Will County Veterans Assistance Commission Board Member Qualifications –

Will Co., IL. (ECWd) –

We will use Will County Veterans Assistance Commission (“VAC”) in this example, but the same applies to all county VACs, and is spelled out in the Illinois Military Veterans Assistance Act.

Currently, the Act defines a Veteran service organization (“VSO”) as: “a post, ship, camp, chapter, or detachment of a congressionally chartered or state-chartered organization.”

EDITED THIS PARAGRAPH ON 8-4-2022: Effective January 1, 2023, the following Sec 11 definition is REPEALED in the MVAA and replaced with a new Section 1:

• Sec. 11. The term “military veterans organizations” as used in this Act, shall mean those organizations formed by and for military veterans which are chartered by Congress or which are chartered by the State of Illinois with a paid membership of at least 15 and which provide responsible aid, assistance, or services to the veterans community.
• For a list of all congressionally chartered VSOs, we turned to 36 United States Code Part B – Organizations
  • From among the congressionally chartered VSOs is The American Legion
  • For a list of all state-chartered VSOs, we could find nothing.
  • The Congressional Research Service also published a report on VSOs (here).

Membership of the County Veterans Assistance Commission:

• Annually, each congressionally or stat (See Section 9(a)(1)) -chartered VSO of the county shall appoint a delegate and alternate to compose the commission – these delegates or alternates need not be veterans, they only need to be appointed by an eligible VSO (See VACGC v Grundy County, 3d Appellate Court, 2015 and 2016)
• If a VSO serves more than one county, it may select a delegate and alternate for each county in which at least 25% of its members reside
• EDITED ON 8-4-2022 TO ADD: Each VSO must be congressionally chartered, or state-chartered and have 15 paid members and must have been formed “by and for” military veterans. This provision is repealed on January 1, 2023, and is replaced with a new Section 1 and new definitions of a VSO.

Powers and Duties of the Commission and of the Superintendent are found in Sections 2, 9, and 10 (committees/executive boards of the Commission possess no decision-making powers).

The bottom line is:

• on board member qualifications (delegates and alternates), is that they must be nominated by a Veterans Service Organization recognized as such under the definition of a VSO found in the Military Veterans Assistance Act.
• “The Commission” makes decisions, not a committee or special executive board of the Commission.
• The Supervisor has powers granted by the Act and by the Commission (provided the Commission is not gifting their powers to the Superintendent).

More on this subject in later articles.