New Jersey § 38a:3-53

§ 38a:3-53.

There is established in the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs the “Gold

Star Family Counseling Program.” The purpose of this program is to link mental health care professionals with Gold

Star family members to facilitate the provision of mental health counseling free of

charge to the Gold Star family members. The Adjutant General of the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs shall create

and implement the “Gold Star Family Counseling Program” as follows. a. The department shall recruit mental health care professionals to donate professional

counseling hours to provide mental health counseling to Gold Star family members. The department may coordinate the recruitment efforts with the federal Department

of Veterans’ Affairs. b. The department shall coordinate with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs

to maintain a list of mental health care professionals who are available to provide

professional mental health counseling hours to Gold Star family members. c. The department shall maintain and distribute the list of available mental health

care professionals on a Statewide basis and shall distribute the list of available

mental health care professionals to each county Veteran Service office for the distribution

thereof. d. The department shall create a system for monitoring and verifying the donated hours

to facilitate the tax credit provided to mental health care professionals pursuant

to section 6 of P.L.2017, c. 174 ( C.54A:4-16 ). e. The department shall provide documentation annually to the mental health care professional

for submission to the Department of the Treasury to verify the amount of tax credit

the mental health care professional is eligible to request annually pursuant to section

6 of P.L.2017, c. 174 ( C.54A:4-16 ). The amount of annual tax credit shall be determined by the department as the sum

of the hours of donated counseling provided to the Gold Star family member multiplied

by the documented compensation rate applied to these hours. To determine the compensation rate, the department shall use the calendar year TRICARE

rate for the service provided in the geographic location in which the service is provided. The department shall limit the cumulative hours which are authorized for the annual

tax credit to a minimum of 20 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per year, per professional.