Committee hears support for Global War on Terror Memorial work group

The House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee heard proponent testimony for House Bill 2514 on establishing a Global War on Terror Memorial on the Capitol Campus.

Representative Hunter Abel, the bill's prime sponsor, told the committee the measure builds on bipartisan work and would create a work group charged with recommending individuals to honor, potential Capitol Campus locations, permitting requirements, draft designs and a funding plan. Abel said the work group would operate under an aspirational five-year timeline and that the effort is expected to rely largely on private fundraising.

"This bill is designed to take the next step," Abel said, adding that the work group is intended to produce a plan that will enable donors to move forward. He offered three local service members' names for consideration and said the memorial would join existing monuments to earlier wars on the Capitol Campus.

Veterans and family advocates told the committee the memorial would serve as a place to remember and to raise awareness about the consequences of service, including battlefield deaths and suicide.

Alan Acosta of the Veterans Legislative Coalition said roughly 27% of Washington's veterans — about 135,000 people — served in the post-9/11 conflicts and that an estimated 300 service members from the state were killed in action. "This memorial provides a lasting place to honor our fallen," he said.

Robert Olivares, a past national commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and an Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veteran, said the memorial would provide "a place to remember, a place to reflect, a place to grieve, and a place to heal." Gold Star Families of Washington co-founder Jane Hughes and other family members described the importance of naming and memorializing those lost, including service members who later died by suicide.

Witnesses emphasized the memorial is intended to be nonpolitical and educational, and to ensure future generations remember the service and sacrifice of those who served after Sept. 11, 2001.

The committee requested a fiscal note on the bill; staff said one had been requested but not yet received. No formal action on HB 2514 was taken in the hearing; the chair closed public testimony after several speakers and moved on to other business.