Karlapalem Demands ADVA Accountability, Unveils Plan for Veterans' Care

From the Karlapalem campaign

MADISON, Alabama — Hanu Karlapalem, Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4, today released a policy proposal calling for greater accountability at the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) and expanded access to veteran mental health and substance abuse treatment in North Alabama.

The proposal highlights a 2024 episode in which the State Board of Veterans Affairs — the veteran representatives statutorily responsible for overseeing ADVA — voted to retain then-Commissioner Kent Davis. Less than an hour later, Governor Kay Ivey overrode that vote and fired him anyway, citing what her office called the governor's “supreme executive power.” A March 2025 law further reduced the board to an advisory role, shifting final authority over the agency to the governor's office. The final, amended bill later won the endorsement of the VFW, American Legion, and AMVETS — but the underlying dispute began with the governor overriding the board's own vote on a personnel decision, the kind of override Karlapalem's proposal seeks to prevent going forward.

The proposal also identifies a stark care gap: Alabama's only veteran-staffed substance abuse treatment program, Operation VETS (“The Shoulder”), operates exclusively in Mobile and Spanish Fort. Veterans in Limestone, Morgan, and Madison counties currently have no veteran-specific treatment option within reasonable driving distance.

Karlapalem is calling on the legislature to restore the State Board of Veterans Affairs' decision-making authority, require ADVA to publicly report county-by-county claims turnaround times, and study extending a program modeled on Operation VETS to North Alabama.

“Alabama's veterans didn't serve so the state could get away with symbolism,” Karlapalem said. “When a governor can override her own veterans' board and fire the commissioner they voted to keep, that's not an accident — it's a warning sign. She had the legal authority to override them. The question is why she chose to use it here — on veterans’ own board — rather than anywhere else in her eight years in office. And when the only veteran-specific treatment program in this state sits three hours from North Alabama, that's not a coincidence — it's a gap our own veterans are paying for. It's time to put decision-making back in the hands of the people who actually served this country.”

The full policy proposal is available at https://www.hanu4alabama.com/priorities.

Hanu Karlapalem is a Madison, Alabama resident of 26 years, small technology business owner, UAH M.S. graduate, Life Member and former Second Vice President of the Limestone County NAACP and Chairman, AANHPI Caucus. He has been married for 31 years and has deep roots in the North Alabama community through civic, professional, and community service. Karlapalemis the Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4 in the November 3, 2026, general election.

For more information: https://www.hanu4alabama.com