Homecoming for soldiers
State legislators have introduced several bills intended to aid Rhode Island’s veterans as they return home from overseas deployments.
The bills come in response to the recommendations of the state’s “Rhode Back Home” report, which detailed the current state of veteran affairs and suggested improvements to existing state programs. Because Congress is also looking at reforming the federal veteran assistance program, state legislatures introduced resolutions calling on the national legislature to improve care — based on deficits discovered in the “Rhode Back Home” report — for the state’s returning soldiers.
One proposal — introduced by Chairman of the Committee on Special Legislation and Veterans’ Affairs Sen. Walter Felag, D-Bristol, Tiverton, Warren — would coordinate state agencies to develop a single quantifiable metric that would allow officials to tell how veterans are transitioning to civilian life based on “access to benefits, veterans employment veteran-owned business growth, educational attainment, job training, behavioral health issues, long-term care, criminal justice and homelessness,” according to a state press release.
Another bill requires the state Board of Education to establish a system for allowing veterans to receive academic credit at the state’s colleges and universities for the skills they developed in the military.
“Our colleges and universities accept credits for coursework taken at other schools. It only makes sense that they accept credits for military coursework and training as well,” Felag said in the press release.
Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence, introduced a bill that would provide $1.75 million to construct homes for homeless veterans.
The press release added that Senate leaders are coordinating with the governor’s office on legislation that would give veteran-owned businesses priority in competing for state contracts.
The legislators called on Congress to “provide enhanced behavioral care services and benefits for Rhode Island veterans … enhanced in-home long term care services for Rhode Island veterans; and … study expedited state professional certifications and licensure for veterans,” according to the press release.
Educational success
Rhode Island’s workforce is falling behind the educational requirements of a 21st-century economy, according to the “Moving the Needle” report, which detailed the state’s attractiveness to new businesses. About 40 percent of Rhode Islanders have a post-secondary degree, far behind the 50 percent the report said was necessary for the state to compete with its better-educated neighbors.
Sen. Hanna Gallo, D-Cranston, West Warwick, wants to ensure Rhode Island stays in the game, introducing legislation that would improve access to post-secondary degrees for state residents. Specifically, Gallo wants to make it easier for Rhode Islanders who have some college education to complete their degrees.
“Recent census data tells us that 19.7 percent of Rhode Islanders have at least some college education, but no degree,” Gallo said in a state press release. “If the state were able to assist even half of these former students in making it over the finish line, the percentage of our workforce with some type of a college degree would be one of the highest in the nation,” she said. “That could help us stand out from the pack from an economic competitiveness standpoint,” she added.
Pichardo introduced legislation that would allow students at public colleges and universities with enough credits to obtain an associate’s degree, even if they are enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program. This “reverse transfer” specifically encourages students who normally would drop out of studying for their bachelor’s degrees at the University of Rhode Island to shift their credits to the Community College of Rhode Island for an associate’s degree.
A third bill would allow high school seniors to receive both high school and college credit for classes taken at CCRI.
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