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H. B. No. 490 As Passed by the HouseAs Passed by the House
129th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2011-2012 |
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Representatives Dovilla, Landis
Cosponsors:
Representatives Johnson, Pillich, Bubp, Martin, Milkovich, Rosenberger, Yuko, Adams, R., Amstutz, Anielski, Antonio, Baker, Barnes, Beck, Blair, Blessing, Boose, Boyd, Brenner, Buchy, Budish, Carney, Celebrezze, Celeste, Cera, Combs, Conditt, Damschroder, Derickson, DeVitis, Driehaus, Duffey, Fedor, Fende, Foley, Gardner, Garland, Gerberry, Gonzales, Grossman, Hackett, Hagan, C., Hagan, R., Hall, Hayes, Hill, Hottinger, Huffman, Kozlowski, Letson, Lundy, Lynch, Maag, McClain, Murray, Newbold, O'Brien, Patmon, Pelanda, Phillips, Ramos, Reece, Ruhl, Schuring, Sears, Slesnick, Smith, Sprague, Stebelton, Stinziano, Szollosi, Terhar, Thompson, Uecker, Williams, Young Speaker Batchelder
A BILL
To amend sections 149.01, 317.24, 3333.31, and
5902.02 of the Revised Code to change the law
regarding a County Recorder's release of a
veteran's record of discharge, to modify the
duties of the Director of Veterans Services with
respect to publishing information about Veterans
Services offices, to modify the composition of the
Veterans Advisory Committee, and to grant in-state
tuition for nonresident spouses and dependents of
veterans who served on active duty and are
deceased.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 149.01, 317.24, 3333.31, and 5902.02
of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec. 149.01. Each elective state officer, the adjutant
general, the adult parole authority, the department of
agriculture, the director of administrative services, the public
utilities commission, the superintendent of insurance, the
superintendent of financial institutions, the superintendent of
purchases and printing, the state commissioner of soldiers'
claims, the fire marshal, the industrial commission, the
administrator of workers' compensation, the state department of
transportation, the department of health, the state medical board,
the state dental board, the board of embalmers and funeral
directors, the Ohio commission for the blind, the accountancy
board of Ohio, the state council of uniform state laws, the board
of commissioners of the sinking fund, the department of taxation,
the board of tax appeals, the division of liquor control, the
director of state armories, the trustees of the Ohio state
university, and every private or quasi-public institution,
association, board, or corporation receiving state money for its
use and purpose shall make annually, at the end of each fiscal
year, in quadruplicate, a report of the transactions and
proceedings of that office or department for that fiscal year,
excepting receipts and disbursements unless otherwise specifically
required by law. The report shall contain a summary of the
official acts of the officer, board, council, commission,
institution, association, or corporation and any suggestions and
recommendations that are proper. On the first day of August of
each year, one of the reports shall be filed with the governor,
one with the secretary of state, and one with the state library,
and one shall be kept on file in the office of the officer, board,
council, commission, institution, association, or corporation.
Sec. 317.24. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Authorized party" means any of the following:
(a) The person who is the subject of the record of discharge;
(b) A county veterans service officer, or an who is certified
by the department of veterans services;
(c) An attorney-in-fact, agent, or other representative of
the person who is the subject of the record of discharge, if
authorized to inspect or copy the record of discharge by that
person in a power of attorney or other document;
(c)(d) A person authorized, for good cause shown, by a court
of record to inspect or copy the record of discharge;
(d)(e) If the person who is the subject of the record of
discharge is deceased, the executor or administrator, or an heir,
legatee, or devisee, of the person's estate or a funeral director
who is to perform the funeral for the deceased person.
(2) "Separation code" or "separation program number" means
the coded number or numbers used to specify the reasons for a
person's separation from active duty, as contained in one of the
following:
(a) Regarding a separation code, as contained in line 23 or
26 of a veteran's discharge paper, United States department of
defense form DD-214;
(b) Regarding a separation program number, as contained in
line 9(c) or line 11(c) of a veteran's discharge paper, under
prior versions of United States department of defense form DD-214.
(3) "Service-related document" means any United States
department of defense form DD-215 or DD-220, or any National Guard
Bureau form NGB-22 or NGB-22A.
(B)(1) Upon request of any discharged member of the armed
forces of the United States and presentation of the member's
discharge, the county recorder shall record the discharge in a
book to be furnished by the board of county commissioners for that
purpose. There shall be no fee for the recording. The record of
discharge, or a certified copy of the record, shall be received in
evidence in all cases where the original discharge would be
received.
(2)(a) A discharge recorded under division (B)(1) or (D) of
this section is not a public record under section 149.43 of the
Revised Code for a period of seventy-five years after the date of
the recording. During that period, the county recorder's office
shall make the record of discharge available only to an authorized
party or to a person other than an authorized party as provided by
division (B)(2)(b) of this section. Except as provided in section
317.27 of the Revised Code, the authorized party shall pay the
reasonable costs of copying the record of discharge.
(b) A person other than an authorized party may request to
view or receive a copy of a discharge record recorded under
division (B)(1) or (D) of this section. Upon such a person's
request, the county recorder's office shall provide a copy of the
discharged record to the person that shall be redacted to contain
only the name, rank, date of birth, date of discharge, and type of
discharge of the person who is the subject of the discharge
record. Except as provided in section 317.27 of the Revised Code,
a person other than an authorized party shall pay the reasonable
costs of copying the record of discharge.
(3) A county veterans service officer, who is an authorized
party, may request to receive, from a county recorder's office, a
record of discharge if the veterans service officer has a need for
access to the record of discharge for the purpose of supporting a
veteran's claim for benefits, and the county recorder's office
shall make the record available to the county veterans service
officer.
(C) Upon application by a person whose discharge has been
recorded pursuant to this section, the county recorder shall,
without fee, expunge the person's record of discharge, expunge the
person's separation program number or separation code from the
person's record of discharge and from any of the person's other
service-related documents that have been recorded, or expunge the
person's social security number from the person's record of
discharge and from any of the person's other service-related
documents that have been recorded. The application shall be in the
following form:
"APPLICATION FOR EXPUNGEMENT
OF DISCHARGE RECORD OR OTHER INFORMATION
I, ................ (Name of Applicant), the undersigned,
hereby request the County Recorder of the County of ............
(Name of County), state of Ohio, to expunge my .......... (Insert
Record of Discharge, Separation Program Number or Separation Code
from my Record of Discharge and other service-related documents,
or Social Security Number from my Record of Discharge and other
service-related documents).
Dated this .......... day of .........., .....
................................. Sworn to and subscribed before me by ............ (Name of
Applicant) on .........., .....
........................................ My commission expires ..........,
....." (D) Upon the request of any person who served during World
War I or World War II as a member of any armed force of the
government of Poland or Czechoslovakia and participated while so
serving in armed conflict with an enemy of the United States and
who has been a citizen of the United States for at least ten
years, and the presentation of the person's discharge, the county
recorder shall record the person's discharge in a book to be
furnished by the board of county commissioners for that purpose.
No fee shall be charged for the recording. The record, or a
certified copy of it, shall be received in evidence in all cases
where the original would be received.
Sec. 3333.31. (A) For state subsidy and tuition surcharge
purposes, status as a resident of Ohio shall be defined by the
chancellor of the Ohio board of regents by rule promulgated
pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. No adjudication as
to the status of any person under such rule, however, shall be
required to be made pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.
The term "resident" for these purposes shall not be equated with
the definition of that term as it is employed elsewhere under the
laws of this state and other states, and shall not carry with it
any of the legal connotations appurtenant thereto. Rather, except
as provided in divisions (B) and (D) of this section, for such
purposes, the rule promulgated under this section shall have the
objective of excluding from treatment as residents those who are
present in the state primarily for the purpose of attending a
state-supported or state-assisted institution of higher education,
and may prescribe presumptive rules, rebuttable or conclusive, as
to such purpose based upon the source or sources of support of the
student, residence prior to first enrollment, evidence of
intention to remain in the state after completion of studies, or
such other factors as the chancellor deems relevant.
(B) The rules of the chancellor for determining student
residency shall grant residency status to a veteran and to the
veteran's spouse and any dependent of the veteran, if both of the
following conditions are met:
(a) Served one or more years on active military duty and was
honorably discharged or received a medical discharge that was
related to the military service;
(b) Was killed while serving on active military duty or has
been declared to be missing in action or a prisoner of war.
(2) If the veteran seeks residency status for tuition
surcharge purposes, the veteran has established domicile in this
state as of the first day of a term of enrollment in an
institution of higher education. If the spouse or a dependent of
the veteran seeks residency status for tuition surcharge purposes,
the veteran and the spouse or dependent seeking residency status
have established domicile in this state as of the first day of a
term of enrollment in an institution of higher education, except
that if the veteran was killed while serving on active military
duty or, has been declared to be missing in action or a prisoner
of war, or is deceased after discharge, only the spouse or
dependent seeking residency status shall be required to have
established domicile in accordance with this division.
(C) The rules of the chancellor for determining student
residency shall not deny residency status to a student who is
either a dependent child of a parent, or the spouse of a person
who, as of the first day of a term of enrollment in an institution
of higher education, has accepted full-time employment and
established domicile in this state for reasons other than gaining
the benefit of favorable tuition rates.
Documentation of full-time employment and domicile shall
include both of the following documents:
(1) A sworn statement from the employer or the employer's
representative on the letterhead of the employer or the employer's
representative certifying that the parent or spouse of the student
is employed full-time in Ohio;
(2) A copy of the lease under which the parent or spouse is
the lessee and occupant of rented residential property in the
state, a copy of the closing statement on residential real
property of which the parent or spouse is the owner and occupant
in this state or, if the parent or spouse is not the lessee or
owner of the residence in which the parent or spouse has
established domicile, a letter from the owner of the residence
certifying that the parent or spouse resides at that residence.
Residency officers may also evaluate, in accordance with the
chancellor's rule, requests for immediate residency status from
dependent students whose parents are not living and whose domicile
follows that of a legal guardian who has accepted full-time
employment and established domicile in the state for reasons other
than gaining the benefit of favorable tuition rates.
(D)(1) The rules of the chancellor for determining student
residency shall grant residency status to a person who, while a
resident of this state for state subsidy and tuition surcharge
purposes, graduated from a high school in this state or completed
the final year of instruction at home as authorized under section
3321.04 of the Revised Code, if the person enrolls in an
institution of higher education and establishes domicile in this
state, regardless of the student's residence prior to that
enrollment.
(2) The rules of the chancellor for determining student
residency shall not grant residency status to an alien if the
alien is not also an immigrant or a nonimmigrant.
(E) As used in this section:
(1) "Dependent," "domicile," "institution of higher
education," and "residency officer" have the meanings ascribed in
the chancellor's rules adopted under this section.
(2) "Alien" means a person who is not a United States citizen
or a United States national.
(3) "Immigrant" means an alien who has been granted the right
by the United States bureau of citizenship and immigration
services to reside permanently in the United States and to work
without restrictions in the United States.
(4) "Nonimmigrant" means an alien who has been granted the
right by the United States bureau of citizenship and immigration
services to reside temporarily in the United States.
Sec. 5902.02. The duties of the director of veterans
services shall include the following:
(A) Furnishing the veterans service commissions of all
counties of the state copies of the state laws, rules, and
legislation relating to the operation of the commissions and their
offices;
(B) Upon application, assisting the general public in
obtaining records of vital statistics pertaining to veterans or
their dependents;
(C) Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised
Code pertaining to minimum qualifications for hiring, certifying,
and accrediting county veterans service officers, pertaining to
their required duties, and pertaining to revocation of the
certification of county veterans service officers;
(D) Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised
Code for the education, training, certification, and duties of
veterans service commissioners and for the revocation of the
certification of a veterans service commissioner;
(E) Developing and monitoring programs and agreements
enhancing employment and training for veterans in single or
multiple county areas;
(F) Developing and monitoring programs and agreements to
enable county veterans service commissions to address
homelessness, indigency, and other veteran-related issues
individually or jointly;
(G) Developing and monitoring programs and agreements to
enable state agencies, individually or jointly, that provide
services to veterans, including the veterans' homes operated under
Chapter 5907. of the Revised Code and the director of job and
family services, to address homelessness, indigency, employment,
and other veteran-related issues;
(H) Establishing and providing statistical reporting formats
and procedures for county veterans service commissions;
(I) Publishing annually, promulgating change notices for, and
distributing electronically a listing of county veterans service
officers, offices and county veterans service commissioners, state
directors of veterans affairs, and national and state service
officers of accredited veterans organizations and their state
headquarters. The listing shall include the expiration dates of
commission members' terms of office and the organizations they
represent; the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of county
veterans service officers and state directors of veterans affairs
offices; and the addresses and telephone numbers of the Ohio
offices and headquarters of state and national veterans service
organizations.
(J) Establishing a veterans advisory committee to advise and
assist the department of veterans services in its duties. Members
shall include a member of the national guard association of the
United States who is a resident of this state, a member of the
military officers association of America who is a resident of this
state, a state representative of congressionally chartered
veterans organizations referred to in section 5901.02 of the
Revised Code, a representative of any other congressionally
chartered state veterans organization that has at least one
veterans service commissioner in the state, three representatives
of the Ohio state association of county veterans service
commissioners, who shall have a combined vote of one, three
representatives of the state association of county veterans
service officers, who shall have a combined vote of one, one
representative of the county commissioners association of Ohio,
who shall be a county commissioner not from the same county as any
of the other county representatives, a representative of the
advisory committee on women veterans, a representative of a labor
organization, and a representative of the office of the attorney
general. The department of veterans services shall submit to the
advisory committee proposed rules for the committee's operation.
The committee may review and revise these proposed rules prior to
submitting them to the joint committee on agency rule review.
(K) Adopting, with the advice and assistance of the veterans
advisory committee, policy and procedural guidelines that the
veterans service commissions shall adhere to in the development
and implementation of rules, policies, procedures, and guidelines
for the administration of Chapter 5901. of the Revised Code. The
department of veterans services shall adopt no guidelines or rules
regulating the purposes, scope, duration, or amounts of financial
assistance provided to applicants pursuant to sections 5901.01 to
5901.15 of the Revised Code. The director of veterans services may
obtain opinions from the office of the attorney general regarding
rules, policies, procedures, and guidelines of the veterans
service commissions and may enforce compliance with Chapter 5901.
of the Revised Code.
(L) Receiving copies of form DD214 filed in accordance with
the director's guidelines adopted under division (L) of this
section from members of veterans service commissions appointed
under section 5901.02 and from county veterans service officers
employed under section 5901.07 of the Revised Code;
(M) Developing and maintaining and improving a resource, such
as a telephone answering point or a web site, by means of which
veterans and their dependents, through a single portal, can access
multiple sources of information and interaction with regard to the
rights of, and the benefits available to, veterans and their
dependents. The director of veterans services may enter into
agreements with state and federal agencies, with agencies of
political subdivisions, with state and local instrumentalities,
and with private entities as necessary to make the resource as
complete as is possible.
(N) Planning, organizing, advertising, and conducting
outreach efforts, such as conferences and fairs, at which veterans
and their dependents may meet, learn about the organization and
operation of the department of veterans services and of veterans
service commissions, and obtain information about the rights of,
and the benefits and services available to, veterans and their
dependents;
(O) Advertising, in print, on radio and television, and
otherwise, the rights of, and the benefits and services available
to, veterans and their dependents;
(P) Developing and advocating improved benefits and services
for, and improved delivery of benefits and services to, veterans
and their dependents;
(Q) Searching for, identifying, and reviewing statutory and
administrative policies that relate to veterans and their
dependents and reporting to the general assembly statutory and
administrative policies that should be consolidated in whole or in
part within the organization of the department of veterans
services to unify funding, delivery, and accounting of statutory
and administrative policy expressions that relate particularly to
veterans and their dependents;
(R) Encouraging veterans service commissions to innovate and
otherwise to improve efficiency in delivering benefits and
services to veterans and their dependents and to report successful
innovations and efficiencies to the director of veterans services;
(S) Publishing and encouraging adoption of successful
innovations and efficiencies veterans service commissions have
achieved in delivering benefits and services to veterans and their
dependents;
(T) Establishing advisory committees, in addition to the
veterans advisory committee established under division (K) of this
section, on veterans issues;
(U) Developing and maintaining a relationship with the United
States department of veterans affairs, seeking optimal federal
benefits and services for Ohio veterans and their dependents, and
encouraging veterans service commissions to maximize the federal
benefits and services to which veterans and their dependents are
entitled;
(V) Developing and maintaining relationships with the several
veterans organizations, encouraging the organizations in their
efforts at assisting veterans and their dependents, and advocating
for adequate state subsidization of the organizations;
(W) Requiring the several veterans organizations that receive
funding from the state annually to report to the director of
veterans services and prescribing the form and content of the
report;
(X) Investigating complaints against county veterans services
commissioners and county veterans service officers if the director
reasonably believes the investigation to be appropriate and
necessary;
(Y) Taking any other actions required by this chapter.
Section 2. That existing sections 149.01, 317.24, 3333.31,
and 5902.02 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
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