HB 2354 Summary

• Expands tuition waiver scholarships to children and spouses of veterans, peace officers, firefighters, and emergency paramedics who died by suicide after suffering a post-traumatic stress injury.

• Establishes eligibility criteria requiring the deceased to have been a state resident, served in a covered profession or military service, suffered a documented post-traumatic stress injury, and died by suicide.

• Provides prima facie evidence of post-traumatic stress injury through disability pension documentation under Arizona law or federal discharge/Veterans Affairs records.

• Maintains existing eligibility limits restricting scholarships to children age 30 or younger and unmarried spouses, capped at 64 credit hours for community colleges and the number of credits required for a baccalaureate degree at universities.

• Makes the scholarship retroactively available to individuals meeting the requirements regardless of when the parent or spouse suffered the post-traumatic stress injury and committed suicide.