Sink announces push to help veterans with benefits

TALLAHASSEE — Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink unveiled an initiative Wednesday aimed at ensuring that the state's 1.7 million veterans tap into all the benefits available to them.

Come July, veterans who renew or apply for a first-time Florida driver's license or ID will be asked to check a box indicating they served in the military. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will use the information to build a more comprehensive database of veterans' names and addresses, which the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs will use to send out benefits information.

"These brave men and women deserve our respect and gratitude, and they deserve to know about all the benefits they can access," said Sink, a Democratic candidate for governor whose father served as a Marine in World War II. "We need to take care of them when they come home."