New state laws will streamline veteran identification services and make it easier for homeless veterans to access critical medical benefits they have earned. House Bill 4848 requires health care providers to provide one free, complete copy of a patient’s medical records if the patient is an indigent homeless veteran.
Another new law, House Bill 4332, simplifies the process of obtaining a veteran’s designation on ID cards, by expanding the forms of proof that are acceptable. Also signed into law were House Bill 4576 and Senate Bill 2225, allowing combat veterans and veterans who earned the Southeast Asia Service Medal during Operation Desert Storm to have the feat reflected on their auto license plates.
In addition to the veteran’s designation bills, Gov. Bruce Rauner enacted House Bill 4954, providing that each year the 4th of November be observed throughout the state as GI Bill of Rights Day, commemorating the 1944 landmark legislation that provided benefits to World War II veterans.