NJ lawmakers push to fix veterans services after pandemic failures

🔴 Lawmakers want to create a separate state department for veterans

🔴 New Jersey is home to 350,000 veterans

🔴 Federal report found veterans homes violated civil rights during pandemic

TRENTON — A separate department solely dedicated to New Jersey veterans would allow the state to take better care of those who served their country, according to lawmakers.

One measure would create a state Department of Veterans Affairs, splitting it from the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

"Separating veterans’ services will bring sharper accountability, better access to benefits, and a system built to meet their needs with the urgency and respect they deserve," Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker, D-Essex, said.

The head of the new department would be a member of the governor's cabinet, which gives the 350,000 veterans who live in New Jersey a more direct line to voice their concerns to top state officials.

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Nearly 30 other states have implemented a similar change, state Democrats said in Trenton on Monday.

Jay Boxwell, legislative director for New Jersey Veterans of Foreign Wars, said this would return to a system that existed under former Gov. Thomas Kean in an interview with NJ Spotlight News.

"It worked well for many years until they molded it in under the National Guard and created the new position of DMVA,” Boxwell said. “So we’re actually going back to a model that really worked well and veterans were very happy with.”

NJ veterans homes violated civil rights

A major part of the push to create a separate department comes from the state's failures during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Joe Cryan, D-Union, said.

Federal investigators said there were around 200 "probable" COVID-19 deaths at state-run veterans homes in Menlo Park and Paramus.

Conditions at the homes were so poor that they violated residents' civil rights, according to a Department of Justice report.

“While the pandemic exposed serious vulnerabilities in how we care for our veterans, this legislation is about creating a long-term, dedicated department that will put their needs first, strengthen oversight, and ensure they have a strong advocate at the highest levels of state government," Sen. Joe Vitale, D-Middlesex, said.

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