BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: April 10, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Paul J. Cook, Chair
AB 1505 (Pan) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
SUBJECT : Department of Veterans Affairs: veterans' benefits
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Veterans
Affairs (CDVA) to grant certain benefits to certain veterans.
Specifically, this bill : requires the Department to award
qualified benefits for qualified veterans.
This bill defines the term "qualified benefits" as:
Benefits that are administered by the Department of Veterans
Affairs and for which federal funds are not used, or impacted,
in the provision of the benefit. "Qualified benefits" include,
but are not limited to, the following:
1) College tuition fee waivers for veterans' dependents.
2) Nonresident college fee waiver.
3) Disabled veteran business enterprise opportunities.
4) Veterans Homes of California.
5) Motor vehicle registration fee waiver.
6) Disabled veteran license plates.
7) Free license plates.
8) Veterans preference in California civil service
examinations.
9) State of California Veterans Cemetery.
10) Fishing and hunting licenses.
11) Employment and unemployment insurance assistance.
12) Farm and home loans.
13) State parks and recreation pass.
14) Business license tax waiver.
15) Property tax exemptions.
A "qualified veteran" is any person who served in the Armed
Forces of the United States and who meets both of the following
conditions:
1) Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States
resulted solely on the basis of sexual orientation pursuant
to any federal policy prohibiting homosexual personnel from
serving in the Armed Forces of the United States,
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including, but not limited to, Section 654 of Title 10 of
the United States Code; and
2) Separation did not result from any other violation.
This bill requires the qualified veteran to provide
documentation to the CDVA relating to separation from the Armed
Forces of the United States in a form and manner as prescribed
by the Department.
EXISTING LAW : The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and the general
prohibition of homosexual persons serving in the military were
statutorily and administratively repealed on September 20, 2011.
Following the repeal, the US Department of Defense has adopted a
policy that allows homosexual persons to serve in the armed
forces.
Veterans separated with a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge
from the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy or
its predecessor policies are ineligible to receive State and
Federal veterans' benefits.
In 2009, Attorney General Jerry Brown issued an opinion
determining that under existing anti-discrimination law, CDVA
may not discriminate against any veteran who was discharged
"honorably" or "under honorable conditions" in its
administration of veterans' benefits and programs.
California Government Code 11135 states that "No person in the
State of California shall, on the basis of race, national
origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual
orientation, color, genetic information, or disability, be
unlawfully denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or
be unlawfully subjected to discrimination under, any program or
activity that is conducted, operated, or administered by the
state or by any state agency, is funded directly by the state,
or receives any financial assistance from the state."
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : In 1949, the US Department of Defense issued a
memorandum stating that: "homosexual personnel, irrespective of
sex, should not be permitted to serve in any branch of the Armed
Services in any capacity, and prompt separation of known
homosexuals from Armed Forces be made mandatory."
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According to the author, since "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) was
adopted, approximately 85% of related discharges were made on
the basis of statements by the servicemember, while about 15%
were based on other evidence. From 1980 until the repeal of
DADT, over 32,000 servicemembers were separated under DADT and
its predecessor policies.
The intent of this bill is to ensure that all veterans who were
discharged under DADT or its predecessor policies, regardless of
the class of their discharge, may receive full California State
veterans' benefits, provided by CDVA and other State and Local
Agencies that provide benefits to veterans, so long as they meet
the other eligibility requirements and committed no other
violations.
POLICY QUESTION: Will the bill be effective in extending
benefits to any veteran who is not already eligible?
Many state benefits are conditioned on a federal benefits status
and/or discharge type. If a veteran received an honorable
discharge, even if he or she was discharged under DADT, that
veteran is generally eligible for federal and thus state
benefits. However, without a discharge upgrade from
dishonorable or bad conduct, many federal benefits are
unavailable and thus, because the state benefit requires a
certain federal status trigger, the veteran will remain
ineligible for state benefits even if this bill were to pass.
Most of the available state benefits have this statutory
eligibility construction, with the notable exception of the
Veterans Home. Discharge upgrades are within the purview of the
federal government.
For example, in order to receive the tuition fee waiver, a major
state benefit for veterans' dependents, the veteran must have a
service connected disability. In order to have such a rating,
the veteran must be eligible for disability benefits from the
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA). Those
with dishonorable discharges are ineligible for federal
disability benefits. Several categories of bad conduct
discharges are given the same effect as dishonorable discharges.
Similarly, in order to receive veterans preference in
employment, the eligibility requirements are:
a) Veterans with service-connected disabilities rated at
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10% or greater.
b) "Wartime" veterans who served have served with honor.
c) A veteran who served under honorable conditions for a
period of at least 181 days
d) Spouses of totally disabled service-connected veterans.
e) Unmarried, surviving spouses of a veteran who has died
of service-connected causes.
With the possible exception of (e), all of these conditions
depend on federal determinations which may be impossible without
a discharge upgrade, an upgrade only available from the federal
government.
Thus it is unclear that the bill will extend benefits to
previously ineligible veterans because most state benefits are
conditioned on certain federal triggers which will be unaffected
by the bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Sacramento Valley Veterans
Equality California
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees
Betty Yee, First District Member, State Board of Equalization
Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler / V. A. / (916) 319-3550