00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 24                                                                    
01 Relating to certain holiday practices at federal Veterans Health Administration                                         
02 facilities.                                                                                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS, in December 2013, federal Veterans Health Administration facilities in                                 
05 Texas, Georgia, Iowa, and Alabama violated the religious freedom rights of convalescing                                 
06 veterans in their care; and                                                                                             
07       WHEREAS a Veterans Health Administration hospital in Dallas, Texas, did not                                     
08 distribute to the veterans in its care holiday cards that used certain language, including "Merry                       
09 Christmas" and "God bless you"; and                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS a Veterans Health Administration hospital in Augusta, Georgia, denied                                   
11 Christmas carolers from the local high school the opportunity to sing in public areas of the                            
12 hospital; and                                                                                                           
13       WHEREAS two other Veterans Health Administration facilities in Iowa and Alabama                                 
14 prohibited the distribution of Christmas gifts and Christmas gift bags; and                                             
15       WHEREAS a Veterans Health Administration official cited the policy of the Veterans                              

01 Health Administration for the nondistribution of the holiday cards; and                                                 
02       WHEREAS the Veterans Health Administration official stated that, in order to                                    
03 respect veterans' religious beliefs, all donated holiday cards are reviewed by a                                        
04 multidisciplinary team of staff led by the chaplaincy services to determine whether the cards                           
05 are appropriate and can be freely distributed to patients; and                                                          
06       WHEREAS the Veterans Health Administration official stated that the process for                                 
07 reviewing holiday cards was not fully explained to the particular group involved and                                    
08 apologized for any misunderstanding; and                                                                                
09       WHEREAS those holiday cards, gifts, and presentations came from caring citizens,                                
10 including young children, who took the time to recognize the heroic actions of men and                                  
11 women who have sacrificed so much in the service of their country in times of both peace and                            
12 war; and                                                                                                                
13       WHEREAS, although Christmas Day has origins in religious beliefs, it is recognized                              
14 as a civic holiday for federal employees; and                                                                           
15       WHEREAS the Veterans Health Administration violates the right to religious                                      
16 freedom of the veterans in its care by not allowing them to receive certain holiday cards and                           
17 gifts and to attend certain presentations;                                                                              
18       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the                                 
19 United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs reconsider the policies on holiday practices at                             
20 Veterans Health Administration facilities and rewrite those policies so that the violations of                          
21 veterans' rights described in this resolution do not occur again; and be it                                             
22       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that                                   
23 the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs provide the Alaska State Legislature with                               
24 copies of the rewritten policies on holiday practices at Veterans Health Administration                                 
25 facilities.                                                                                                             
26       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
27 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
28 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
29 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of                                       
30 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                      
31 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Eric K.                                    

01 Shinseki, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Verdie Bowen, Director, Office of                                
02 Veterans Affairs, Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs; and the Honorable Lisa                                  
03 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                    
04 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of                             
05 the 113th United States Congress.