Support for Florida's Military Servicemembers and Veterans
Throughout the years, Florida has demonstrated its commitment to honoring the state's current and former service men and women and recognizing their unique needs. Over the last decade, Florida has passed numerous pieces of legislation to provide significant opportunities and support for thousands of active duty and reserve military members and their families who reside in this state. Providing housing, employment, education, and financial benefits, Florida is committed to ensuring the well-being of the state's military service men and women, as well as the state's veterans and their families.
Housing & Healthcare
The state of Florida is particularly aware of the growing needs of its aging veteran population and, thus, is committed to providing easy access to exceptional healthcare and housing programs. Florida's veterans' assisted living program provides a unique combination of housing, personalized support and medical care services to eligible disabled and elderly veterans. In addition to the assisted living program, the state of Florida administers, through the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs, six veteran nursing home programs that provide the highest quality of life and medical care to its veteran residents.
Florida law also provides several property tax and related fee exemptions for the state's military servicemembers and veterans. Veterans with a service-connected disability and deployed active duty servicemembers are eligible for multiple property tax discounts and exemptions. In addition, disabled veterans are also exempt from building license and permit fees for wheelchair accessibility and safety improvements on residentially-owned property. These healthcare and housing benefits are among the many benefits that Florida offers to its military servicemembers and veterans.
Employment & Education
Florida's dedication to the success of military servicemembers and veterans is second to none. This is evidenced through the wide range of employment and educational benefits available to current and former military members and also to their dependents. Florida law provides employment preferences in the hiring and retention of veterans and qualified spouses seeking employment in state or local government. In addition, Florida encourages veterans and their families to pursue higher education by providing tuition waivers to certain children and spouses of deceased or disabled veterans and Purple Heart Medallion recipients. The state is also sensitive to the many challenges active duty military families are faced with when forced to relocate. To help make a military family's transition to the state of Florida easier, Florida law provides an active duty military servicemember and their dependents in-state residency status for tuition purposes to avoid excessive out-of-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities.
In addition, the Florida Legislature has also enacted legislation to award certain Korean War veterans a standard high school diploma so that they may advance to a college or university. The state of Florida is diligent in developing innovative yet practical opportunities to help the state's veterans, as well as their family members, further their careers and educational achievement.
Family
In acknowledgment of the employment challenges faced by spouses of military servicemembers to support their servicemember's highly mobile military commitment, the state of Florida provides employment advocacy and assistance to military spouses and dependents. Under this initiative, spouses and dependants of active duty military personnel are eligible for career services for continuing education and career advancements. These services include but are not limited to, job searches and placement assistance, career planning and counseling, case management, career advancement accounts, resume assistance, career assessment and testing services, educational and training programs, and job fairs. Additionally, this initiative allows military spouses to be eligible to collect unemployment compensation in the event they need to leave their jobs to relocate with their active duty military spouse.
In an effort to unite families, Florida law strictly prohibits courts from permanently modifying a child custody order after a parent has been assigned to military service, and the number of allowable annual leave of absence hours has increased for members of the Florida National Guard or military reserve forces to allow these members to spend more time with their families.
The Florida Legislature, with support and expertise from the Florida Department of Military Affairs and the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs, is dedicated to serving the essential interests of our state's service men and women and our veterans. The Florida Senate will continue to work to maintain Florida's status as the most military- and veteran-friendly state in the country by enhancing opportunities and benefits, not only for the state's military members and veterans, but also for their families.
