Resident tuition for Guard members and their families, a Guard scholarship programme, state hiring preference while serving, fifteen days of paid military leave for public employees, reimbursed SGLI premiums, state group insurance, and state protection for Guard members on state active duty that mirrors the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and USERRA.
Also called: NMSA 20-4-7, NMSA 20-4-7.1, NMSA 20-4-7.3, NMSA 20-4-9, NMSA 20-4-10, NMSA 20-4-14, NMSA 21-1-2.1, military leave, state active duty, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, SGLI, Guard scholarship.
The Military Code in chapter 20 gives Guard members most of their state benefits.
Education. Section 20-4-14 makes an active Guard member and the member's spouse and children residents for tuition at all state institutions. Section 21-1-2.1 has the Department of Military Affairs run a scholarship programme for students in the Guard, in amounts and for durations the Department sets by rule, usable at any public college. Section 20-4-13 keeps a separate fund for enlisted members in commissioning programmes, at least half for the New Mexico Military Institute.
Jobs. Section 20-4-9 gives an applicant for state employment "while serving in the national guard" the same preference points as a discharged veteran. Section 20-4-7 gives state, county, municipal, school district and other public employees in the Guard or a reserve component up to fifteen working days of paid military leave each federal fiscal year for training, on top of other leave, and lets the Governor grant fifteen more to state employees. Section 20-4-6 makes it a misdemeanour for any employer to refuse to hire, penalise or discharge someone for Guard membership. Section 28-15-1 gives reemployment rights after service.
State active duty. Section 20-4-7.1 applies the rights of the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to a Guard member of any state on New Mexico state active duty for thirty or more consecutive days, or on federally funded homeland security duty under 32 U.S.C. 502, and applies USERRA to any federal or state active duty.
Insurance. Section 20-4-10 treats Guard members as state employees for buying into state group insurance, and section 20-4-7.3 reimburses SGLI premiums, which section 7-2-5.10 makes tax free.
Deployment. Section 20-1-8 gives a deployed resident member a free hunting and fishing licence for the year after returning, a year's extension to file a state tax return, a month to renew a driver's license after returning, and a tuition refund or credit for an interrupted term.
The death benefit is a separate entry.
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