Legislation tracker

Legislation

Every jurisdiction in this catalog has entries whose figures move when a bill passes, whose act takes effect on a later date, or whose program is repealed while its agency keeps advertising it. This page watches each jurisdiction's law, follows a bill through its own jurisdiction's process where its stages are recorded, and names the catalog entries each instrument touches.

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Choosing a jurisdiction overrides the level. Stage is where the bill stands in its own jurisdiction's process. Direction is whether it expands or restricts benefits, recorded only where the reason can be read from the bill. Outcome is whether the instrument became law; catalog status is whether this catalog has been reconciled against it. None of this is legal advice, and a tracked item is a pointer to the official record rather than a substitute for reading it.

3 instruments in New Jersey. Tracked across 51 jurisdictions. Every other jurisdiction on the board is still watched by hand.

A bill that died is listed only where a guide, an agency, or a news story has described it as current law. That is the failure that puts a number in front of a veteran which no assessor, registrar, or school will honor.

New JerseyState

P.L.2025, c.139 (S4376 1R) Split a cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs from the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs and re-enacted the veterans' statutes in Title 38A

Needs reviewEnactedProgram created Scope changed

Signed 2025-09-11Takes effect 2026-01-09

Introduced Done, 2025-03-24, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2025-03-24, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-06-30, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-06-30, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-09-11, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2026-01-09, step 6 of 6

Established the Department of Veterans Affairs under a commissioner who must be an honorably discharged veteran (N.J.S.A. 38A:21-1 et seq.), moved the memorial homes, the Doyle cemetery, the blind and paraplegic allowances, veterans' tuition programs and veteran-status determinations for civil service and pensions to it, re-enacted the veterans' facility and tuition sections in chapters 22 and 23 of Title 38A, and repealed the chapter 3 sections they replaced. Effective 120 days after approval, January 9, 2026. The act defines a veteran for its own purposes as anyone with 90 days of service, with no discharge test. Flagged because downstream documents still cite the old structure: the memorial homes rule, N.J.A.C. 5A:5, names repealed sections 38A:3-6.4 to 38A:3-6.12 as its authority, and the Vietnam-era tuition sections were re-enacted with application windows that closed decades ago while the department's January 2026 guide still advertises one of them.

P.L.2021, c.429 (A259) Opened civil service veterans preference to anyone awarded a campaign or expedition medal recognized for federal preference

Needs reviewEnactedScope changed

Signed 2022-01-18

Introduced Done, 2020-01-14, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2020-01-14, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2021-12-20, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2022-01-10, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2022-01-18, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2022-01-18, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Gives civil service veterans preference to a veteran awarded a campaign or expedition medal, without wartime theater service.

Added paragraph (16) to N.J.S.A. 11A:5-1(b): service "in a campaign or expedition for which a medal has been authorized and recognized by the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944" and which has been awarded to the veteran. Approved January 18, 2022. Flagged because the Department of Veterans Affairs' civil service preference page, updated September 23, 2026, lists only the war and operation dates and omits the medal route.

P.L.2019, c.413 (S2599 SCS) Opened the $250 veterans deduction and the 100 percent disabled veteran exemption to veterans who did not serve in wartime

Needs reviewEnactedScope changed

Signed 2020-01-21Takes effect 2020-11-03

Introduced Done, 2018-05-21, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2018-05-21, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2020-01-13, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2020-01-13, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2020-01-21, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2020-11-03, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Removes the wartime service requirement from the $250 veterans deduction and the 100 percent disabled veteran exemption.

Amended N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.30, 54:4-3.31, 54:4-8.10, 54:4-8.11, 54:4-8.12 and 54:4-8.17 to remove the requirement of service in time of war or other emergency. Approved January 21, 2020, it remained inoperative until voters approved the constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020. Flagged because the Department of Veterans Affairs' benefits guide, first edition January 2026, still says the deduction requires active service "during any of the statutory periods listed on the application form".

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A bill moves when the people who vote on it hear from the people it affects. Enter your address to see who represents you in Congress and in your state legislature, and where to get free, accredited help with a VA claim: your county veterans service officer or town veterans’ agent, and your state’s service offices.