2. A veteran who served in the active military or naval forces of the United States and who has paraplegia and permanent paralysis of both legs and lower parts of the body, or who has osteochondritis and permanent loss of the use of both legs, or who has hemiplegia and permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm or either side of the body, resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure, or brain, or who has had both hands, both feet, or one hand and one foot amputated, or who has lost the use of both feet or both legs, due to multiple sclerosis, sustained through enemy action, or accident, or resulting from disease contracted while in active military or naval service, shall be paid for the term of the veteran’s life, and upon the veteran’s death the surviving spouse, domestic partner, or partner in civil union shall be paid, the sum of $1,800 annually in monthly payments. Such payments shall be due and payable from the date of discharge or release of the veteran if application therefor shall be made within one year from the date of such discharge or release. If the application shall be made after one year from the date of discharge or release of the veteran, such payment shall be due and payable from the date of such application. Accrued payments to the date of certification shall be paid in one lump sum.

Nothing in P.L.1947, c.263 (C. 38:18A-1 et seq.) shall be intended to include paraplegia or hemiplegia resulting from locomotor ataxia or other forms of syphilis of the central nervous system or from chronic alcohol use disorder, or to include other forms of disease resulting from the veteran’s own misconduct which may produce signs and symptoms similar to those resulting from paraplegia, osteochondritis, hemiplegia, or multiple sclerosis.

L.1947, c.263, s.2; amended 1949, c.192, s.2; 1950, c.196, s.1; 1951, c.331, s.1; 1955, c.192; 1981, c.424, s.2; 1985, c.116, s.3; 2017, c.131, s.146; amended 2022, c.105, s.3.