Hire Heroes Program Receives Hearings

WPS employee and veteran Timothy LaSage testified in favor of the Hire Heroes bills moving through the legislature.  LaSage, a retired 1st Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps and two-time Purple Heart recipient, spoke in favor of the bill that requires the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to establish a program to provide transitional jobs to veterans.

Under the bill, DWD would work in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and Department of Children and Families (DCF) to secure veterans, who meet certain requirements, employment.   Eligible veterans can participate in the program for up to 1,040 hours and employers are compensated for some costs.  Those costs could include a wage subsidy, federal social security and Medicare taxes, state and federal unemployment insurance contributions or taxes, and worker’s compensation insurance premiums, if any. The department anticipates spending $400,000 on the program.

Assembly Bill 422 and Senate Bill 338 both await vote in their respective committees.