By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

Next Wednesday we celebrate Veterans’ Day and pay tribute to the approximately 15.8 million veterans in the U.S., including approximately 350,000 veterans living in New Jersey.

 

With so many veterans and multiple active military bases in our state, we should provide ample opportunities to honor the dedicated service members who have protected the nation’s freedom with their service.

Veterans are a priority for us, which is why we, along with our Legislative District 11 partner, Senator Vin Gopal, are the primary sponsors of AJR159, to celebrate November 2026 as Veterans Month in New Jersey. 

Many veterans carry their injuries with them throughout their lives, impacting them economically as well as physically and mentally. Veterans certainly deserve the best quality of life. We want to make sure our New Jersey veterans and their families can afford to stay in their homes. 

That’s why we have sponsored legislation, A1118, that authorizes a proportional property tax exemption for honorably discharged veterans having a service-connected, permanent disability. This bill also extends eligibility to veterans suffering from mental health issues and establishes an eligibility exemption for property owned by a disabled veteran with a surviving partner. Legislation A1118 broadens the eligibility criteria for property tax exemptions granted to surviving civil union partners and domestic partners of disabled veterans. 

We also need to ensure veterans still have a job when they come back from military service. Our legislation, A2748, which enhanced protections under Law Against Discrimination for persons serving in the military and military veterans, became law last year. This law made it an unlawful employment practice under the LAD for employers to deny reemployment to workers who take leave for military service. This provision brings New Jersey in compliance with the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

Far too many of our veterans wrestle with mental health problems long after returning home. Suicide rates among veterans are higher than the general US population. Although veterans compose only 7.6 percent of the population, nearly 14 percent of American adult suicides are among veterans. Yet, only 47 percent of veterans are enrolled in the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System. That leaves a large number of veterans either not receiving healthcare or receiving it outside the VA, according to the National Institutes of Health. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs notes that roughly 61 percent of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA healthcare in the last year of their lives. 

Our legislation, A4455, permits the NJ Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) to accept gifts, grants, donations from the public and private sectors to be used for public service announcements for the prevention of veteran suicide. The DVA will deposit revenues it receives into a special nonlapsing fund maintained by the State Treasurer to be used solely to fund this initiative. The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, is now before the Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee.

And we need to make sure that our veterans' service and sacrifice is never forgotten. Another of our bills, A2375, which the Assembly passed unanimously a month ago, establishes the New Jersey Veteran Gravesite Maintenance Grant Program in the DVA. The bill is before the Senate Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee. This legislation enables qualified nonprofit veterans’ organizations to maintain veteran gravesites across the state. The DVA would be required to develop guidelines, procedures, and criteria for applications and awards.

As citizens, we all need to make Veterans’ Day personal, and to thank the veterans in our lives for their service and sacrifice. 

On behalf of Senator Gopal and our LD11 office staff, we wish to thank all veterans and their families.

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