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Veterans gathered on the steps of the Alabama Statehouse Tuesday to voice their opposition to legislation that would turn the state Veterans Affairs board into a mere advisory role.
SB67, led by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, will go before a House committee this morning as the bill gets closer to becoming law.
The bill has the support of Gov. Kay Ivey, who had a public fallout with most recent VA Commissioner Kent Davis, with Ivey ultimately claiming executive power to remove Davis from his post after the board did not follow her recommendation to remove him by board vote.
Col. John Eidsmoe, a constitutional law professor emeritus, said the bill strips the state VA board of its power in “no less than 39 places.”
“There has been much discussion about who will serve on the board and how they will be selected, but it doesn’t matter who serves on the board if the board has no authority,” Eidsmoe said.
Eidsmoe also criticized the bill’s change to make the VA commissioner a member of the governor’s cabinet to serve at their leisure, making reference to Ivey’s removal of Davis.
“It means the governor can fire the commissioner for any reason she chooses, or for no reason at all—or even because the commissioner has the integrity to file an ethics complaint against a member of the governor’s cabinet,” Eidsmore said.
Davis filed an ethics complaint against Kim Boswell, director of the Alabama Department of Mental Health, that kickstarted the feud with Ivey.
Veteran Pete Rehm argued that the State Board of Veterans Affairs has served veterans of the state well and that there is no reason to change the structure.
“Some years ago when a legislator tried to sell some old, dilapidated building to the state to use as a veterans home, it was the SBVA that rejected that ridiculous proposal,” Rehm said. “It was then the SBVA and the ADVA that went on to build a sorely-needed new veterans home under budget and on time—instead of trying to remove their authority, maybe the governor should ask for their help to build prisons.”
Ivey announced Tuesday the support of veterans service organizations including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion and the American Veterans.
“The legislation elevates the Commissioner to a Cabinet level position and places the day-to-day routine actions of the Department directly under the Commissioner,” the groups wrote in a joint statement. “This exact action has been discussed favorably amongst ADVA Board Members and the ADVA Commissioner for the last two years.”
Sb67 is scheduled to be considered by the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee at 10:30 a.m. in Room 429, which does not have livestream capability.
