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Posted by: Joseph Spector [3]
Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, yesterday introduced legislation that would help veterans get jobs.
Ball, head of the Senate’s Veterans Affairs Committee, has two bills that would expand job opportunities for veterans. He held a news conference at the Capitol yesterday with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County.
One bill that has already passed the Senate would allow a preference in state contracts for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. Another bill would establish a business franchise and personal income tax credit to companies that hire discharged combat veterans.
“When you think about our veterans, you really think about the obligation that we have as a government and a society to afford them the opportunity for a job, to earn it and to keep it,” Skelos said. “So this legislation is critically important.”
Ball said the measure was passed by the Legislature in 2009, but was vetoed by then-Gov. David Paterson because the language appeared to infringe on the rights of women- and minority-owned businesses. Ball, who was joined at the news conference by veterans, said the language has been changed to hopefully assuage any concerns from the governor’s office.
“We’re working to do whatever we need to with this legislation to take into consideration all the concerns to get it passed,” Ball said. (READ MORE [4])
