(a) The county commission of each county shall cause to be prepared and furnished to each judge of probate a well-bound book of record, the back or side of which shall bear the following words, @Record of Releases from Active Duty from the United States Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, or Marine Corps.@ The pages of the book of record shall correspond with the printed matter appearing on a release from active duty from the military service of the United States of America, with sufficient blank spaces reserved thereon for the copying therein of the data and information appearing on a release from active duty, which may be presented to the judge of probate for record, as provided in this section.

(b) Any person who holds a release from active duty, or DD Form 214, from the United States Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, or Marine Corps may present the DD Form 214 to the judge of probate of the county wherein he or she resides, and the judge of probate shall cause the same to be recorded in the book described in subsection (a). There shall be no fee charged for this service.

(c) (1) When a release from active duty is recorded as provided in this section, the record of certified copies of a DD Form 214 appearing in the book of record shall be confidential. It shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of any such record, to disclose information contained in any such record, or to issue a copy of all or any part of such record except as authorized herein or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Upon presentation of proper identification, any of the following persons may examine the record or obtain free of charge a copy or certified copy of all or part of the record:

a. The person who is the subject of the record.

b. The spouse or next of kin of the person who is the subject of the record.

c. A person named in an appropriate power of attorney executed by the person who is the subject of the record.

d. The administrator, executor, guardian, or legal representative of the person who is the subject of the record.

e. An attorney for any person specified in paragraphs a. to d., inclusive.

f. A county veteran service officer or an assistant county veteran service officer.

(2) Records kept pursuant to this subsection shall not be reproduced or used in whole or in part for any commercial or speculative purpose. Any individual, agency, or court which obtains information shall not disseminate or disclose such information or any part thereof except as authorized herein or otherwise by law. A violation of this subsection shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000). The clerk of the court shall not be liable and shall be held harmless for any act of any person who copies, reproduces, or uses records in violation of this subsection.

Any veteran, eligible for a loan pursuant to the @Servicemen*s Readjustment Act of 1944@ or any amendments thereto, or under any similar federal or state acts, who may be a minor, is hereby empowered with his or her spouse, if any, who may be a minor, to contract liability in this state for repayment of a loan or loans pursuant to said acts. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, such veteran or his or her spouse shall not void any such contracts because of his or her age, nor shall such veteran or his or her spouse hereafter interpose the defense in any action arising out of any loan pursuant to such acts that he or she were minors at the time of executing such contracts.

(a) There is hereby created in the State Military Department a revolving fund for the payment of operating and maintaining quarters at Alabama National Guard training sites for senior officers and enlisted personnel.

(b) There is hereby appropriated and allocated to the State Military Department for said revolving fund a one-time sum of $25,000.00 from the State General Fund for payment of salaries, janitorial supplies, equipment, furnishings and other essential expenses to operate, maintain and enhance billeting facilities for troops utilizing the training site facilities.

(c) The said $25,000.00 herein appropriated and allocated shall be designated as the Military Department Billeting Revolving Fund and shall be used only for the purpose of providing services, supplies, equipment and furnishings necessary to operate, maintain and enhance the senior officer and enlisted quarters at such training sites, and that said revolving fund shall, upon proper billing, be reimbursed by payments made thereto for use of said facilities by military members in accordance with applicable federal regulations and procedures promulgated and prescribed by the Adjutant General.

(d) The revolving fund hereby created shall remain in operation from year to year and shall be used solely and exclusively for the purpose of providing a method of payment for expenses associated with the operation, maintenance and enhancement of billeting facilities at Alabama National Guard training sites. Funds over and above those required for operating and maintaining the facilities may be used to procure equipment and furnishings to enhance the appearance and upgrade the facility. The Military Department Billeting Revolving Fund shall file with the state Executive Budget Office an annual billeting revolving fund budget; however, profits above necessary operating and maintenance costs may be invested in equipment and furnishings after the tenth month of the fiscal year without regard to the budget projections. Procurement of equipment and furnishings shall be in accordance with state procedures and shall be picked up on state personal property records.

(e) The revolving fund hereby created by the one-time appropriation provided herein, and the receipts from charges for use of training site facilities shall be placed on deposit with the State Treasury and earmarked separately as the Military Department Billeting Revolving Fund. The funds provided herein and receipts for use of facilities shall not revert to the General Fund at the end of any fiscal year but shall be encumbered and carried over from year to year.

(a) The county commission of each county of the state shall allow use of an appropriate meeting room in the county courthouse or other county building by any local veterans* organization to conduct regular and special business meetings.

(b) The term @veterans of the United States@ as used in subsection (a) includes any person, male or female, who served on active duty, whether commissioned, enlisted, inducted, appointed, or mustered into the military or naval service of the United States and who has been discharged or released from that service under conditions other than dishonorable.

(c) The term @local veterans* organization@ as used in subsection (a) shall mean any local chapter of a veterans* organization officially recognized by the State Board of Veterans* Affairs and which is statutorily authorized to make nominations to the board or a local chapter of a veterans* organization which has a national charter authorized by an Act of Congress and shall include but not be limited to local chapters of the Alabama Department of the American Legion, the United Spanish American War Veterans, The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of WWII of the USA Incorporated, AMVETS, ALAVETS, and American Ex-Prisoners of War, Incorporated.

(d) The county commission may make reasonable rules to implement the provisions of this section which shall include but not be limited to the security of court rooms and other county facilities, length and hours of proposed meetings, the number of meetings requested in any period of time, and conflicts involving simultaneous requests of two or more local veterans organizations. The county commission shall not be required to provide meeting space for any organization that fails to abide by the reasonable rules promulgated by the county commission any provision of this section to the contrary notwithstanding. No meetings authorized under this section shall involve fund raising activities.