Alabama Senate passes Veterans Affairs board restructuring bill amid last-minute dispute
The Alabama Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would restructure the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs board amid disputes over late changes to the legislation.
SB 67, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, passed 21-9 despite criticism from some Democratic and Republican senators, who opposed the introduction of a substitute bill and asked for the legislation to be delayed until Thursday so that senators could read it.
'I think it's very important that when [veterans] are involved, that they do have a chance to know exactly what we're voting on,' said Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, on the Senate floor. 'And since I've been here, I've always been very apprehensive about subs, especially when they come at the last minute.'
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Jones defended the decision to push forward with the bill after the legislation passed.
'I knew we had the votes, and I've always had the philosophy that when you've got the votes, you go with it,' Jones said. 'There's some folks, as part of the process, that are not going to be happy with any change whatsoever, and obviously some of those folks are vocal. But at the end of the day, we had a process.'
The original bill would have cut the board membership from 17 members to nine. It was amended last week after talks with the veteran community to increase the board make-up to 15 members. Under the substitute adopted on Tuesday, the board would retain its current 17 members while the the governor would still appoint the commissioner. The substitute would also remove the board's ability to enact policies and rules on veterans' issues and give them an advisory role in the governor's office.
'We want to elevate the commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs to a cabinet-level position, someone that's fully in state government, an agency that's fully in state government, that has the full resources to bear state government,' Jones said.
The legislation comes after Gov. Kay Ivey fired former Commissioner Kent Davis over a dispute regarding Davis' alleged handling of federal grants. Ivey demanded his resignation but Davis initially refused to step down. He then offered his resignation after meeting with the governor, but the Board of Veterans Affairs asked Davis to withdraw his resignation and voted to keep him, saying they found no wrongdoing, which led to his firing. An attorney for Davis has suggested he is considering pursuing legal action.
Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, was in agreement with Figures, stating that he had only received the document minutes before the vote.
'This is an incredibly important piece of legislation for our veterans. I think they deserve the opportunity to look at this as well, and I know that I deserve the opportunity to look at it,' Elliott said.
The bill now moves to the House.
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