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Committee carries over GI-dependent scholarship bill after veterans urge redirecting funds to state veterans' homes
Summary
After testimony from a disabled veteran who urged redirecting money to state veterans' homes, the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee carried over House Bill 487, which would lower eligibility thresholds and create a small pilot for dependents of out-of-state servicemembers. Sponsors cited a $3.2 million fiscal note.
The Senate Finance and Taxation Committee carried over House Bill 487 after veterans and some senators urged the panel to reconsider whether scholarship funds should be prioritized for state veterans' homes instead of expanding GI-dependent scholarship eligibility.
Committee sponsors said HB 487 would lower the disability threshold for dependent eligibility and create a pilot allowing certain dependents who began service out of state but have lived in Alabama for five years to participate. The sponsor said the bill's fiscal note is about $3.2 million and that the GI-dependent scholarship total available in an earlier period had been reduced from $90 million to roughly $42 million in recent years.
Colonel James Henderson, introduced to the committee as a disabled Vietnam veteran and pastor who visits veterans' homes, testified against the bill's expansion and urged redirecting scholarship funds to address conditions in veterans' long-term care facilities. "HB 487 is a total waste of money that could be better spent helping elderly veterans in the state veterans' homes," Colonel Henderson told the committee. He described overcrowding and urged funding be used to provide private rooms and improvements in the veterans' homes.
The bill sponsor said the measure was developed by the state's Military Stability Commission and has support from the Department of Veterans Affairs; the sponsor also corrected a committee figure cited by the colonel and reiterated the working group had been meeting for months. After discussion, Senator Albritton moved to carry the bill over; the motion was seconded and carried. The committee agreed to revisit the bill at a later date.
Committee records show the sponsor described the two main changes as lowering the disability rating for dependents to 30 percent (cost ~ $2 million) and creating a pilot for 100 out-of-state-origin dependents with 50 percent disability after five years' residency (total cost ~ $3.2 million). Colonel Henderson recommended diverting part of those funds to state veterans' homes instead.
The committee carried the bill over for further consideration rather than reporting it favorably or unfavorably.
