Veterans Advocates and Organizations Urge Changes to State License-Plate Rules and Definition of ‘Disabled Veteran’

Multiple witnesses representing veterans’ organizations and the office of the Veteran Advocate urged the Joint Committee on Transportation to act on several items: authorize specialty license plates recognizing service and Gold Star families, create an Air Medal plate for aviators, and convene a commission or review to update Massachusetts’ statutory definition of “disabled veteran.”

Arthur Vars said he filed House Bill 3706 seeking a Medal of Fidelity license plate modeled after state honors created in 2009 that recognize service and Gold Star families. He said the plate would be “a constant reminder of the price that has been paid for the freedom which we enjoy every day.”

Representatives of the American Legion, led by Lisa McPhee, said the organization supports a commission to establish a clearer and more inclusive definition of disabled veteran and objected to creating gender-differentiated veteran plates. The state’s current statutory definition for disabled veteran (Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 90, section 2, paragraph 7) uses language that the Office of the Veteran Advocate and witnesses said mirrors the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ special monthly compensation—an eligibility category for the most severely disabled—and therefore omits many service-connected conditions, including post-traumatic stress and certain cancers.

Bob Notch, the Commonwealth’s veteran advocate, told the committee that nearly 66,000 Massachusetts veterans have a VA disability rating and that the current statutory language does not accurately reflect contemporary injury patterns and invisible wounds. “Now is the time to review and address the language,” Notch said, and he offered to co-chair a statutory review.

Other witnesses asked for an Air Medal specialty registration plate for aviators and submitted documentation showing that earlier state practice had created separate honors. Committee members did not take a vote; witnesses asked the panel to move the proposals forward and to form a commission to recommend a revised statutory definition for disabled veterans.