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. 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 Guard have shown us that we should expand the program to cover additional critical areas beyond the medical field.
 
I am partnering with Senator Hutchinson on a proposal to grow the existing incentive programs to include additional specialty branch officers. We are proposing to expand the partial tuition reimbursement program to cover enlistment in the Guard by U.S. Army JAG officers and chaplains, as well as fine-tuning the current list of eligible medical or health officers. The revamped incentive program will 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.
 
This revision to the program is a necessary step to recruit additional experienced and highly qualified servicemembers to protect and serve and provide care for those who wear the Pennsylvania National Guard uniform. Please join me in sponsoring this expansion of a crucial program to support and strengthen our Guard.
 

Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 1214: 51-3209(a), 51-3210(b)