally recognised office that could deal with the U.S. Armed Forces on sensitive matters, offer the Commonwealth's land, sea and airspace for readiness and training, and contribute to homeland security. The duties list at 1 CMC § 20123 opens with liaison functions before it reaches veterans. The veteran-facing duties are real and worth knowing item by item, because they are the practical service you can ask for. Under § 20123 the office shall assist veterans returning to the Commonwealth after their tours of duty in finding full-time employment, and specifically shall assist unemployed veterans to receive all available military, federal and local benefits they are entitled to or eligible for; give reasonable clerical and administrative assistance to returning veterans actively searching for employment; give the same assistance to returning veterans who want to pursue their education; and keep public statistical records of veteran employment status so far as privacy allows. It shall also facilitate timely communication with the appropriate branch on identification card renewal or replacement, medical and retirement benefits, and other benefits. Subsection (g) is a recruiting function rather than a veterans one, and it is unusual enough to name: the office provides counselling to residents who aspire to join the armed forces, on benefits, enlistment procedure, and aligning military goals with career aspirations "in order to learn occupations that can be of benefit to them when they are discharged and return to the Commonwealth." The office is also the certifying authority elsewhere in the code. For veteran and disabled veteran license plates under 9 CMC § 2116, where a DD214 is not available, a certification from the Military and Veterans Affairs Office based on documents you submit will serve, including a certification that you have at least ten percent disability from a service-related injury. It runs the veterans cemetery at Marpi under 1 CMC §§ 20126 to 20131 and administers the cemetery revolving fund. What it does not do: decide VA claims, pay a Commonwealth cash benefit, or administer a local tax exemption or tuition programme. This catalog records no such Commonwealth benefit, and the veterans article of the Commonwealth Code contains none. Funding is by the Governor under § 20125, who shall either identify new sources or reprogram existing funds, with the Executive Officer including the office's needs in the annual budget request thereafter. There is no dedicated revenue stream except the cemetery revolving fund.