MICHAEL D.

DOVILLA
18 TH DISTRICT ______

LYNN R. WACHTMANN
75 TH DISTRICT ______

ECONOMIC & SMALL B USINESS DEVELOPMENT STATE GOVERNMENT & E LECTIONS REDISTRICTING SUBCOMMITTEE W AYS & MEANS, V ICE -C HAIRMAN

COMMERCE & LABOR HEALTH & AGING (CHAIRMAN) RETIREMENT & P ENSIONS SUBCOMMITTEE INSURANCE W ORKERS COMPENSATION SUBCOMMITTEE

Ohio General Assembly

House of Representatives Columbus

Sponsor Testimony of Representative Mike Dovilla Regarding the Ohio National Guard and the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship Programs (House Bill 280) Before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Pillich, and members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, thank you for the opportunity to offer sponsor testimony on behalf of House Bill 280, which Representative Wachtmann and I have introduced. House Bill 280 would allow the Ohio National Guard Scholarship Program and the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship Program to apply for, receive, and accept grants, gifts, bequests, and contributions from public and private sources. Currently, administrators for both programs are not permitted to solicit or accept private contributions for these scholarships. During the last Fiscal Year, the Ohio National Guard Scholarship Program provided assistance to 6,437 guardsmen and women, while the Ohio War Orphans Scholarship assisted 804 children of our veterans who gave their lives for our Nation. The members of this committee may recall, however, that in biennial budget enacted in June of this year the War Orphans Scholarship Programs budget was reduced by five percent. As a U.S. Navy Reserve officer with over nine years of commissioned service, including a 12-month deployment to Iraq in 2007-2008, I know firsthand the unique challenges our military families face. I believe we must do all we can to underscore our states commitment to these citizens. It is critical that our service members and their children have the opportunity to realize their potential in our institutions of higher education. This is why it is important to ensure that the programs to which we have committed ourselves as a state remain financially sound and are strengthened to weather any future economic storms. House Bill 280 would provide the opportunity for those public and private entities that share these sentiments about our military families to provide additional revenue streams to these two scholarship programs. At this time, Mr. Chairman, Representative Wachtmann and I would be happy to answer any questions members of the Committee may have. Thank you, again, for this opportunity to testify on our legislation to ensure we properly respect our National Guard members and the children of Ohio service members who have offered the ultimate sacrifice in service to our State and Nation.