HB 2053: Relating to including the United States Space Force in the definition armed forces - West Virginia

Committee Substitute → Engrossed Committee Substitute · 3 edits · Mar 13, 2025

MINOR

This bill updates the text of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children to formally include the United States Space Force alongside other military branches. The changes ensure that children of Space Force members receive the same educational protections, such as school enrollment flexibility and course credit transfers, as children of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps personnel. Additionally, minor formatting adjustments were made to section headers and punctuation throughout the compact text.

Scope change

The scope of the compact was expanded to explicitly include the Space Force under the definition of 'uniformed services', thereby extending educational benefits to Space Force families.

DEFINITION

Added 'Space Force' to the list of uniformed services in Article II, ensuring Space Force members are covered by the compact's educational provisions.

TECHNICAL

Updated various section headers and punctuation marks (e.g., adding periods after article titles and changing dashes to em-dashes) to standardize the document's formatting.

Corrected minor grammatical inconsistencies, such as changing 'A individual' to 'An individual' in Article VIII.

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to formally include the United States Space Force in the definition of 'armed forces' across multiple state statutes, ensuring military service credit and tax exemptions apply to Space Force members. The text also updated formatting to align with the legislature's official style guide, corrected minor clerical errors in agency names and interest rates, and added specific code section references for clarity.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly include the Space Force in definitions of 'armed forces' and 'uniformed services' within retirement systems, tax codes, and law enforcement certification requirements.

DEFINITION

Added 'Space Force' to the list of armed forces in definitions within retirement, tax, and law enforcement sections to ensure equal treatment with other military branches.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the interest rate calculation from 'seven and one-half percent' to 'seven and one-half 7.5 percent' in several retirement system definitions for precision.

Updated the Department of Veterans Affairs references to include 'Department of Veterans' Assistance' and added specific code section citations (e.g., §5-10D-1) to improve legal clarity.

Reformatted the bill header and navigation links to match the Committee Substitute style, including changing session capitalization and reordering version links.

Engrossed Committee Substitute → Enrolled Committee Substitute · 4 edits · Mar 21, 2025

MODERATE

This bill amends multiple West Virginia retirement and veterans' statutes to explicitly include the United States Space Force in definitions of 'Armed Forces of the United States' and 'Uniformed Services.' The changes ensure Space Force members receive the same military service credit, retirement benefits, and educational protections as members of other military branches.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of military service recognition to include the Space Force across retirement systems (public employees, police/firefighters, teachers, state police) and veterans' affairs statutes.

DEFINITION

Added 'Space Force' to the definition of 'Armed Forces of the United States' in multiple retirement system statutes (§5-10-15, §8-22A-2, §9A-3-1, §15-2-28, §15-2A-2, §18-7A-17a, §30-29-6, §48-31-102, §62-16-3).

Added 'Space Force' to the definition of 'Uniformed Services' in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children (§18-10F-2).

Updated §11-21-12 to include Space Force in the list of uniformed services whose retirement income is exempt from West Virginia personal income tax.

Modified §30-29-6 to include Space Force in the list of armed forces members who must complete in-service training after military deployment.

Relating to including the United States Space Force in the definition armed forces

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