DeSantis signs two bills in Pasco County to expand veteran programs, benefits [Video]

LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis signed two bills in Pasco County on Thursday, expanding programs and benefits for veterans.

Starting July 1, House Bill 725 will allow eligible spouses and surviving spouses of qualifying veterans to live at state veterans’ long-term care facilities.

“First of all, it’s just the right thing to do. When you have a surviving veteran and a spouse, we want to keep them together,” DeSantis said during Thursday’s news conference at Baldomero Lopez State Veterans’ Nursing Home. “But even when the veteran unfortunately passes on, we recognize that that spouse has also served and that spouse deserves our support as well.”

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Vietnam veteran Ken Sizemore, 88, lives at Baldomero Lopez State Veterans’ Nursing Home. For the last two years, he’s lived separately from his wife, Josephine, who has dementia and is not a veteran.

“It’s …