“The next three bills before me assist the City’s veterans in seeking employment.  Introductory Number 1014 is sponsored by Speaker Quinn and Council Members Gonzalez, Chin, Comrie, Eugene, Gentile, James, Koo, Koppell, Lander, Mark-Viverito, Mendez, Nelson, Palma, Rose, Vann, Williams, Recchia, Dromm, Rodriguez, Crowley, Jackson, Mealy, Reyna, Richards, Halloran and Ulrich.  Introductory Number 1019 is sponsored by Speaker Quinn and Council Members Wills, Cabrera, Chin, Eugene, Gentile, James, Koo, Koppell, Lander, Mark-Viverito, Palma, Rose, Mendez, Recchia, Dromm, Rodriguez, Crowley, Jackson, Lappin, Mealy, Reyna, Richards, Halloran and Ulrich. 

“In an effort to provide support for veterans seeking a trade license from the City, existing law allows veterans who served in the Korean conflict and Vietnam war to apply their military experience towards the licensing requirements, even if that experience is unrelated to the license, so long as they’ve acquired a minimum one year’s experience related to the license before serving. 

“Together these two bills allow equivalent military service to qualify as experience in a trade for purposes of attaining a license from the City and updates the law to apply the existing military experience credit to current and future military conflicts.  Agency heads issuing the licenses will have the discretion to determine if additional experience is necessary.

“Introductory Number 945-A is sponsored by Speaker Quinn and Council Members Eugene, Comrie, Fidler, Gentile, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, Koslowitz, Mendez, Nelson, Palma, Rose, Williams, Wills, Rodriguez, Dromm, Mealy, Recchia, Crowley, Jackson, Lappin, Reyna, Richards, Halloran and Ulrich.

“Introductory Number 945-A requires the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs to include on their web site employment resources for veterans including a link to the federal job bank and links to federal and State web sites that offer employment services for veterans and translation of military occupations to civilian jobs.  MOVA will also link to web sites posted by the City’s Department of Small Business Services and consult with the City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services to identify military jobs with skills that translate to qualifications for competitive exams.

I would like to thank Commissioner Terrance Holliday from the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs along with my Office of City Legislative Affairs for their work on these bills.  I would also like to thank the City Council for approving this legislation.”