Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Phil Ramos and Assemblyman William Scarborough today announced the passage of legislation that would require the Division of Veterans' Affairs to maintain an employment portal for veterans on the division's website.

"Many veterans scheduled to come back after serving abroad are well-trained and highly skilled in a variety of different disciplines," said Silver. "Upon their return they are faced with a recovering economy and a difficult labor market, making it much harder to find employment despite their qualifications. This bill will help our servicemen and women reintegrate into civilian life by making available additional resources to find employment."

Provisions included in the bill (A.8932-A/Scarborough) direct the Division of Veterans' Affairs to maintain and annually update the veterans employment portal. The bill requires the portal to provide virtual links to appropriate governmental programs on the federal and state level. The information may also be requested in print.

"No veteran should have to struggle to find a job when they return from serving our country," said Ramos. "This bill will connect veterans with jobs that utilize their skills to help them successfully transition to civilian careers."

Assemblyman William Scarborough, sponsor of the bill, said, "As we end the war in Iraq and wind down the war in Afghanistan, over one million service members are projected to leave the military between 2011 and 2018, and return back to their civilian lives. This creates a demographic of qualified, mostly young people, looking for jobs. This measure makes available a great resource to help them navigate through this difficult job market."