State lawmakers are considering a bill to put the governor in charge of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, taking that authority from an appointed state board made up of members of veterans’ organizations.

Under current law, the State Board of Veterans Affairs oversees the ADVA and hires the commissioner to run the agency.

A bill pending in the House and Senate would reduce the board to an advisory role and would make the commissioner an appointee of the governor and member of the governor’s cabinet, serving at the pleasure of the governor.

The bill comes a few months after Gov. Kay Ivey overruled the State Board of Veterans Affairs and fired ADVA Commissioner Kent Davis in a dispute that played out publicly over a couple of months.

Ivey supports the bill and mentioned it during her State of the State address Tuesday night.

“The goal is to have a Board that is a team player within the executive branch and can fiercely and effectively advocate for the unique needs of veterans of every generation – and their families,” Ivey said.

Davis said the bill is in retaliation for the dispute with the governor and the State Board’s refusal to fire him at her request. Davis said veterans’ organizations have not had a say on the bill and said it would be an abrupt change to how the ADVA has operated since 1945.

“I think it’s a terrible idea,” said Davis, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who lead the ADVA from 2019 until he was removed by the governor in October.

“That’s a pretty darn drastic change from an 80-year tradition, all of a sudden. And the timing is really interesting.”

Read more: Why did Kay Ivey fire Kent Davis? $7 million grant dispute, leaked ethics complaint led to executive order

Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, who is the sponsor of the legislation in the House, said the bill is not retaliatory but is intended to improve the ADVA and services for veterans.

“Everybody has made this about personalities and a fight with the governor,” said Oliver, who was a helicopter pilot in the Army and served from 1979 to 2010.

“And that’s just so unfortunate. Because the people that are involved with this project are all trying to do their very best to create a first-rate, Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs that is more responsive and offers better and more services for veterans.”

Oliver said he is a member of the American Legion and two other veterans organizations, but said less than 20% of the 400,000 veterans in Alabama belong to veterans organizations.

Oliver said the changes in the bill would make the agency more streamlined and more accountable to taxpayers.

The State Board of Veterans Affairs currently has 12 members. The governor serves as chair by virtue of office. The other 11 members are nominated by veterans service organizations and appointed by the governor.

Under Oliver’s bill, the board would have nine members, with seven appointed by the governor, one by the House speaker, and one by the president pro tem of the Senate.

The bill says board appointees will include veterans from various branches of the armed forces, members and non-members of veterans organizations, and representatives of other entities that serve veterans and their families.

Oliver’s bill will be discussed in a public hearing Wednesday in the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Davis said he has heard from veterans organizations who oppose the bill.

Robert “Frank” Burrow, an Army veteran who is president of the South Alabama Veterans Council, posted a letter on the council’s website saying that putting the SDVA under the governor’s control would be a mistake.

“The independence of the Commissioner and the board allows for continuity in policies and programs, preventing the disruption of services that can occur when leadership changes due to political appointments,” Barrow wrote.

“If the board is heavily influenced by political interests, there is a risk that veterans’ needs may become secondary to partisan agendas and/or budgetary considerations. Decisions should be based on expertise, data, and the lived experiences of veterans rather than shifting political priorities.”

Oliver said the ADVA, as a taxpayer funded agency, cannot be independent of politics and oversight by elected officials.

As for changing the longstanding governance structure of the ADVA, Oliver said the agency is now much larger than it was decades ago, with responsibility for five state veterans homes and veterans service offices across the state.

“It’s a big job,” Oliver said. “It deserves to be elevated to a cabinet-level position. Frankly I don’t understand why people distrust the people that are outside the veteran community so much.”

Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, is sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, which has won committee approval.

Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said there is a good chance the Senate will consider the bill next week.

On Thursday, the Senate passed another bill by Jones that would create the Alabama Veterans Resource Center to help veterans and their families with accessing federal and state benefits, career counseling and job placement, mental health and wellness programs, and education and training opportunities.

The center would be a public corporation that could work with the private sector to provide the services.

Oliver, who is also sponsoring that bill in the House, said the idea is to create a one-stop shop to direct veterans where they can get help.

The Senate passed the Alabama Veterans Resource Center bill by a vote of 31-0 on Thursday. Republican and Democratic senators are co-sponsors.

A special guest of Ivey during her State of the State address was Jae Barclay of Huntsville, who was badly burned from a land mine explosion while serving with the Army in Afghanistan.

The injuries came on Barclay’s first wedding anniversary and seven days before the birth of his daughter. The governor said Barclay had overcome unimaginable obstacles.

“It is because of brave veterans like Jae that we can all live the American dream,” Ivey said during the speech.

On Friday, Gina Maiola, communications director for Ivey, declined to respond to Davis’ comments about the bill that makes the commissioner an appointee of the governor.

Maiola said the governor’s office has heard from many veterans supporting the change.

“Governor Ivey believes that we must continue working to do all we can for our veterans, and elevating the agency to the Governor’s Cabinet is certainly a positive step forward,“ Maiola said. “The Board – with this legislation – would also better represent Alabama’s veterans of all eras, generations and branches.”