Could Connecticut pay a veterans-organization funeral honor guard less than fifty dollars a day in 2007?

Plain-English summary

In 2007, two Connecticut senators asked whether a veterans-organization honor guard could be paid less than the fifty dollars daily rate in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal answered no. He read the statute’s “shall be compensated” wording as mandatory and said members providing the covered funeral honors had to receive fifty dollars per day.

The statute addressed veterans-organization details requested when a Guard or militia honor guard was unavailable or committed elsewhere. The AG also pointed to the amendment that replaced a variable rate with fifty dollars per day, which he said aligned state payments with federal law.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2007. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Veterans organizations at the time

For the funeral honor guard service described in § 27-76, members of a bona fide Connecticut state veterans organization were entitled to the statutory fifty dollars daily amount. The opinion did not describe a lower negotiated rate.

Adjutant General staff at the time

The AG interpreted the statutory rate as mandatory. The request arose from whether the Adjutant General could pay less, and the opinion said the official could not.

Common questions

Q: Could an honor guard volunteer agree to a lower state payment?
A: The opinion said qualifying honor guard members performing the statutory service had to be paid fifty dollars per day, not a lesser rate.

Q: When did the veterans-organization detail provision apply?
A: The quoted statute provided for a request to such an organization when the Guard or militia honor guard was unavailable or already committed.

Q: Why did the AG call the fifty dollars rate mandatory?
A: He relied on the statute’s “shall be compensated” wording and the amendment setting a fixed daily rate.

Background and statutory framework

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76 set the funeral honor guard arrangement and daily pay. The opinion said P.A. 01-163 replaced the earlier variable payment with fifty dollars per day and connected that change to 10 U.S.C. §1491.

Citations and references

Statutes cited in the opinion: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76; 10 U.S.C. §1491.

Source

• Landing page: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Opinions
• Opinion page: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/opinions/2007-formal-opinions/honorable-louis-c-deluca-senate-minority-leader-honorable-andrew-roraback-state-senator-30th-distric

Original opinion text

Honorable Louis C. DeLuca, Senate Minority Leader, Honorable Andrew Roraback, State Senator, 30th District, Formal Opinion 2007-006, Attorney General State of Connecticut

Attorney General's Opinion

Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal

April 16, 2007

The Honorable Louis C. DeLuca

Senate Minority Leader

The Honorable Andrew Roraback

State Senator, 30th District

General Assembly

State Capitol

Hartford, CT 06106-1591

Dear Senators DeLuca and Roraback:

You have requested our opinion as to whether Section 27-76 of the Connecticut General Statutes permits honor guards from bona fide Connecticut State Veteran’s Organizations to accept pay at a rate of less than the fifty dollars per day as set forth in that statute. We interpret your inquiry to be whether the Adjutant General may pay veterans who serve as honor guard members less than fifty dollars per day.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76 provides, in pertinent part, that

[w]hen requested by the commander of any accredited veteran organization or by friends or relatives of any deceased person who has served in the armed forces of the United States during time of war . . . the Adjutant General shall order an honor guard detail from the National Guard, the naval militia, the State Guard or the organized militia to attend the funeral, except that if an honor guard from such detail is unavailable or committed elsewhere, the Adjutant General shall request an honor guard detail from a bona fide Connecticut state veteran’s organization . . . . The members thereof shall be compensated at the rate of fifty dollars per day. Such compensation shall be paid from funds appropriated to the Adjutant General for the pay of the National Guard and from federal funds received from that purpose.

(Emphasis supplied.)

In construing a statute, we make “a reasoned search for the intention of the legislature…we look to the words of the statute itself, to the legislative history and the circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter.” State v. Courchesne, 262 Conn. 537, 577, 816 A.2d 562 (2003). See, State v. Patterson, 2005 Conn. Lexis 531 (Conn. December 20, 2005)

We first note Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76 specifically states that honor guard members shall be compensated at a rate of fifty dollars per day. We conclude that this statutory rate is mandatory rather than directory. "The legislature's use of the word 'shall' generally evidences an intent that the statute be interpreted as mandatory." Todd v. Glines, 217 Conn. 1, 8, 583 A.2d 1287 (1991).

Our conclusion is supported by the legislative history. P.A. 01-163 amended Section 27-76 to change the rate of pay for honor guard squad members from seventy-five percent of one day’s basic pay (but not less than fifteen nor more than thirty dollars per day) to fifty dollars per day. The legislature intended the fifty dollar per day payment to be mandatory to conform the payments made under Section 27-76 with federal law. 10 U.S.C. §1491 (2000).

Accordingly, honor guards from bona fide Connecticut State Veteran’s Organizations performing the services described in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 27-76 must be reimbursed at fifty dollars per day, and not a lesser rate.

We trust that the foregoing is responsive to your inquiry.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Tanya Feliciano DeMattia

Assistant Attorney General