Supporting Veterans

As a member of the House Committee on Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, Chris worked hard on important issues affecting veterans and their families, including:

• Wrote and passed the law to create a new veterans’ scratch-off lottery ticket, which will provide an estimated $8 million annually for critical and emergency aid to Texas veterans.  This was a top priority for every major veterans group in Texas.  The scratch-off ticket was released for sale on November 9, 2009.

• Wrote and passed the law that will help veterans and their families receive the financial aid benefits they have earned through their service by requiring state colleges and universities designate a professional in their financial aid office is familiar with and trained on the major educational benefits available to veterans. This measure was signed into law and effective immediately.

• Strongly supported the property tax exemption for 100% disabled veterans.

• Authored and passed a law that would allow state employees to continue to accrue sick and vacation time when they deployed for active duty military service.

• Wrote a measure that would allow the spouses of soldiers killed in the line of duty or 100% disabled as a result of their service to be eligible for Hazelwood educational benefits. This was added to a larger piece of legislation, passed and signed into law.

As a result of this work, and other measures benefiting veterans and their families, Chris was named the bi-partisan Legislative Veteran’s Caucus “Freshman of the Year” and given the Texas Veterans’ Commission “Leadership Award.”