State law covers fallen Guard troops
Thursday, July 09, 2009
By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau

BATON ROUGE -- A special Senate committee Wednesday called on the heads of the state National Guard and the Department of Veterans Affairs to produce data indicating how often -- or seldom -- a special 2007 law granting enhanced benefits for Louisiana Guard troops has been used.

Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, the author of legislation in 2007 authorizing the payment of $250,000 to the families of Guard troops killed in the line of duty and $100,000 to Guard troops permanently and totally disabled, asked for the accounting during the initial meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Marionneaux asked for the data from Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, who runs the National Guard, and Louisiana Veterans Affairs Secretary Lane Carson. Marionneaux said he does not know if anyone has cashed in on the law he passed and is concerned that veterans and their families may not know about it.

Landreneau and Carson said they would check into the use of the benefits and report back to the committee.

The law authorizes lump sum payments to Guard members or their families in the event of a death or injury suffered while activated for duty ordered by the president or the governor.

The bill has been in effect since July 6, 2007.

"Has anyone used this?" Marionneaux asked. "I know people (in the Louisiana National Guard) are fighting and dying and being injured" in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I want to know if it is being used at all or if we promoted it" properly.

Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, a Vietnam veteran and chairman of the committee, said that he wants the information as soon as possible. "I want to see how many applied," he said. "I want to make sure that people who qualify know it is there."

Carson said that he also is looking for more burial space for veterans, including those killed in action or of natural causes. He said he will ask federal officials if it is possible to expand the cemeteries at Chalmette battlefield and at the Baton Rouge suburb of Port Hudson, another battlefield site. He also told the panel that with an aging population of veterans, the five state-operated War Veterans Homes need more skilled personnel to care for veterans who live there and are developing Alzheimer's disease.

Adley said that the purpose of the special committee will be to address the needs of the Louisiana veterans as much as state law allows. "We need to know what they need," he said.
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Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.

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