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Committee fixes cross-references to federal rule for veteran definitions; bill cleared with technical amendment
Summary
House Bill 2273 would add citations to 38 C.F.R. §3.7 to several Kansas statutes to ensure groups recognized as veterans by federal law are included in state law; committee approved a technical amendment and advanced the bill.
The Committee on Veterans and Military voted to adopt a technical amendment to House Bill 2273 and reported the bill to the House.
Carly, the committee adviser, told members the bill adds a reference to 38 C.F.R. §3.7 — a federal Code of Federal Regulations citation that lists groups Congress has identified as veterans — to clarify the definition of “veteran” and “disabled veteran” across multiple Kansas statutes. The staff summary noted the bill corrects a printing error that had mistakenly cited the Federal Register in the draft language; the amendment struck the incorrect citation and inserted “Code of Federal Regulations.”
Rob Lai, director of operations at the Kansas Office of Veteran Services, described HB 2273 as a cleanup bill to make Kansas law consistent with the federal definition enacted in a prior session. He said the change is intended to include groups listed under 38 C.F.R. §3.7 — historically defined groups such as some World War II-era organizations and the commission corps of the United States Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — so those groups receive state benefits where appropriate.
Mike Kelly of the Military Officers Association of America noted a separate difference between Kansas and federal rules on what constitutes a “service‑connected disabled veteran.” He told the committee that under federal practice, even a 0% disability rating may be considered service-connected for some purposes, while Kansas law historically required a 50% rating to be deemed a service‑connected disabled veteran. He said the bill does not change Kansas' discharge-characterization rules but does insert the CFR citation for clarity.
The committee adopted the staff amendment striking “Federal Register” from the bill title and inserting the Code of Federal Regulations citation, then voted to move the bill out of committee. The committee chair asked Rob Lai to submit a printed copy of the 38 C.F.R. §3.7 list for committee reference.
