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| State Senator Bill Burt |
From the Alamogordo Daily News - SANTA FE -- Gov. Susana Martinez said she righted a wrong Wednesday by signing a bill that expands New Mexico's definition of military veterans. The measure will enable the state to offer a small break on property taxes to those who served for at least six consecutive years in National Guard or military reserve units, even if they were never called to active duty by the U.S. government. Previous state law restricted the veterans' tax benefit. Those who had not served 90 consecutive days on active duty did not qualify, Martinez said. Martinez signed the bill at National Guard headquarters before a few hundred soldiers, all of them cheering. She said the state's old system of defining veterans could have slighted service members who helped fight the Las Conchas fire that burned 150,000 acres last summer, or those who helped northern New Mexicans displaced during the unseasonably cold winter of 2011. "In my mind, these heroes have always been veterans," Martinez said. Sen. Bill Burt, R-Alamogordo, sponsored the bill broadening the definition of veterans. For Burt, appointed to the Senate by Martinez 13 months ago, it was his first bill to be signed into law. He said a constituent in the Las Cruces area called his attention to the problem of differing treatment for who served in the military but were not on active duty. Read more
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