Dec. 09, 2025
HARRISBURG – Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chester/Delaware) announced state House Speaker Joanna McClinton has appointed him to serve as a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) Military and Veterans Affairs Task Force. The appointment places Williams among a select group of lawmakers from across the country who work together on bipartisan policy issues affecting veterans, service members and their families.
The NCSL task force focuses on areas that include the transition to civilian life, access to health care, behavioral health needs, workforce opportunities, housing, education, and navigation of state and federal benefits. These issue areas reflect NCSL’s stated mission to support “the health and well-being of service members, veterans and their families” and to strengthen military-community partnerships nationwide.
“As a retired veteran, advocating for this community remains very personal to me,” said Williams. “Appointment to the Task Force gives Pennsylvania a seat at the table to share the best of our ideas and hear those of other states, so we might fight for our veterans constantly. Serving our veterans every day is a mission which never ends.”
Williams has led several major bipartisan veterans initiatives in Pennsylvania. Most recently, his legislation protecting deployed military parents was signed into law. The Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act creates clear, fair, and modern rules that prevent deployed service members from losing custody or visitation rights because of their military duties.
Williams also strengthened education benefits for members of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He sponsored legislation that clarified when a service member or their family retains eligibility for the Educational Assistance Program after reenlistment. This correction closed a loophole that created uncertainty for Guard members who continued to serve and planned for higher education.
“I am grateful for the Speaker’s bipartisan confidence in me to represent veterans and look forward to representing Pennsylvania’s interests in this national forum,” said Williams.
Williams is a retired Marine Corps Colonel with almost three decades of service. He flew 56 combat missions in the Gulf War in the F/A-18D “Hornet,” where he was personally decorated twice for Valor in combat. He attended law school through a Marine Corps program and later served as the head prosecutor of Camp Pendleton, CA, the largest base in the Marine Corps. He also served the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Deputy Legal Counsel, focusing on ethics and detainee matters in federal court. Before his retirement, Colonel Williams was the head prosecutor of the entire Marine Corps Reserve.
Representative Craig Williams
160th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Will Patterson
267-688-2590
wpatterson@pahousegop.com
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