TALLAHASSEE — Honorably discharged veterans wouldn’t have to worry about paying out-of-state tuition in Florida if the rest of the Legislature takes the same view as a state House panel did Monday.
The panel approved a bill, which includes a host of benefits for Florida’s veterans including in-state tuition, regardless of state residency. Named after the late U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, who lived in the Tampa area, the tuition waiver would apply to all veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard and the reserves, provided they’ve been honorably discharged.
The bill also would revise the Florida National Guard’s Educational Dollars for Duty program, so that $14.5 million would be spent annually on tuition and other expenses for Guard members deployed after Oct. 30. To use the funds, guard members would need to enroll at a state college or university within a year after their deployment ends.
The legislation includes $1 million in nonrecurring funding for technology upgrades to the state’s Educational Dollars for Duty program.
The legislation also would waive license and application fees for military veterans’ spouses — veterans’ fees are already waived — and extend the waiver for an extra three years. If passed, the fees would be waived for up to five years after a veteran is discharged from the military.
Licenses for cosmetologists, veterinarians and real estate agents are just a few that would be free to recently discharge veterans’ spouses. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation issues the licenses.
The bill also would create the Florida Veterans’ Walk of Honor and Florida Veterans’ Memorial Garden on the state capitol grounds in Tallahassee. The memorials would “recognize and honor those military veterans who have made significant contributions to the state through their service to the United States,” according to the legislation.
The measure would no longer require active military’s spouses to renew their driver’s license when the service member is deployed out of the state. The exemption applies to service members and their dependents.
The bill breezed through the House Veteran & Military Affairs Subcommittee on Monday, roundly supported by its members. Chairman Ronald “Doc” Renuart, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, said the bill would keep Florida as the country’s “most-veteran friendly state.”
State Rep. Gwyn Clarke-Reed, D-Deerfield Beach, said she had visited her local American Legion and members were very enthused about the legislation.
“I think that this is the greatest move that we have made,” she said.
The bill must pass through the House Economic Affairs Committee, which state Rep. Jimmy Patronis chairs. The Panama City Republican said he was unsure when it would be heard in his committee, but he gave it his full support, praising veterans as community builders.
“I think this is probably the biggest piece of pro-military legislation that has been proposed in the Florida House since my tenure,” which started in 2012, he said.
Patronis was confident it would pass through the Legislature and indicated the governor would sign off on it.
“Gov. (Rick) Scott realizes that the military family and the military economy brings diversity and stability to the state of Florida; I’d say more so than his predecessor,” he said. “He has been very supportive of that type of agenda.”