AR Lawmakers Look to Form Task Force For New Vets Home
By:
Updated: January 14, 2013
Some state lawmakers want to put together a task force to looking into finding the money and location to build a new home for veterans but the clock is ticking to get that funding.
Sen. Jane English (R-34) and Rep. Allen Kerr (R-32) are co-sponsors of Senate Bill 3 which aims to assemble a 22-member task force. Its purpose is to look into the details of what it is going to take to replace the state run home in Little Rock that the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affair shut down in 2012.
Getting the money from the federal government is going to take time.
"Even if we are determined to be a priority one state upon application, it's going to take three to five years to get the funding in place," said ARVA Deputy Director Charles Johnson.
The deadline for applying for a federal grant to pay for a new home is April 15.
The task force, if it comes to fruition, won't have its first meeting until May and the deadline for issuing its recommendations to two committees of state lawmakers isn't until October.
The old home along Charles Bussey had been plagued with problems ranging from its air conditioning unit not working properly to a sewage system that frequently backed up and overflowed.
The state VA shuttered the home and transferred its 60 residents to other care facilities.
Sen. Jane English (R-34) and Rep. Allen Kerr (R-32) are co-sponsors of Senate Bill 3 which aims to assemble a 22-member task force. Its purpose is to look into the details of what it is going to take to replace the state run home in Little Rock that the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affair shut down in 2012.
Getting the money from the federal government is going to take time.
"Even if we are determined to be a priority one state upon application, it's going to take three to five years to get the funding in place," said ARVA Deputy Director Charles Johnson.
The deadline for applying for a federal grant to pay for a new home is April 15.
The task force, if it comes to fruition, won't have its first meeting until May and the deadline for issuing its recommendations to two committees of state lawmakers isn't until October.
The old home along Charles Bussey had been plagued with problems ranging from its air conditioning unit not working properly to a sewage system that frequently backed up and overflowed.
The state VA shuttered the home and transferred its 60 residents to other care facilities.
