Bill Text: CA AB2703 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: County veterans service officers.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-14 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2703 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2703-Introduced.html

---

BILL NUMBER: AB 2703	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk-Silva
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Salas)
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Correa)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Brown, Chávez, Chesbro,
Donnelly, Fox, Frazier, Grove, Hagman, Logue, Muratsuchi, Nestande,
Pan, and Wagner)
   (Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Hueso,
Huff, Knight, Nielsen, and Vidak)

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to add Section 972.3 to the Military and Veterans Code,
relating to veterans, and making an appropriation therefor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2703, as introduced, Quirk-Silva. County veterans service
officers.
   Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to
disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of
supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual
Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to counties that comply with certain
conditions. Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs
to annually determine the amount of new or increased monetary
benefits paid to eligible veterans by the federal government
attributable to the assistance of county veterans service officers,
and requires the department to prepare and transmit its determination
for the preceding fiscal year to the Department of Finance and the
Legislature on or before October 1 of each year.
   This bill would require the department, no later that July 1,
2015, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance to
encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county
veterans service officers. The bill would also appropriate $6,000,000
from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs for
disbursement to the counties to fund the activities of county
veterans service officers, as specified, and to encourage innovation
and reward outstanding service by these officers.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating an
entirely new generation of veterans who may be eligible for federal
veterans benefits because of their war service and their physical and
mental condition.
   (b) Californians make up to 10 percent of the federal military
forces used in these conflicts. Furthermore, the California National
Guard and California-based reserve units have contributed
significantly to these current conflicts.
   (c) Many of these returning California veterans are not aware of
the federal and state benefits that are available to them.
   (d) Additionally, it is estimated that in California there may be
over two million veterans, and their widows or widowers, who are
unaware that they may be eligible for pensions from the federal
government based upon their past military service in World War II,
Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf War.
   (e) California's county veterans service officers (CVSOs) are the
initial local point of contact for claimants accessing the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs.
   (f) The costs of maintaining CVSOs are shared from county general
funds and state reimbursement to the counties. In 1997, in order to
track performance, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 608,
which required the California Department of Veterans Affairs to
annually report the amount of monetary benefits paid to veterans by
the federal government that were attributable to the assistance of
CVSOs. Senate Bill 608 of the 1997-98 Regular Session also required
the Department of Finance to consider an increase in the annual
budget for CVSOs of up to $5,000,000, if approved in the yearly
budget process. In 2009, the Governor signed Senate Bill 419 into
law, which raised this amount to $11,000,000, if approved in the
yearly budget process.
   (g) As a result of this annual reporting, by the end of 2011 it
had been determined that from 1995 to 2011, inclusive, the state had
cumulatively budgeted $36.2 million for its share of the cost of the
CVSOs. As a result of this investment, CVSOs were able to assist
local veterans in obtaining $3.3 billion in new federal moneys. This
is a return of about $91 for every dollar the state allocates to
CVSOs. Furthermore, $3.6 billion only reflects the actual monetary
benefits qualified for in a given year. The monetary benefits
qualified for in prior years are not tracked, yet the veterans and
their dependents may continue to receive those benefits for the rest
of their lives. Added to this stellar return on the state's
investment, but not counted in the annual reporting, are the Medi-Cal
cost avoidance savings incurred as a result of CVSOs qualifying and
shifting veterans away from Medi-Cal and onto the appropriate federal
veterans program.
   (h) The CVSOs had accomplished all of this without ever reaching
the allowable state budget allocation of $5 million, set in 1997, or
the updated allowable allocation set in 2009. To date, the CVSOs have
not received more than $2.6 million per year from the state.
   (i) It is critical that the CVSOs receive an increase in this
allocation because there continues to be a large number of
underserved veterans and their dependents who are not aware of the
federal benefits available to them as a result of their military
service. Studies from other states have shown that increases in CVSOs
have resulted in larger amounts of federal moneys to the veterans.
These new federal moneys and benefits are paid directly from the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs to the qualifying
veteran or their dependent and are used in the local economy.
  SEC. 2.  Section 972.3 is added to the Military and Veterans Code,
to read:
   972.3.  The Department of Veterans Affairs shall, no later that
July 1, 2015, develop an allocation formula based upon performance to
encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county
veterans service officers. Moneys appropriated for this purpose shall
be allocated each fiscal year in accordance with that formula among
those counties that have established and maintain a county veterans
service officer.
  SEC. 3.  The sum of six million dollars ($6,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans
Affairs to be allocated as follows:
   (a) Five million six hundred thousand dollars ($5,600,000) shall
be available for disbursement to the counties to fund the activities
of county veterans service officers pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 972.1 of the Military and Veterans Code.
   (b) Four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) shall be available
for disbursement to the counties to encourage innovation and reward
outstanding service by county veterans service officers pursuant to
the allocation formula developed pursuant to Section 972.3 of the
Military and Veterans Code.