Veterans

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Veterans Assistance for Livelihood, Opportunity, and Relief (VALOR) Act

This bill provides tax exemptions and free hunting and fishing licenses to certain disabled veterans in Tennessee.

What This Bill Does

• Exempts disabled veterans with a 100% permanent and total disability from service-connected causes from paying property taxes on their homes.
• Provides a free, permanent sport combination hunting and fishing license for disabled veterans who are 100% permanently and totally disabled due to service-related injuries or illnesses.
• Exempts disabled veterans with a 100% permanent and total disability from service-connected causes from paying registration taxes and fees on one private passenger automobile, recreational vehicle, or truck of half or three-quarter ton rating.

Who It Names or Affects

• Disabled veterans who have served in the U.S. armed forces and are 100% permanently and totally disabled due to service-connected causes.
• The state's wildlife resources director and county clerks responsible for issuing hunting and fishing licenses.

Terms To Know

Disabled veteran

A person who has served in the U.S. armed forces and acquired a disability from paraplegia, paralysis, legal blindness, loss of limbs, or other service-connected causes.

Service-connected cause

An injury or illness that occurred during military service or was made worse by military service.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not change the rule that property tax relief is not extended to veterans who have been dishonorably discharged from any of the armed services.
• The exact financial impact on local governments due to reduced property taxes for eligible veterans cannot be accurately estimated.

Official Summary Text

This bill enacts
the "Veterans Assistance for Livelihood, Opportunity, and Relief (VALOR) Act
,
"
which
exempts
certain
disabled veterans
from
certain taxes and fees
.

FREE HUNTING AND FISHING LICENSE

This bill authorize
s t
he wildlife resources director, through the county clerk
s
,
to issue a free p
ermanent sport combination hunting and fishing license to disabled veterans with 100% permanent and total disability from a service-connected cause, as determined by the United
States department of veterans affairs.

FULL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

Present law requires this state to provide from the general funds to certain disabled veterans the amount necessary to pay or reimburse such taxpayers for all or part of the local property t
axes paid for a given tax year on that property that the disabled veteran owned and used as the disabled veteran's residence. Such reimbursement is paid on the first $175,000 of the full market value of such property.
T
his bill requires this state to
, in
stead,
pay or reimburse such taxpayers for all of the local property taxes paid for a given tax year on
such
property.

Eligibility

As used in
this
provision
, a
"
disabled veteran
"
means a person who has served in the armed forces of the United States, a
nd who has acquired any of the following:



A disability from paraplegia or permanent paralysis of both legs and lower part of the body resulting from traumatic injury or disease to the spinal cord or brain, or from legal blindness, or from loss or loss of use of two or more limbs from any service-connected cause.



100% permanent total disability, as determined by the department of veterans affairs, and such disability resulted from having served as a prisoner of war.



A service-connected permanent and total disability or disabilities, as determined by the department of veterans affairs.

Ineligibility

Present law prohibits property tax relief from being extended to any person who has been dishonorably discharged from any of the armed services. This bill do
es not change this provision.

Surviving Spouse

Present law requires that property tax relief be extended to the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who, at the time of the disabled veteran's death, was eligible for disabled veterans' property tax reli
ef and certain other requirements are met. This bill does not change this provision.

MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEE EXEMPTION

This bill
provides that if
an owner or lessee of a motor vehicle is a resident of this state and is a disabled veteran
with a
100% permanent and total disability from a service-connected cause, as determined by the department of veterans affairs,
then such veteran
is exempt from taxes and fees for the registration of one private passenger automobile, recreational vehicle, or tru
ck of one-half or three-quarter
-
ton rating.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 52
By Bulso

SENATE BILL 473
By Bowling

SB0473
000570
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 5-
8-102; Title 55, Chapter 4; Title 67 and Title 70,
Chapter 2, relative to disabled veterans.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Veterans Assistance for
Livelihood, Opportunity, and Relief (VALOR) Act."
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 70-2-104(a)(4)(B), is amended by
deleting the following language:
Permanent sport combination hunting and fishing license upon payment of a one-
time ten-dollar fee to those residents of Tennessee who are one hundred percent
(100%) permanently and totally service connected disabled veterans who apply for such
discounts and exemptions prior to or after May 24, 2000. The agency shall accept as
evidence of service-connected disability for the purposes of this subdivision (a)(4)(B) a
certification from the veterans' administration.
and substituting instead the following:
Permanent sport combination hunting and fishing license without the payment of
a fee to those residents of this state who are disabled veterans with one hundred
percent (100%) permanent and total disability from a service-connected cause, as
determined by the United States department of veterans affairs.
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 67-5-704(a), is amended by deleting
the subsection and substituting instead the following:
(a) There must be paid from the general funds of the state to certain disabled
veterans the amount necessary to pay or reimburse such taxpayers for all of the local

- 2 - 000570

property taxes paid for a given tax year on that property that the disabled veteran owned
and used as the disabled veteran's residence as provided in this section.
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55, Chapter 4, Part 1, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
Notwithstanding this chapter to the contrary, an owner or lessee of a motor
vehicle who is a resident of this state and who is a disabled veteran who has one
hundred percent (100%) permanent and total disability from a service-connected cause,
as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs, is exempt from taxes
and fees under this chapter for the registration of one (1) private passenger automobile,
recreational vehicle, or truck of one-half (1/2) or three-quarter (3/4) ton rating pursuant to
§ 55-4-103.
SECTION 5. This act takes effect January 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.