SENATE MILITARY AND VETERANS' AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 2224

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  NOVEMBER 15, 2021

 

      The Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 2224.

      This bill provides civil service preference to military service members who did not serve in a theater of operation but did serve during a war or conflict for which the federal government authorized a campaign or expedition medal.  The Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944, codified in Title 5 of the United States Code, governs civil service credit and preference in appointments to federal employment.  One such preference is provided to a veteran who served “in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been authorized.”  This includes campaign or expeditionary medals for El Salvador, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Southwest Asia, Somalia, and Haiti.

      Under this bill, a veteran who received such a medal but did not serve in a theater of operation, will be eligible for State civil service preference.

      A campaign medal is generally awarded for participation in a military action involving, among other things, large-scale military operations, active, opposing, and hostile forces, combat operations that take place over a sustained period of time, specific and limited periods of eligibility, and deployment involving extended family separation and personal inconvenience.

      The criteria for an expeditionary medal generally include, but are not limited to, small-scale or localized military operations, active or potentially active opposing hostile forces, combat operations that take place over a limited period of eligibility, and deployment involving limited family separation and personal inconvenience.