Establishes New Jersey Military Recruit Graduation Assistance Program in DMVA.

2024-2025 Regular Session Introduced by Jessica Ramirez

New Jersey creates a DMVA program to help eligible low-income military recruits’ immediate family attend boot camp graduations with no application fee.

Introduced in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee

#veterans

Bill summary — A5253 (2025)

Title: Establishes New Jersey Military Recruit Graduation Assistance Program in DMVA
Status: Introduced in the Assembly; referred to Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee; amended and printed as A5253A (4/28/2025) and recommitted to Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced: February 12, 2025 (bill information); legislative activity recorded Jan–Apr 2025.
Subject: Veterans / military family assistance

Purpose

To create a state-administered program, housed in the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), that helps immediate family members of military recruits who meet a low‑income threshold with expenses to attend boot camp graduation ceremonies. The intent is to reduce situations where recruits graduate with no family representation because of travel or related costs.

Key provisions

Establishes the Military Recruit Graduation Assistance Program within DMVA.

Defines eligible family members as: spouse, parent, child, or sibling (whole or half blood, or by adoption).

Defines “low income” as gross annual household income equal to 50% or less of the median gross annual household income for households of the same size within the relevant housing region.

DMVA duties:

Develop application guidelines, submission procedures, and evaluation criteria.
Establish terms and conditions for awards and monitor recipient compliance.
Maintain records of awards.
Adopt necessary rules and regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (P.L.1968, c.410).

No application fee may be charged.

The Adjutant General must include a funding request in the DMVA annual budget sufficient to implement the program.

Implementation is subject to legislative appropriation.

Effective immediately upon enactment.

Who is affected

Primary beneficiaries: eligible immediate family members of New Jersey military recruits who meet the low‑income definition and need assistance to attend boot camp graduation ceremonies.

Administrative burden: DMVA (rulemaking, application processing, monitoring, recordkeeping).

Fiscal impact: depends on legislative appropriation and scale of awards; could require new line-item funding in the DMVA budget.

Procedural / timeline notes

Introduced in the Assembly and assigned to the Assembly Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

On April 28, 2025 the bill was amended and reprinted as A5253A and recommitted to Veterans’ Affairs — indicating sponsor-driven revisions are under consideration.

Program implementation requires a future appropriation; no automatic funding is provided in the bill text.

Potential considerations

Fiscal unknowns: total cost depends on eligibility rules, award amounts, and number of applicants; administrative costs for DMVA rulemaking and program operations.

Eligibility verification: determining regional median incomes by household size may require data sources and verification procedures.

Equity and scope: the 50%‑of‑median threshold targets low-income households but may exclude families with modest incomes who still face barriers to attendance.

Bill