Scanlon Veteran Bill Advances

From the Office of the Representative: A bill sponsored by Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) to help Connecticut Purple Heart recipients passed the Veterans Committee Thursday and now moves to the full General Assembly for consideration later this spring.

House Bill 5578 would waive the current Department of Motor Vehicles fee for a Purple Heart recipient to obtain a license plate indicating they were awarded the Purple Heart. Today there are over 700 Connecticut veterans with Purple Heart license plates.

“I'm grateful to the members of the Veterans Committee for supporting this common sense legislation and giving our combat wounded veterans a small but certainly well-deserved break,” said Rep. Scanlon.

The Purple Heart, first introduced during WWI, is a United States military decoration awarded to any serviceman or woman wounded or killed while serving in our military. In 1958, Congress chartered The Military Order of the Purple Heart, which is composed of military men and women who received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds suffered in combat.

All 50 states offer some version of a Purple Heart plate and 27 states offer them at no charge. Connecticut is currently the only state in New England that charges a fee (Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire charge no fee).

Image courtesy of the Office of the Representative