Officials at the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs are rethinking whether to seek legislation to change the agency's name this session, a plan that was introduced by the former director in October.
Cissy Rucker, who retired earlier this month as director of the state department, proposed changing the name to "Arkansas Department of Veterans Services" to differentiate it from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The move was intended to help the agency's employees, who receive calls from veterans disgruntled with the federal Veterans Affairs Department, and to clarify what the state agency does for the 250,000 veterans it serves.
When the topic was raised again last week by acting Director Charles Johnson, some members of the agency's advisory board, the Arkansas Veterans Commission, said changing the name wouldn't resolve the confusion.
"I think you have a significant amount of people who, one, don't know the agency exists, and two, don't know what they do," said Nicole Hart, a commissioner and the CEO of ARVets. "I think you're going to see the same thing -- people will just associate you with the VA."
Gregory Brown, vice chairman of the commission, made a motion to support renaming the department. Brown later withdrew the motion because there was little agreement among commissioners, and it was unclear whether the agency wanted to pursue the name change.
"You could see there were mixed signals," Johnson said. "I'm a little torn on it, too."
When Rucker introduced the idea in October, she said it was the department's plan to seek legislative approval for the name change during the 2015 legislative session.
The change was suggested after several scandals last year at the federal agency, including a large backlog of disability claims and reports that some VA hospitals had manipulated records to conceal how long veterans had to wait to receive care. "A lot of people think that's us," Rucker said.
The mission of the state Department of Veterans Affairs is to provide assistance to veterans and their dependents in acquiring state and federal benefits. The department also operates Arkansas' two veterans cemeteries and the Fayetteville Veterans Home. It will run the new Central Arkansas Veterans Home when that facility is built in North Little Rock.
"We're often confused with the federal VA, and when I say often, I mean daily, multiple times a day," Johnson said Tuesday. "We get angry phone calls and angry people in our office thinking we have some control over what the federal VA does with their claims or appeals."
Brown and Commissioner Scott Bramlett said they supported the name change.
"All people really hear is 'Department of Veterans Affairs,'" Bramlett said. "To the average person, you're the same as the VA. So I agree -- it needs a name change."
Of Arkansas' surrounding states, Louisiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma use the words "Department of Veterans Affairs" in the names of their agencies that offer similar services as the Arkansas department. Missouri, Texas and Mississippi departments are: the Missouri Veterans Commission, Texas Veterans Commission and Mississippi State Veterans Affairs Board.
"When they say 'Texas Veterans Commission,' there is no way they get confused with the federal VA," said Gina Taylor, women's veterans coordinator for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
While other commissioners didn't oppose renaming the state's agency, they thought changing the name wouldn't be enough to clear up any confusion.
"No matter what you name it, people are still going to be calling," said Commissioner Rex Roark. "'Veterans Services' is not going to make any difference, I don't think."
Hart suggested doing a statewide awareness initiative to educate veterans about the department -- with or without a name change.
Other ideas included employing someone in a recently vacated public-affairs position to market and rebrand the agency, or to initiate a name change and awareness campaign to coincide with the opening of the new Central Arkansas Veterans Home in 2017.
Bob Schoenborn, chairman of the Arkansas Veterans Commission, said he opposed the agency asking for the name change this session because it might "dilute" other legislation being sought for veterans.
Schoenborn was referring to the four legislative initiatives put forth by the Arkansas Veterans Coalition, which consists of representatives from more than a dozen veterans service organizations in Arkansas.
"I would prefer not to confuse the Legislature or anybody else as to what our messages are for this session," Schoenborn said. "I just think there's only so much you can do relative to the veterans arena at one time."
At the end of the name-change conversation, Johnson said the department would take the commissioners' input and go back to the "thinking stage."
The name change will "not be a front-burner issue," he said, until Gov. Asa Hutchinson appoints a new department director.
"We don't know who the director is going to be, and they may want to take it in a completely different direction," Johnson said. "I do think as we continue to progress and develop our strategic plan, a rebranding campaign should be part of that process."
NW News on 01/25/2015