BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
JEFF DENHAM, CHAIRMAN
Bill No: AB 1568
Author: Assembly Veterans' Affairs Committee
Version: As amended April 23, 2009
Hearing Date: June 23, 2009
Fiscal: Yes
Consultant: Donald E. Wilson
SUBJECT OF BILL
Public assistance reporting information system (PARIS)
PROPOSED LAW
To implement the PARIS system and a network of government
agencies to use it for identifying veterans on state
assistance that may be eligible for federal assistance.
EXISTING LAW AND BACKGROUND
1. Many of California's veterans have not claimed
money they are eligible for or have been unable to get
money they are eligible for because of the backlog of
claims at the federal veterans administration.
2. Many of the backlogged claims are due to rejected
claims that may be legitimate claims but are rejected
on technicalities such as an improperly filled out
form.
3. Once a form is filled out correctly, the process
starts all over again.
4. To help with this problem states fund County
Veteran Service Officers (CVSO) to among other things
help veterans with paperwork and expediting claims.
5. The state has an agreement with the counties to
fund $5 million of the cost of CVSOs.
6. The state has never held up its end of the
agreement. Over $22 million is used to fund CVSOs.
The state contributes $2.6 million. Approximately
19.5 million comes from county funding.
7. In September 2008, as part of a budget trailer
bill, the Legislature directed CDVA to implement the
PARIS program as a 3-county, two year pilot program.
COMMENT
1. This bill is similar to AB 3082 (Salas) of 2008 and
passed this committee 4-0 but was held on the suspense
calendar by Senate Appropriations.
2. This bill greatly expands the number of government
employees who will have the right to access personal
information on veterans. This bill dictates that the
State Department of Health Care Services, the State
Department of Social Services, the Department of
Veterans' Affairs (presumably CDVA), county welfare
departments, "and other state agencies and
departments, as needed" will all be involved in
identifying veterans in different programs. The
author's office states that most people in the health
industry have access to this information already.
3. Over the years, several veterans have complained
that obtaining services at the county level has been
difficult once their veteran status is known because
some county workers consider veterans to be a "federal
problem."
4. This bill dictates that County Veteran Service
Officers (CVSO) will develop a new dissemination plan,
outreach standards, and measurable performance
criteria.
5. The state has never come close to meeting its
funding obligations for CVSOs and in fact is slated to
cut their budgets even further. Is it realist to
expect counties to pay for the hiring and training of
new personnel in order to meet increased workloads
when the state has made little to no effort to help
the system?
6. The solution to bringing in more federal dollars
for veterans so counties and the state do not have to
pay is well known. The state needs to finally fully
fund CVSOs to get the paperwork filled out so veterans
can claim their federal benefits.
7. The committee may want to consider that less than a
year after the Legislature authorized a two-year pilot
program, this measure would make the program
permanent. Further, given that this is not an urgency
measure, will CDVA still be working to implement the
previously approved pilot program between now and
January 1, 2010, when this measure would become law?
SUPPORT
None received
OPPOSE
None received