Who Counts as a Veteran in Nevada

Nevada has a title-wide definition and then three benefit areas that do not use it. Knowing which test applies is most of the work. The main definition, NRS 417.005. "As used in this title, unless the context otherwise requires, 'veteran' means a resident of this State who: 1. Was regularly enlisted, drafted, inducted or commissioned in the: (a) Armed Forces of the United States and was accepted for and assigned to active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States; (b) National Guard or a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States and was accepted for and assigned to duty for a minimum of 6 continuous years; or (c) Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service or the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States and served in the capacity of a commissioned officer while on active duty in defense of the United States; and 2. Was separated from such service under conditions other than dishonorable." Four features. Nevada residency is built into the definition. A veteran who does not live in Nevada is not a veteran for the purposes of Title 39, which is a structural choice most states do not make. Route (a) has no minimum number of days. It asks only whether the person was accepted for and assigned to active duty. A veteran separated during or shortly after initial entry training who was assigned to active duty is inside it. Route (b) is the Guard and reserve route and it is six continuous years of assigned duty with no active duty required at all. That is a real path, and it is what makes a career Guard member with no deployment a veteran under Nevada law. It carries through to the state veterans cemeteries, where NRS 417.210, subsection 1(b)(1) admits a reserve component Guard member who meets this definition even without federal national cemetery eligibility. Route (c) covers the Public Health Service and NOAA commissioned corps, on condition of service as a commissioned officer while on active duty in defense of the United States. The discharge standard is "other than dishonorable", which is the broadest formulation in common use. It takes in a general discharge under honorable conditions and, on its words, an other than honorable discharge. A second definition sits in the same chapter for a narrower purpose. NRS 417.125, which governs NRS 417.123 to 417.128, defines a veteran as a person who was regularly enlisted, drafted, inducted or commissioned in the Armed Forces, the National Guard or a reserve component, or the PHS or NOAA commissioned corps, and "was separated from such service under conditions other than dishonorable". Compare it with NRS 417.005 and three conditions drop out: no Nevada residency, no requirement of assignment to active duty, and no six-year minimum for a Guard or reserve member. So for the health questionnaire provisions in that run of sections, a Guard member with two years qualifies and a non-resident qualifies. Chapter 284 has its own definition for employment purposes. NRS 284.015, subsection 10 defines veteran on the same three-route pattern as NRS 417.005, and subsection 11 provides that "veteran with a service-connected disability" has the meaning ascribed in NRS 338.13843 and includes a veteran deemed such under NRS 417.0187. Now the tax provisions, which do not use any of these. NRS 361.090, the general property tax exemption, requires a bona fide Nevada resident who served 90 continuous days on active duty inside one of ten listed date ranges ending December 20, 1996, or served under the Public Law 102-1 authorisation, or served in a campaign or expedition for which a medal was authorised with no minimum days, and who received an honorable discharge or certificate of satisfactory service, or is still serving. Honorable, not other than dishonorable. And no Guard or reserve six-year route. NRS 361.091, the disabled veteran exemption, requires a bona fide Nevada resident who has incurred a permanent service-connected disability and "has been honorably discharged". Again honorable. NRS 371.103, the vehicle exemption, repeats the NRS 361.090 pattern and adds a route for 90 continuous days of non-training active duty between January 1, 1961 and May 7, 1975 that the property tax section does not have. NRS 502.072, the hunting and fishing licence, requires a 50 percent or greater service-connected disability and an honorable discharge or certificate of satisfactory service. NRS 483.292, the driver's licence declaration, requires evidence of an honorable discharge. So the pattern is: the veterans title uses "other than dishonorable" and admits a six-year Guard member; the tax, wildlife and motor vehicle provisions use "honorable" or "certificate of satisfactory service" and require wartime service or a disability. A Guard member with six continuous years and no active duty is a veteran for the cemetery and for chapter 284 employment purposes, and is outside the property tax exemption because they cannot satisfy the 90-days-in-a-listed-period test. Three practical consequences. A veteran with a general discharge under honorable conditions should expect to qualify under Title 39 and to be questioned on the tax exemptions, which say honorable. Whether a county reads "honorable discharge" as excluding a general discharge under honorable conditions is not settled by the statutes, and the catalog records the gap rather than predicting the answer. Nevada residency is required almost everywhere. It is in the NRS 417.005 definition, in both property tax exemptions, in both vehicle exemptions, in the wildlife licence and in the graduate fee waiver. The notable exceptions are the veteran's own claim under the Purple Heart fee waiver in NRS 396.5443, subsection 1(a), which states no residency requirement, and the POW and MIA family waiver in NRS 396.5445, which deems the student a resident. For anything turning on the extent of a service-connected disability, NRS 417.0187 overrides all of it: the veteran is deemed disabled to the extent the Federal Government determined, and a VA or Department of Defense certificate is sufficient evidence, notwithstanding any provision of state law to the contrary. But note what that section does and does not do. It governs the extent of a disability. It does not supply a definition of veteran, and it does not cure a failure to meet a wartime service test or a discharge test. One further cross-cutting point on counting. Two Nevada provisions total disability percentages rather than using the VA combined rating: NRS 482.0962, subsection 2 for licence plates, expressly, and NRS 361.091, subsection 7 for the property tax exemption, in the same idiom. That is covered in those entries and it is the one place where Nevada's own arithmetic can be more favourable than the VA letter.