Thanks to the Delaware House of Representatives for passing House Bill 1 and thanks to Gov. Matt Meyer for his support for the position of secretary of veterans affairs.
I am an ardent supporter of the position and see the need for it. But Delaware Senate, please clean up the language of the bill before approving the current version. There are more than 30 items that need to be revised and/or grammatically fixed. If passed in its current version, it will make the transition planning more difficult. In several cases, the legislation has the commission going directly to the governor, bypassing the new secretary. In addition, it is incomplete in some areas. For example, it makes the secretary responsible for two military-focused license plates. What about the others?
In my 34-plus years in the Air Force, we made it right before approving a policy and found that, if you want it bad, you get it bad! This position does not go into effect until 2030. I recommend that the Senate fix the needed changes before voting. The members of the House and Senate, as well as the original authors, were advised of the needed changes. Back patting, pictures of congratulations and “We cut the ribbon first” were some of the responses.
We owe our governor and the future secretary legislation that does not need to be fixed after the fact.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Bill Welser
Felton
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
