Bill to split Military and Veterans Affairs department clears committee

Legislation that would split the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs cleared committees in the state Senate and Assembly on Thursday afternoon. 

Under the legislation, which lawmakers have contemplated for years, functions concerning veterans would be transferred to the newly created Department of Veterans Affairs, while military-related functions would continue under the current department, which would be renamed the Department of Military Affairs. 

The Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved the bill with three yeses and two abstentions from state Sens. Latham Tiver (R-Southampton) and Parker Space (R-Wantage). The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved the legislation with one abstention from Assemblyman Greg Myhre (R-Stafford).

State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge), a co-sponsor of the legislation, told legislators Thursday that separating veterans affairs from the state’s military affairs (the National Guard, for example) would elevate the treatment of the state’s veterans.

“We’re not creating an entirely new system,” Vitale told the Assembly Appropriations Committee. “What we’re doing is we’re bifurcating the department and moving them over so that they can have a singular focus to care for our veterans.”

The state’s care of veterans has faced intense scrutiny in recent years. In 2023, federal authorities said that care at state-run veterans homes in Menlo Park and Paramus, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic, was so poor that it amounted to a violation of residents’ constitutional rights. 

“It became apparent to me that the mistakes that were made then didn’t have to happen,” Vitale told the Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “We knew people were going to pass from COVID, it was a fact of life. But the volume of men and women who died in our veterans homes was beyond expected and certainly beyond reasonable.”

If signed into law, the Department of Veterans Affairs would become the state’s 16th cabinet-level agency. Brigadier General Yvonne L. Mays serves as the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee also cleared a similar bill, which would create the Office of Veteran Advocate. A Senate version of the bill has been referred to that chamber’s Budget and Appropriations Committee. 

“The advocate bill … gives us the person to be able to be a voice for veterans, to be an independent voice, to have the kind of resources that are required to hold us accountable,” Vitale told the Assembly panel Thursday. “And also to recommend any changes or improvements to the system as it currently exists.”