The Mid-Atlantic Regional Group
Blinded Veterans Association
Legislative News
May 23, 2008
Legislation that Blinded
Veterans Association had been involved with for the entire past year, was voted
on and approved by congress and sent to President today. H.R. 6081 had section
that affected some of our BVA members who receive state annuities like
If interested in finding out more on this bill, because there are many other sections that might apply to veterans, please search on www.thomas.gov web site, enter the bill number and check each section.
Congressman Rangel from
HR 6081 EH
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6081
AN ACT
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide benefits for military personnel, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, ETC.
(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the `Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008'.
(b) Reference- Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(c) Table of Contents- The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title, etc.
TITLE I--BENEFITS FOR MILITARY
Sec. 101. Recovery rebate provided to military families.
Sec. 102. Election to include combat pay as earned income for purposes of earned income tax credit.
Sec. 103. Modification of mortgage revenue bonds for veterans.
Sec. 104. Survivor and disability payments with respect to qualified military service.
Sec. 105. Treatment of differential military pay as wages.
Sec. 106. Special period of limitation when uniformed services retired pay is reduced as a result of award of disability compensation.
Sec. 107. Distributions from retirement plans to individuals called to active duty.
Sec. 108. Authority to disclose return information for certain veterans programs made permanent.
Sec. 109. Contributions of military death gratuities to Roth IRAs and Education Savings Accounts.
Sec. 110. Suspension of 5-year period during service with the Peace Corps.
Sec. 111. Credit for employer differential wage payments to employees who are active duty members of the uniformed services.
Sec. 112. State payments to service members treated as qualified military benefits.
Sec. 113. Permanent exclusion of gain from sale of a principal residence by certain employees of the intelligence community.
Sec. 114. Special disposition rules for unused benefits in health flexible spending arrangements of individuals called to active duty.
Sec. 115. Technical correction related to exclusion of certain property tax rebates and other benefits provided to volunteer firefighters and emergency medical responders.
TITLE II--IMPROVEMENTS IN SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME
Sec. 201. Treatment of uniformed service cash remuneration as earned income.
Sec. 202. State annuities for certain veterans to be disregarded in determining supplemental security income benefits.
Sec. 203. Exclusion of AmeriCorps benefits for purposes of determining supplemental security income eligibility and benefit amounts.
Sec. 204. Effective date.
SEC. 202. STATE ANNUITIES FOR CERTAIN VETERANS TO BE DISREGARDED IN DETERMINING SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME BENEFITS.
(a) Income Disregard- Section 1612(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382a(b)) is amended--
(1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (22);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (23) and inserting `; and'; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
`(24) any annuity paid by a State to the individual (or such spouse) on the basis of the individual's being a veteran (as defined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code), and blind, disabled, or aged.'.
(b) Resource Disregard- Section 1613(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1382b(a)) is amended--
(1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (14);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (15) and inserting `; and'; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (15) the following:
`(16) for the month of receipt and every month thereafter, any annuity paid by a State to the individual (or such spouse) on the basis of the individual's being a veteran (as defined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code), and blind, disabled, or aged.'.
SEC. 203. EXCLUSION OF AMERICORPS BENEFITS FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME ELIGIBILITY AND BENEFIT AMOUNTS.
Section 1612(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382a(b)), as amended by section 202(a) of this Act, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (23), by striking `and' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (24), by striking the period and inserting `; and'; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
`(25) any benefit (whether cash or in-kind) conferred upon (or paid on behalf of) a participant in an AmeriCorps position approved by the Corporation for National and Community Service under section 123 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12573).'.
SEC. 204. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this title shall be effective with respect to benefits payable for months beginning after 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Tom Zampieri
Director Government Relations
Blinded Veterans Association
BVA's Legislative Alerts Group
End of Document