CHAPTER 175

(SB 14)

State Veterans Home admission eligibility revised.


         ENTITLED, An Act to  revise certain residency requirements regarding the eligibility for admission to the State Veterans' Home.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:

     Section  1.  That § 33-18-22 be amended to read as follows:

     33-18-22.   Any veteran as defined by § 33-17-1, who has an honorable discharge, who has been a resident of maintained a residence in the state for a period of one year next at any time in the five years preceding the date of the application, and who has no income in excess of one thousand dollars per year above the maximum income limitation for pension benefits as determined by the veterans administration, is eligible for admission to the State Veterans' Home. For the purposes of this section, a residence is a physical structure in which a person resides and the term does not include a post office box or address of another mail service purchased by the veteran. A war veteran who meets the residence requirements and has a rating of total disability as defined by the veterans administration for pension and compensation purposes is also eligible for admission. Membership status at the State Veterans' Home is not affected because of a medical leave of absence either in a veterans' administration facility or other hospital. A veteran who has honorably served in a South Dakota regiment during a wartime period meets the residency requirement. Any veteran who is an enrolled member of a federally recognized Indian tribe located wholly or partially in the state meets the residency requirement.

     Signed February 22, 2006
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