Veteran service leaders across Massachusetts say the state’s definition of veteran is failing them as it blocks them from providing benefits available to others who fought in past wars and are calling for a change.

A bill pending at the State House would update the definition of veteran, aligning the state and federal characterizations, which certain Bay State veterans argue would make them eligible for benefits available under the HERO Act.

Gov. Maura Healey and state lawmakers have called the HERO Act, signed into law last year, the “most comprehensive piece of veterans legislation” considered in decades, including protection for veterans receiving state Chapter 115 benefits from losing those entitlements when their federal benefits change.

Veteran Advocate Robert Notch called the HER

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