BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1505 Page 1 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, AB 1505 Page 2 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policy and the general prohibition of homosexual persons serving in the military were statutorily and administratively repealed on September 20, 2011.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." AB 1505 Page 3 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 AB 1505 Page 4 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