Oklahoma lawmakers are again trying to shutter the embattled Talihina Veterans Center.
Identical Senate and House bills would let the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs issue $35 million in bonds for a new long-term care facility. The Oklahoma Veterans Commission would choose where it’s built.
Rep. Josh West said the stakes are high.
"If we don’t do something, then the federal government’s going to shut this facility down, and my fear is we lose 175 beds for veterans in the state of Oklahoma," West said.
The Talihina center has faced scrutiny since Vietnam veteran Owen Peterson died there in October 2016 and maggots were found in his wound.
A second veteran, Leonard Smith, died in January 2017 after choking on a plastic bag.
Spending there has been criticized as disproportional, and later in 2017, a nursing shortage led the center to close a special-needs unit.
Former Talihina Mayor Don Faulkner said opponents have exaggerated the center’s budget, the facility has been renovated and staffing is approaching twice the federal minimum requirement.
"Why would the state of Oklahoma want to bond $35 million when we’re already paying $80 million on our debt now to build a facility that’s not needed?" Faulkner said.
Faulkner said the second attempt to close the center in two years is a political stunt.
"If there’s anyone politicizing this, it’s the former mayor and the fact that he’s using this — using veterans as part of his bid for state representative," West said.
House Bill 3042 and Senate Bill 1347 have passed their respective chambers and are in committee in their opposite chambers.
