By Paige Clark TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mike Pence has signed four bills into law that will help the more than half a million Hoosier veterans.

“Anything for veterans is a good step for Indiana,” said Tim Dyke, director of Training and Services for Veteran Affairs.

The bills target four different areas of veteran assistance:

• SEA 180: Establishes the Veterans Disability Clinic Fund. The fund will provide grants to certain law schools that maintain a veteran’s clinic. The little to no cost clinics will allow law students to gain career experience by counseling or representing veterans in claim for disability compensation.
• HEA 1242: Makes it illegal to refuse a person employment based on veteran status, either because he is a U.S. Armed Forces veteran, a member of the Indiana National Guard or of a reserve component.
• SEA 345: Establishes the Hoosier women veterans program. Also, creates a gender-specific position at the Indiana Department of Veteran Affairs.
• SEA 331: Establishes the Second Service Program for Veterans. Requires public universities to award educational credit to veterans for courses they took while in the service. It also requires state institutions to award educational credit to current military members taking courses from other schools.

Dyke said these bills are a positive for Indiana Veterans but the state should work on outreach.

“I primarily mean the rural communities, getting the word out to those veterans that don’t live in the towns and cities. Make them aware of the programs and benefits,” Dyke said. “There can always be more done.”

Paige Clark is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.