BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 882
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     AB 882 (Cook) - As Amended:  April 25, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Vets Vote:9-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          YES    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Creates the California Veterans Services and Workforce 
            Development Division within the Department of Veterans Affairs 
            (CDVA) to coordinate and administer veterans' assistance 
            programs. These provisions sunset Jan.1, 2016.

             a)   Requires the division to coordinate with other state 
               agencies that assist veterans to ensure that information 
               about veterans' assistance programs and benefits is made 
               available to all state agencies that serve veterans in the 
               state.

             b)   Transfers administrative control and responsibility for 
               the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) from EDD to the 
               division. All EDD TAP administrative and support staff 
               would be transferred to the division.

          2)Creates a one-stop center pilot program in L.A., San Diego and 
            San Francisco counties to improve collaboration between CDVA, 
            EDD and county veterans service officers (CVSOs) to increase 
            compensation and pension benefit claims for veterans, through 
            the established one stop centers as a part of the Local 
            Veteran Employment Representative program, as prescribed by 
            the U.S. Department of Labor. 

            Requires CDVA to enter into agreements with these counties to 
            combine the resources and personnel of CDVA, CVSOs, and the 
            EDD. 
           
          FISCAL EFFECT  








                                                                  AB 882
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          1)The CDVA will incur one-time administrative costs, likely in 
            the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, to establish and 
            organize the new division and transition the specified 
            programs and staff from EDD to the new division, and ongoing 
            costs in the range of $150,000 to coordinate and collaborate 
            with other state agencies providing veterans services.

          2)EDD would likely incur one-time transition costs associated 
            with the relocation of staff and programs to the CDVA. There 
            are approximately 180 federally-funded positions at EDD 
            involved in the impacted programs.
           
          COMMENTS  
           1)Rationale  .  The genesis for this bill is the success of the 
            Texas model for providing veterans benefits.  In 2005, the 
            Texas veteran workforce program ranked 32nd in the nation in 
            veteran employment and retention. The following year, 
            legislation was enacted to transfer the program from the Texas 
            Workforce Commission (TWC) to the Texas Veterans Commission 
            (TVC), which provided more focus on-site in the delivery of 
            veterans' services. Today, Texas is considered to have one of 
            the strongest veteran workforce and job training programs in 
            the nation.  By the end of 2007, Texas' veteran employment 
            retention had risen from 32% to 86%--11th best among state 
            programs.  Also, Texas had increased the percentage of 
            veterans receiving benefits to 16.1%. (Only 12.3% of 
            California veterans receive benefits.)
           
          2)Is the Texas Model the right fit for California  ? The pilot 
            project brings the EDD, the Department, and the CVSOs to the 
            table to more effectively address veterans' needs. While this 
            approach may ultimately prove successful to some degree, pilot 
            projects take time, money and experience to implement - all 
            particularly challenging in a time of increasing service 
            demand and decreasing budgets. 

            Should CDVA move toward a model in which it is more a service 
            provider, rather than a service broker? 
           
          3)Related Legislation.

              a)   AB 2143 (Gilmore), 2010) was similar to AB 882 and 
               failed in the Senate.  









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             b)   AB 557 (J.A. Perez), 2011, pending in this committee, 
               creates an Interagency Council on Veteran Services and 
               Programs, to bring state departments, federal entities, 
               legislative representatives, local governments, and 
               stakeholder organizations together to enhance veterans' 
               services.   

             c)   AB 1569 (Committee on Veterans Affairs), 2010, was 
               similar to AB 557 and failed in the Senate.

           

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081