35A.14 - INJURED VETERANS GRANT PROGRAM.
35A.14 INJURED VETERANS GRANT PROGRAM.
1. For the purposes of this section, "veteran" means any of
the following:
a. A resident of this state who is or was a member of the
national guard, reserve, or regular component of the armed forces of
the United States who has served on active duty at any time after
September 11, 2001, and, if discharged, was discharged under
honorable conditions.
b. A nonresident of this state who is or was a member of a
national guard unit located in this state prior to alert for
mobilization who has served on active duty at any time after
September 11, 2001, was injured while serving in the national guard
unit located in this state, is not eligible to receive a similar
grant from another state for that injury, and, if discharged, was
discharged under honorable conditions.
2. An injured veterans grant program is created under the control
of the department for the purpose of providing grants to eligible
injured veterans. Providing grants to eligible injured veterans
pursuant to this section is deemed to serve a vital and valid public
purpose of the state by assisting injured veterans and their
families.
3. The department may receive and accept donations, grants,
gifts, and contributions from any public or private source for the
purpose of providing grants under this section. Moneys received by
the department pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in an
injured veterans trust fund which shall be created in the state
treasury under the control of the department. Moneys credited to the
trust fund are appropriated to the department for the purpose of
providing injured veterans grants under this section and shall not be
transferred, used, obligated, appropriated, or otherwise encumbered,
except as provided in this section. Notwithstanding section 12C.7,
subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys in the trust fund shall
be credited to the trust fund.
4. Moneys appropriated to or received by the department for
providing injured veterans grants under this section may be expended
for grants of up to ten thousand dollars to a seriously injured
veteran to provide financial assistance to the veteran so that family
members of the veteran may be with the veteran during the veteran's
recovery from an injury received in the line of duty in a combat zone
or in a zone where the veteran was receiving hazardous duty pay after
September 11, 2001.
5. The department shall adopt rules governing the distribution of
grants under this section in accordance with the following:
a. Grants shall be paid in increments of two thousand five
hundred dollars, up to a maximum of ten thousand dollars upon proof
that the veteran has been evacuated from the operational theater in
which the veteran was injured to a military hospital for an injury
received in the line of duty and shall continue to be paid, at
thirty-day intervals, up to the maximum amount, so long as the
veteran is hospitalized or receiving medical care or rehabilitation
services authorized by the military.
b. Proof of continued medical care or rehabilitation services
may include any reasonably reliable documentation showing that the
veteran is receiving continued medical or rehabilitative care as a
result of qualifying injuries. Proof that the injury occurred in the
line of duty shall be made based upon the circumstances of the injury
known at the time of evacuation from the combat zone or zone in which
the veteran was receiving hazardous duty pay.
c. Grants for veterans injured after September 11, 2001, but
prior to May 8, 2006, shall be payable, upon a showing that the
veteran would have been eligible for payment had the injury occurred
on or after May 8, 2006. Section History: Recent Form
2006 Acts, ch 1106, §1, 4; 2006 Acts, ch 1185, §115; 2007 Acts, ch
22, §112, 116; 2007 Acts, ch 142, §1, 2
Referred to in § 422.7 Footnotes
Section is effective May 8, 2006, and applies retroactively on or
after September 11, 2001, to veterans seriously injured after that
date; 2006 Acts, ch 1106, §4