South Carolina H 4575: Major Richard Star Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4575 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4575

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A concurrent RESOLUTION

to memorialize the United States 
Congress to ADOPT THE MAJOR RICHARD STAR ACT TO ALLOW ALL MEDICALLY RETIRED 
SERVICE MEMBERS TO RECEIVE FULL ACCESS TO THEIR RETIREMENT PAY AND BENEFITS.

Whereas, Major Richard Star was an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who, 
after exposure to burn pits during his service, received a diagnosis of lung 
cancer. Due to his diagnosis, Major Richard Star was forced to retire before 
completing twenty years of service and was therefore unable to collect his 
retirement and disability benefits; and

Whereas, for every dollar of disability pay a veteran receives, a 
veteran with less than twenty years of service and a disability rating of less 
than fifty percent, has his retirement pay reduced by a dollar. An estimated 
50,000 retired service members are ineligible for concurrent benefits under the 
current rules; and

Whereas, according to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2022, the 
average offset was approximately $1,900 a month. The Major Richard Star Act 
would remove these restrictions and ensure that all service members who have 
medically retired can receive full access to retirement pay and Department of 
Veterans Affairs' disability benefits; and

Whereas, after dying from his battle with lung cancer in 2021, Major 
Richard Star's widow claimed that his greatest goal was to get legislation 
passed providing for the removal of these restrictions. The United States owes 
these benefits to its veterans regardless of the cost associated with their 
allocation. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this 
resolution, memorialize the United States Congress to adopt the Major Richard Star 
Act to allow all medically retired service members to receive full access to 
their retirement pay and benefits.

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This web page was last updated on December 17, 2025 at 12:51 PM