AN ACT TO PROMOTE VETERANS BENEFITS.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to conduct forthwith outreach to certain veterans, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of revenue shall design and designate a place for a check-off box on its annual income tax forms for taxpayers who are veterans as defined in clause Forty-third of section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws and who served in the armed forces of the United States in active service as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Noble Eagle. The department of revenue shall include this check-off box on its income tax forms until it has determined, in consultation with the department of veterans’ services, that the need for this check-off box no longer exists.
The department of veterans’ services shall enter into an interagency service agreement with the department of revenue to obtain said veterans’ names and current addresses for the purpose of, but not limited to, contacting said veterans in order to verify eligibility for the benefits listed in section 35CC of chapter 10 of the General Laws, the third paragraph of section 19 of chapter 15A of the General Laws, subsection (b) of section 83 of chapter 33 of the General Laws, the second paragraph of section 88 of said chapter 33, section 88B of said chapter 33, section 6K of chapter 62 of the General Laws, the second and third paragraphs of section 4 of chapter 71 of the General Laws, section 6B of chapter 115 of the General Laws, and section 16 of chapter 130 of the acts of 2005.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of revenue may release the names and addresses to the secretary of veterans’ services and the adjutant general of the Massachusetts national guard. The department of veterans’ services shall submit a report not later than June 30 of each year to the joint committee on veterans and federal affairs detailing the collected data and the number of veterans who have received benefits described in this act as a result of outreach conducted after the department of veterans’ services received this data from the department of revenue.
Approved November 27, 2007.