Kaine’s first Senate bill seeks to help vets get jobs

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., will unveil his first Senate bill today, a measure designed to help veterans get the credentials to use their military skills as civilians.

Kaine hopes his Troop Talent Act of 2013, which he plans to introduce when the Senate reconvenes next week, will help ease the transition of military personnel from active duty to civilian life — an issue that many veterans in defense-heavy Virginia are dealing with as they struggle to find employment.

“Our nation’s service members learn and specialize in critical skills while on active duty that more than prepare them for a wide range of employment in the civilian workforce,” Kaine said on Monday.

Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will announce his proposal at a news conference in Richmond this afternoon.

“Aside from their technical talent, the leadership, integrity and decision-making skills of our troops is simply too valuable to let fall through the cracks,” he said.

Kaine added that service members and veterans face unnecessary hurdles in acquiring the formal credentials, licenses or education they need to perform the same duties outside of the military.

As of February, the unemployment rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 9.4 percent — a 1.8 percent increase since 2012 and 1.7 percent above the national average that month.

The number of veterans receiving unemployment benefits has more than doubled since 2002, rising from 44,810 to 89,725 in 2012.

“With the veteran-unemployment rate higher among recent Iraq and Afghanistan veterans than the national average, we owe it to them to do everything we can to match their skills with the jobs employers are ready to hire them for,” Kaine said.

Kaine’s Troop Talent Act of 2013 seeks to

• improve translation of military skills to civilian credentials or licenses by providing more information to service members throughout their military careers about the path to earning a civilian credential to match their military occupational specialty training;

• prevent credential fraud by establishing strict standards for courses or programs that guarantee a credential after successful completion. It would also re-establish a committee at the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide oversight of the credentialing process;

• increase access to high-demand career fields for service members by expanding the current Department of Defense pilot program on credentialing to include the field of information technology.

Last year, the Defense Department embarked on a pilot program to help service members obtain civilian professional credentials.

According to a statement issued by the department, the occupational areas selected for the program are: aircraft and automotive mechanic, health care, supply and logistics, and truck driver. A total of 17 military specialties are covered under these five areas, which align with Department of Labor’s standard occupational classifications.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell in December launched the Department of Health Professions Military Credentialing Assistance webpage, designed to help active-duty service members and veterans obtain information about licensure and credentialing requirements while in uniform and as they transition to Virginia’s civilian health care workforce.

“There has been great work done on this issue by many of my colleagues and business leaders, but barriers still remain to our veterans that have the skills and leadership needed to grow our economy,” Kaine said. .

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