Pielli’s bill to incentivize National Guard enlistment approved by Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
Rep. Chris Pielli April 9, 2025 | 11:59 AM
HARRISBURG, April 9 – State Rep. Chris Pielli, D-Chester, announced that his legislation to expand partial tuition reimbursements for enlistment in the National Guard has been approved by the state House Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee yesterday.
The bill (H.B. 1102) would expand the partial tuition reimbursement program to cover enlistment in the National Guard by U.S. Army JAG officers and chaplains, as well as fine-tune the current list of eligible medical or health officers. The incentive program would provide for a tiered reimbursement structure based on educational attainment to offset the costs of the advanced educational accreditation needed to serve in these roles.
Currently, the program has achieved notable success with the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs citing that some medical officer positions reached 100% fill rates. However, the DMVA adds that the original program did not include other key medical and health officer positions in addition to needed JAG officers and chaplains.
“Over a decade ago, Pennsylvania launched the Medical Officer and Health Officer Incentive program to provide additional financial incentives for skilled medical professionals to enlist in the Pennsylvania National Guard,” Pielli said. “In the time since Act 78 of 2014, this program has proven to be a meaningful tool, bringing highly qualified health professionals into our forces.
“The success of this program, the ever-rising costs of education and training, and the need to recruit even more skilled professionals into the National Guard have shown us that we should expand the program to cover additional critical areas beyond the medical field. This requested legislation will fine tune and expand the program to incentivize recruitment in order to better serve our Commonwealth’s interests. I am proud to work with state Senator Hutchinson on this bill and thank my colleagues for their support and acknowledgement to keep our National Guard strong!”
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.