COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Statehouse is advancing a bill to include the U.S. Space Force within Ohio’s legal definition of the Armed Services, legislation lawmakers argue is necessary for members and veterans to receive military benefits.

Senate Bill 154 would update definitions of the U.S. Armed Forces, Armed Services and Uniformed Services in Ohio’s Revised Code to include the U.S. Space Force. Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), the bill’s primary sponsor, said there are no guarantees that those in the Space Force are eligible to receive the same benefits and protections as those in other branches of the military until the legislation becomes law.

“Failure to pursue the tweaks contained in this legislation could have dire impacts on the well-being of military personnel and their families, risking their access to healthcare, housing, education and more,” said Roegner. “Space Force recruiting, resiliency, retention and even readiness is at risk without enacting the policies in S.B. 154.”

Roegner said there are nearly 15,000 Americans are serving within Space Force, including personnel in Ohio in the Space Delta 18 at the National Space Intelligence Center outside Fairborn. The legislation outlines the following benefits for members and their spouses:

• May receive a temporary or regular license or certificate to practice a trade or profession if the licensing authority elects and specified requirements are met.
• Are entitled to enjoy the same tax benefits as other branches (deadline extension, state income tax waived if member dies in line of duty, etc.
• Are guaranteed the right to reemployment in their civilian jobs if they leave that job to perform in the uniformed service.

In addition, veterans of the Space Force are eligible for housing in a veterans’ home operated by the Ohio Department of Veterans Services and are guaranteed to have their prior military service counted toward their new pension program when seeking reemployment. Veterans may also receive the same additional credit on a civil service examination that veterans of other branches receive.

Roegner’s legislation comes six months after state politicians launched a failed campaigned for President Biden to chose Ohio as the next home for the U.S. Space Command. In June, the Ohio House passed a resolution urging the federal government to pick Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton as the new Space Command.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown took to the Senate floor in early June to call for Space Command’s relocation to Ohio. In a letter to Biden and top Air Force officials, the Ohio Mayor’s Alliance — a bipartisan group of mayors from the state’s 30 largest cities — signaled its support for a Space Command move to Ohio.

“Ohio’s cities both in the Dayton and southwest Ohio area as well as the rest of the state are ready, willing, and able to invest in education, housing, and employing Space Force families and all of its related suppliers and services,” the letter read.

Ultimately, Ohio didn’t make the shortlist for Space Command’s headquarters, which included other “reasonable alternatives” like, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cape Canaveral, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas. Biden announced in late July the headquarters would remain where it had already been stationed in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

View Roegner’s S.B. 154 in full below.