Patriot Plan III will provide additional military benefits

Patriot Plan III, legislation which strengthens benefits for New Yorkers serving in the military, has been passed.

"The first Patriot Plan provided New York's citizen soldiers and their families with the most comprehensive benefits package of any state," said Assemblyman Charles Nesbitt, a highly decorated helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

Patriot Plan III will:

•Provide survivors of eligible public employees who make the ultimate sacrifice while on active duty with the same death benefits to which they would be entitled had their loved one died as a result of an accident while working as a public employee;

•Ensure that survivors of public employees who are killed in the course of active duty receive the same health benefits as they would had their loved one passed away in the course of public service;

•Reimburse premium payments sufficient to assume the costs for $250,000 worth of Service Member's General Life Insurance Program for members of the New York State organized militia during periods of active service; and

•Create a new War on Terror license plate to be issued, on request, to veterans of the Persian Gulf or Afghanistan conflicts.