Enrolled SJR 24: Relating to certain holiday practices at federal Veterans Health Administration facilities.
00Enrolled SJR 24 01 Relating to certain holiday practices at federal Veterans Health Administration facilities. 02 _______________ 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 the officials at the Veterans Health Administration facilities described in 10 this resolution ignored the policies established by the United States Secretary of Veterans 11 Affairs regarding holiday practices at the facilities; and 12 WHEREAS those holiday cards, gifts, and presentations came from caring citizens, 13 including young children, who took the time to recognize the heroic actions of men and 14 women who have sacrificed so much in the service of their country in times of both peace and 15 war; and 16 WHEREAS, although Christmas Day has origins in religious beliefs, it is recognized 17 as a civic holiday for federal employees; and 18 WHEREAS the Veterans Health Administration violates the right to religious 19 freedom of the veterans in its care by not allowing them to receive certain holiday cards and 20 gifts and to attend certain presentations; 21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature condemns the actions of the 22 Veterans Health Administration officials that prohibited religious holiday messages, music, 23 and gifts from being conveyed to veterans at Veterans Health Administration facilities and 24 respectfully requests that the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs ensure that the 25 violations of veterans' rights described in this resolution do not occur again; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that 27 the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs reconsider the policies on holiday practices at 28 Veterans Health Administration facilities and rewrite those policies so that the violations of 29 veterans' rights described in this resolution do not occur again; and be it 30 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds it very troubling that 31 the established policies and procedures of the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs on
01 holiday practices at the Veterans Health Administration facilities are apparently being ignored 02 and respectfully requests that the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs review the 03 present established policies on holiday practices at Veterans Health Administration facilities 04 and train personnel on those policies so that the apparent violations of veterans' rights 05 described in this resolution do not occur again; and be it 06 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that 07 the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs provide each member of the Alaska State 08 Legislature with a written assurance that the actions of the Veterans Health Administration 09 officials described in this resolution do not reflect the policies on holiday practices at 10 Veterans Health Administration facilities. 11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 12 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 13 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of 14 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of 15 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the 16 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bernie 17 Sanders, Chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; the Honorable Richard Burr, 18 Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; the Honorable Eric K. 19 Shinseki, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Verdie Bowen, Director, Office of 20 Veterans Affairs, Alaska Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs; Susan Yeager, 21 Director, Alaska VA Healthcare System; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable 22 Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 23 the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 113th United States 24 Congress.