(1) Any veteran who is a legal resident of the State of Nebraska shall, upon application and without payment of any fee, be issued a combination fishing, fur-harvesting, and hunting permit, habitat stamp, aquatic habitat stamp, and Nebraska migratory waterfowl stamp if the veteran:

(a) Was discharged or separated with a characterization of honorable or general (under honorable conditions); and

(b)(i) Is rated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as fifty percent or more disabled as a result of service in the armed forces of the United States; or

(ii) Is receiving a pension from the department as a result of total and permanent disability, which disability was not incurred in the line of duty in the military service.

(2) If disabled persons are unable by reason of physical infirmities to hunt and fish in the normal manner, the commission may issue special permits without cost to those persons to hunt and fish from a vehicle, but such permits shall not authorize any person to shoot from any public highway.

(3) All permits issued without the payment of any fees pursuant to this section shall be perpetual and become void only upon termination of eligibility as provided in this section.

(4) The commission may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out this section.

(5) Permits issued under subdivision (3) of this section as it existed prior to January 1, 2006, shall not expire as provided in subsection (1) of section 37-421.