Committee amends GI scholarship bill, lowers disability threshold and establishes pilot program

The committee adopted two amendments to House Bill 487, legislation that modifies the Alabama GI independent scholarship program for dependents of disabled and deceased veterans.

Representative Parker Moore described the bill as reducing the minimum service-connected disability rating and creating a pilot program to broaden eligibility for scholarships administered under the military stability commission package. He said the bill would also remove some restrictions that made the scholarship the payer of last resort.

Representative Stubbs offered an amendment that changed the disability threshold to 30 percent (the sponsor had discussed a change to 20 percent earlier in committee). Stubbs said the 30 percent threshold reduced the bill's fiscal note. A second amendment addressed code section cross-references and established the pilot program; members adopted both amendments.

Committee members questioned whether the bill would remove the requirement that the scholarship be a payer of last resort. Sponsor representatives said the specific language had not been agreed upon by all affected universities and that the committee would strike the requirement for now to allow the pilot program to proceed; the transcript shows members moved ahead with amended language rather than resolving the residual drafting issues at the hearing.

The transcript does not record a final roll-call tally for final passage in committee, but it records adoption of the amendments and committee movement on the bill.