BILL ANALYSIS SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS JEFF DENHAM, CHAIRMAN Bill No: SB 1127 Author: Oropeza Version: As amended March 22, 2010 Hearing Date: April 13, 2010 Fiscal: Yes Consultant: Donald E. Wilson SUBJECT OF BILL Notification for veterans' families. PROPOSED LAW Requires outreach from the California Department of Veterans' Affairs (CDVA) to the families of returning veterans to help veterans reintegrate after returning to California. EXISTING LAW AND BACKGROUND 1. Returning veterans can often have problems reintegrating to society after some of the things they have witnessed in war. 2. After the Civil War, soldiers who returned without the social skills of an average person were said to have the ailment of "a soldiers' heart". 3. In the modern era American society witnessed the problem of reintegration in the early 1980s when it was discovered that many of the people on skid row were Vietnam Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 4. Soldiers have a tendency when on the verge of discharge to not bring up unresolved issues for fear of a delay in separation from the military. So soldiers may often return home undiagnosed with no immediate help. 5. Traditionally it is the Federal Government's responsibility to take care of veterans, but as more and more unseen ailments such as PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are affecting veterans who are being discharged without diagnosis and without notification to the Federal Veterans' Administration (VA). 6. As a result of unseen and undiagnosed ailments these veterans then fall through the cracks of the VA health system and land on county mental health systems, which according to the funding in that county, may or may not cover that particular ailment. 7. When these conditions go untreated some veterans turn to drugs and alcohol (now euphemistically called "self-medicating") and can often lose what few benefits they have. The loss of these benefits only continues the downward spiral. 8. When veterans return home undiagnosed and outside of the VA system, their family is often the only asset left to help get these veterans help. COMMENT 1. As presently written this bill is overly broad and will be cost prohibitive. The California Department of Veterans' Affairs (CDVA) uses a model that assumes there are on average four individuals in a veteran's family. Contacting veterans and family members would create a necessity to contact over 8 million individuals, which the department is not staffed to do. To create a database of several million people and then hire the staff to contact said individuals is not possible in this budget atmosphere. 2. The committee may want to consider the following amendments to accomplish both the Senator's intent of an outreach program to families while also preventing Page 2 a budget impact that would not allow the program to go forward. a) Amendment 1 - Strike present paragraph page 2, lines one through four. b) Amendment 2 - Add clause declaring that CDVA shall make available user friendly internet resources for families seeking information and help for returning veterans complete with information on signs of pertinent ailments from various conflicts. Information on what agency or whom to contact to help address the outstanding issue should also be linked to the internet resource. c) Amendment 3 - When possible counties should make facilities available to the California Department of Veterans' Affairs or any of its official representatives or partners such as County Veteran Service Officers or a private non-profit designated by the department for the purposes of reintegration seminars, briefings, or lectures. If the seminars, briefings, or lectures are during regular business hours counties are encouraged to offer the facilities at no extra charge. d) Amendment 4 - Printed material for families shall always be made available to inquiring family members at any public CDVA function. 3. This is a new bill. This bill was not voted on in its prior form. SUPPORT American Legion, Department of California; AMVETS, Department of California; Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council OPPOSE None received Page 3 Page 4