H 4575

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
Bill 4575
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)
A concurrent RESOLUTION
to memorialize the United States
Congress to ADOPT THE MAJOR RICHARD STAR ACT TO ALLOW ALL MEDICALLY RETIRED
SERVICE MEMBERS TO RECEIVE FULL ACCESS TO THEIR RETIREMENT PAY AND BENEFITS.
Whereas, Major Richard Star was an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who,
after exposure to burn pits during his service, received a diagnosis of lung
cancer. Due to his diagnosis, Major Richard Star was forced to retire before
completing twenty years of service and was therefore unable to collect his
retirement and disability benefits; and
Whereas, for every dollar of disability pay a veteran receives, a
veteran with less than twenty years of service and a disability rating of less
than fifty percent, has his retirement pay reduced by a dollar. An estimated
50,000 retired service members are ineligible for concurrent benefits under the
current rules; and
Whereas, according to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2022, the
average offset was approximately $1,900 a month. The Major Richard Star Act
would remove these restrictions and ensure that all service members who have
medically retired can receive full access to retirement pay and Department of
Veterans Affairs' disability benefits; and
Whereas, after dying from his battle with lung cancer in 2021, Major
Richard Star's widow claimed that his greatest goal was to get legislation
passed providing for the removal of these restrictions. The United States owes
these benefits to its veterans regardless of the cost associated with their
allocation. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this
resolution, memorialize the United States Congress to adopt the Major Richard Star
Act to allow all medically retired service members to receive full access to
their retirement pay and benefits.
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This web page was last updated on December 17, 2025 at 12:51 PM