Committee advances bill to create grants for veteran honor guards

Delegate Ballard introduced House Bill 108 as a constituent-driven measure to create a grant program for veteran service organizations to help fund honor-guard details at military funerals.

Bruce Russell, commanding officer of the Marine Corps League honor guard in Central Virginia, told the committee the group does "all the military funerals for qualified veterans," and described membership decline from 23 to 19, making recruitment urgent. "This bill would be very important to us because... it would allow me to recruit new members and retain the ones that we have," Russell said.

Joe Whatel, a retired Marine colonel and longtime volunteer, told senators the measure would help sustain honor guards and increase capacity to provide full military honors. "In my lifetime... membership for often on, 17 years now in this organization has been the most meaningful, valuable, and memorable experience," he said.

The committee moved and recorded the vote; the clerk reported the bill as passed out of committee (Pass 14, No 0) and referred it to the Senate Finance Committee for fiscal review.