Proposed legislation aims to totally revamp the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs
Mobile, Ala. (WKRG) — After a shakeup last year that saw the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs unceremoniously fired from his post by Gov. Kay Ivey, legislation has been introduced to revamp the department.
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If passed, Senate Bill 67 and a companion bill in the House would allow the governor to appoint the commissioner of ADVA. Since the department was established in 1945, the State Board of Veterans Affairs was in charge of hiring and firing the commissioner.
The proposed legislation would also relegate the State Board of Veterans Affairs to an advisory capacity.
A hearing before the Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee was scheduled at the State House today (Wednesday, Feb. 5) and the bill was approved by a 5 to 2 vote with one abstention.
Veterans in the Mobile area familiar with the debacle that saw former Commissioner Admiral Kent Davis lose his job are also crying foul over the legislation to revamp the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Davis was popular with many veterans in the state. He is credited with overseeing several improvements during his five years as commissioner.
These are some of them:
Overseeing the opening of a new State Veterans Home in Enterprise and reducing the backlog of veterans on a waiting list, the longest waiting list of any state in the country
Reopening a dozen Veterans Services Offices that had been shuttered during the decade before Davis took office
Securing a grant to expand the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort.
Davis called the legislation retaliation for the dust-up he had with Ivey last year, which began when Davis filed an ethics complaint against a member of the governor's cabinet.
Davis further said the proposed legislation was written by the governor's staff, which the bill's sponsor, Sen. Andrew Jones (R) of Centre, seemingly admitted to on the public affairs program ''Capitol Journal' on Dec. 20, 2024.
Jones said, 'I got an update from some of the Governor's staff just yesterday that they are continuing to work through the process of developing the legislation and it's my understanding that it would go through both of our respective committees.
'You know, I see this as really a way to elevate the Department of Veterans Affairs, bring them fully in the fold of state government, and highlight the work that's being done for veterans, and make that person a member of the Governor's team and the Governor's cabinet.'
Davis told that he plans to file a lawsuit over the governor's alleged 'supreme executive power over his firing and the Alabama Ethics Act anti-retaliation provisions.
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Davis said, 'I obviously disagree with the governor's actions. I think over 5 years we'd accomplished a lot, and frankly, a lot of that has been stymied by the governor's actions.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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