State News

Senate committee passes bill that allows veterans and their spouses to live in nursing homes

WFSU | By Adrian Andrews

Published November 17, 2023 at 2:43 PM EST

Florida lawmakers are proposing a bill that would allow spouses of veterans both living and deceased, to qualify to live in state operated nursing homes. The bill also grants the parents of a child who died while serving in the military the same opportunity. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida veterans and their spouses may soon be eligible to live together in VA-nursing homes.

The measure (SB 174) was filed last month by state senator Danny Burgess. The Republican lawmaker helped run the state’s Veterans Affairs Department from 2018 to 2020. He told a senate committee on Tuesday that he wants to keep veterans and their loved ones together.

“This bill recognizes very simply that it's just not the service member who puts the uniform on and sacrifices, but it's also the spouse.”

The proposal would allow spouses of veterans both living and deceased, to qualify to live in state operated nursing homes. The bill also grants the parents of a child who died while serving in the military the same opportunity. Burgess said he came up with the idea during the covid 19 pandemic, when visitation was limited for patients in Florida.

Margaret Choinacki, center, 87, who has no other family members left because her husband and daughter have died, waves goodbye after a drive-by visit., Friday, July 17, 2020, at Miami Jewish Health in Miami. Miami Jewish Health has connected more than 5,000 video calls and allowed drive-by visits where friends and family emerge through sunroofs to see their loved ones. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

“We had to do some things that we learned the effects of isolation," Burgess explained. "This also has some meaning coming off the heels of the covid pandemic and recognizing that it is critically important to keep families together when we can do so.”

Florida currently operates 9 veterans homes, all of which house former service members and non-veterans. But according to the bill’s analysis, those facilities are nearing maximum capacity.

State Sen. Jay Collins (R-Tampa) who sponsored the permitless carry bill in the Senate gives closing arguments on the measure before it passed along party lines on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

Jay Collins, Tampa's Republican State Senator, knows all about that. He too served in the military and used a veterans care facility. He said like most veterans, it's a struggle to see loved ones come and go.

“I think it is important that we as the state of Florida understand the dynamic,' said Collins. "They want to serve, but they want to be with their family and take care of the things they cherish the very most.”

If passed, eligible veterans and their families will be given “a higher priority,” by admitting them into a facility before a person who did not serve. The Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee approved the measure unanimously.

It still needs to go through additional panels before it can be heard in January for the 2024 legislative session.