The HERO Act, a sprawling piece of legislation that takes several steps aimed at helping Massachusetts veterans and military members and their families, was signed into law by Governor Healey at a ceremony in Lexington Thursday.
Healey, who filed the original version of the bill on Veterans’ Day last November, called the act “the most comprehensive veterans’ legislation to come out of the state ever, probably.”
“As we stand here today ... we have the opportunity to enshrine into law forever that Massachusetts, our great commonwealth and our great people, are always and will be behind our military veterans, service members and their families,” Healey said.
Jon Santiago, the former state representative and U.S. Army Reserve major who was tapped by Healey as the state’s first cabinet-level veterans’ secretary in February 2023, struck a similar note in his remarks, calling the HERO ACT “the most comprehensive piece of veterans’ legislation in our state’s history” and thanking veterans’ advocates for driving the creation of the bill.
“These were your ideas,” Santiago said. “These were your solutions. And now this is your HERO Act.”
The new law — whose full name is An Act Honoring, Empowering, and Recognizing our Servicemembers and Veterans — contains more than 30 distinct provisions. Among other things, it: allows veterans to be reimbursed for outpatient behavioral health visits; increases tax credits for businesses that hire low-income, chronically unemployed or disabled veterans; gives cities and towns the ability to provide veterans with increased property-tax exemptions; and increases annual annuity payments for disabled veterans and their survivors.
In addition, the law creates a new program to protect against child abuse on military installations, guarantees support for public-school students when a parent or guardian is called to active duty, expands the range of people who qualify as veterans’ dependents, and creates a new working group tasked with studying the benefits of alternative therapies such as psilocybin for veterans suffering from mental health disorders.
The HERO Act also makes the language in state law involving veterans’ services gender neutral.
Massachusetts’ reputation for veterans’ care was tarnished by the 2020 COVID outbreaks at the Veterans’ Homes in Chelsea and Holyoke, which led to the deaths of more than 100 residents and prompted class-action lawsuits against the state. Those outbreaks, which Healey alluded to while addressing residents of the homes, occurred under former Gov. Charlie Baker.
The HERO Act has been designated as an emergency law, allowing it to take effect immediately.
