Mo. bills aim to aid veterans

Reps. Stephen Webber and Jason Kander proposed the bills Monday.

By Will Guldin

Published Feb. 2, 2009

For those who enlist, service in the armed forces means making sacrifices at home.

On Monday, Missouri lawmakers proposed legislation that could be a way to address several of these sacrifices.

Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, proposed the bill that would pay any difference in salaries for state employees who are serving in the military overseas if their non-military pay is higher.

Webber said oftentimes service overseas means a pay cut for state employees.

"Dedication to military service can result in a huge reduction in pay for state workers and financial hardship for their families," Webber said in a news release.

Webber is a U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in the Iraq war.

"Missouri currently has an unfair system under which some state workers get paid while on active duty but most don't," Webber said. "We must make the system more equitable so that we don't discourage state employees from military service."

Rep. Jason Kander, D-Kansas City, co-sponsored Webber's bill, and said his own personal experience helped give him a unique insight into the issue.

"I've been a service member who's experienced a pay cut," Kander said. "I understand that instability and I don't want others to experience it."

Kander was a practicing attorney before he volunteered for service after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11. He said the pay difference was hard for his family because they had just purchased a house at the time and weren't expecting him to have a large decrease in his salary.

But this experience wasn't the only reason Kander is supporting the legislation. He said as a member of the National Guard he sees service members affected by this pay discrepancy everyday. He said his support of this bill is one way he can try to make a difference for the families of these service members.

This legislation would only affect deployed state employees. Kander said he would like to see the legislation expanded to reimburse families for lost pay.

"That's something we'd like to consider, but with the current budget situation, that's not being addressed," he said.

Although Missouri's budget is a consideration, Kander said passage of the bill would not affect the budget since the money is already allocated to the payment of state employees' salaries.

Rep. Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, said the total cost for the program would vary every year.

"You know some years it might be a lot, but some years it might be very little," Tilley said.

Kander proposed two other bills Monday to address other issues pertaining to the families of service members. One piece of legislation would prevent any permanent changes in a child's custody status while one parent is serving overseas and another prevents payday lending agencies from being located within a mile around a military base.