BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
LOU CORREA, CHAIRMAN
Bill No: SB 1413
Author: Negrete McLeod
Version: As Introduced February 24, 2012
Hearing Date: April 24, 2012
Fiscal: Yes
Consultant: Donald E. Wilson
SUBJECT OF BILL
Morale, welfare, and recreation funds.
PROPOSED LAW
1. Abolish the morale, welfare, and recreation fund for
soldiers and airmen of the California National Guard.
2. Establish a morale, welfare, and recreation fund, or
any other fund, for the California Military Department
(CMD) to be available upon appropriation by the legislature
for the establishment of support programs for the
construction or acquisition of facilities or equipment for
these programs as defined.
a) Removes all limitations established by the
Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, and
the National Guard Bureau.
b) Gives the California Adjutant General authority to
adopt any rule or regulation he or she deems necessary for
establishing programs.
c) Gives the California Adjutant General authority to
solicit money.
d) Gives the California Adjutant General authority in
establishing and constructing facilities.
e) Exempts CMD donations from oversight by the
director of finance until after the military department has
gotten to conduct its own audits.
f) Requires the Adjutant General to conduct an
internal audit of this fund and report findings of the
audit to the Department of Finance.
EXISTING LAW
1. Allows the California Adjutant General to establish
rules and regulations for a morale, welfare, and
recreational activities fund for the benefit of soldiers
and airmen of the guard.
2. Provide "other services" governing the fund as long as
they are in accordance with the regulations of the
Departments of the Army and Air Force and the National
Guard Bureau.
3. Adopt rules and regulations for the establishment and
deposit of military post, welfare, or similar unit, or
organizational funds.
4. Allows the California Adjutant General or the guard to
"accept funds or other donations for the benefit of the
Military Department."
5. Prohibits the state, with certain exceptions, from
gifts and property without the approval of the director of
finance.
6. Prohibits the acquisition or hiring of real property in
fee, lesser estate, or interest by, or on behalf of, the
state without the approval of the director of the
Department of General Services (DGS).
BACKGROUND
1. The California National Guard (CNG) is the California
unit of the federally funded national guard system. Entire
units and select individuals of the militia can be
mobilized by the Federal Government at any time by federal
orders under Title 10 or Title 32 of the United States Code
(U.S.C.) The CNG must train to the standards of the active
Army and Air Force with which it will fight. CNG soldiers
are federally recognized and earn federal pensions. The
CNG is a fighting reserve component of the active military,
but can perform state-funded missions when not on federal
duty. Therefore the guard has a health, morale, and
welfare fund like any other US military force.
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2. The California Military Department (CMD) is not part of
the state militia (either active or unorganized), it is a
state department created by MVC section 50, which reads
"There shall be in the State Government the Military
Department."
CMD is a state department no different than the Department
of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Department of General Services
(DGS), Department of Fish and Game, Department of Parks and
Recreation, Department of Transportation (CAL-TRANS), or
the Department of Veterans Affairs (CDVA). CMD has state
civil servants just like any other state department.
The CMD was created in 1946 and given jurisdiction over the
California National Guard, the Naval Militia, and the
Office of the Adjutant General.
3. The State Military Reserve (SMR) was created in 1949 as
a new component of the active militia. According to state
law, SMR personnel compose a unit "additional to and
distinct from" the national guard militia unit (MVC 550)
and cannot legally be deployed to theaters of war.
4. In 1976 the California Conservation Corps was created
and was put under the jurisdiction of the military
department. The average term of service is nine months.
5. Youth academies are a national guard program partly
funded by the state.
COMMENT
1. Both the Senate Rules Committee and the President
Pro-Tem of the Senate are on the public record stating that
they want to see the CMD reformed. Given this premise the
committee may want to consider whether it is appropriate to
a) remove all limitations established by the Department of
the Army, Department of the Air Force, and the National
Guard Bureau.
b) give the California Adjutant General complete authority
"not withstanding any other law" to adopt any rule or
regulation he sees fit for establishing programs.
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c) give the California Adjutant General complete authority
"not withstanding any other law" in soliciting money.
d) give the California Adjutant General complete authority
"not withstanding any other law" in establishing and
constructing facilities.
e) exempt military department donations from direct
oversight by the director of finance until after CMD has
conducted its own audits.
f) exempt CMD property donations from oversight by the
director of DGS.
2. The CMD says that because of the difference between
on-base concerns that active duty deals with compared to
the structure of the CMD that more flexibility is needed to
ensure that programs and morale, welfare, and recreations
activities can be achieved.
3. The CMD says it is in receipt of a California Attorney
General's opinion that while the department does have the
ability to raise money, it is not clear in present law that
CMD has the authority to expend the money. For that reason
CMD wants a fund within the state treasury for these
purposes. As an example, the department says it presently
cannot expend funds on educational scholarships or
vocational training.
While those may be legitimate concerns since CMD personnel
do have different challenges than US active duty military
forces, the department wants to implement most of these
changes by regulation rather than within this bill. The
main problem the department has explained to the
legislature regarding the arbitrary nature of how
regulations are applied to the state active duty (SAD)
system and the state military reserve (SMR) is that those
rules are only regulations and can be overridden by an
adjutant general (TAG) at any time. Therefore SAD
regulations need to be codified.
Then why on this bill is the department asking for future
adjutant generals to have arbitrary rule making authority
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and not asking for these rules to be codified?
4. This bill allows only the CMD and the Department of
Finance to see where the money in these new funds will be
going. Given the Senate's commitment to oversight would
not the Senate Budget Committee, the appropriate
sub-committee, and/or the Veterans Committee be an entity
to report to for the purposes of oversight?
5. Personnel inside the chain of command have reported
that an audit of this fund was done last year, that fact
finding was due to be finished on October 31, 2011, and
that the department will fail the audit. Is the military
department trying to get this bill passed in order to not
be held accountable by changing the rules before the audit
report is released?
SUPPORT
California Military Department (Sponsor)
OPPOSE
None received
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