On Tuesday, Alabama Senators voted to amend Governor Ivey’s proposed restructuring of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) to guarantee veteran service organizations (VSOs) and veterans themselves are a permanent fixture of the board’s majority.

State Sen. Andrew Jones, Chairman of the Senate Military & Veterans Affairs committee guided the fast-moving process to adopt provisions that ultimately increased the number of seats set forth in the bill to 15.

As initially written, SB67 would have reduced the board from seventeen to nine members – seven of which appointed by the governor, one by the Speaker of the House, and one by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and shifted its authority to serve simply in an advisory capacity to the department, rather than having direct oversight.

A key ingredient stood the test of lawmakers’ approval today in making the Commissioner of the State Department of Veterans Affairs a cabinet-level position appointed by the sitting governor, rather than appointed by the board. 

“I think we’ve done a lot with your leadership, [Lt. Governor Ainsworth], in terms of the Military Stability Commission, in terms of all the work that we’ve done with license reciprocity, with different legislation to support military and veterans, to elevate the status of veterans around the state,” Jones (R-Centre) said.

“And this is just a further step in building on all that work that we have done to further elevate the department by bringing it fully into the fold of state government, and by making the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs a cabinet-level position.

“The commissioner will have the ear of the governor, be a part of the governor’s team and cabinet, and I think that only helps what we’re doing to promote veterans and work with veterans around the state. We’ve had a lot of feedback from different veterans organizations, veteran service organizations around the state about the bill, and a number of friendly amendments are coming which help satisfy or help improve the bill.”

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As amended, the board would continue its oversight capacity, however, its composition would be appointed differently:

State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) amended the bill twice: Once to require that at least five members must have served as active military duty. And second, that two members be represented from the Alabama National Guard, including one commissioned officer and one enlisted.

State Sen. Bobby Singleton made (D-Greensboro) an amendment requiring that one board member be appointed by the House Minority Leader and another be appointed by the Senate Minority Leader.

State Sen. Randy Price (R-Opelika) added an amendment stipulating that the board member appointed by the Speaker of the House be chosen from a list of three nominees provided by the largest veterans’ organization in the state — and similarly — that the member appointed by the Senate Pro Tem be chosen from a list of three nominees from the state’s second-largest veteran service organization.

State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) made an amendment requiring that one board member be selected by the Lieutenant Governor from a list of three nominees submitted by the third-largest veterans’ organization in the state. Additionally, the lieutenant governor would appoint one at-large member.

As it currently stands, according to the membership rosters reported to the governor’s office, the American Legion is the state’s largest veterans’ organization, followed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) as second largest, and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) as third largest.

State Sen. Merika Coleman (D-Birmingham) amended the legislation to include at least one board member be a wartime veteran.

State Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay) introduced an amendment allowing the board to recommend up to three candidates to the governor for the commissioner position. Additionally, the governor would have the authority to set the commissioner’s salary.

State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham) made an amendment specifying that among the nine board members appointed by the governor — at least one must be a female veteran.

“This is what the legislative process is all about,” State Sen. Andrew Jones said following today’s vote. “Folks working together, collaborating, working through amendments, hearing from different constituent groups such as our veterans community.”

Jones said he hopes for the bill to come back up as scheduled next week to send the bill downstairs to the House for further approval.  State Rep. Ed Oliver (R-Dadeville) is carrying the bill in the House.

Wednesday will be day five of the 2025 state legislative session.