BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AJR 19
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AJR 19 (Pan)
          As Amended  September 6, 2013
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |57-1 |(August 12,     |SENATE: |33-1 |(September 10, |
          |           |     |2013)           |        |     |2013)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:    V.A.

          SUMMARY  :  Urges Congress and the President to provide benefits  
          to those veterans discriminated against solely on the basis of  
          their sexual orientation.  Specifically,  this resolution  states  
          that the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California  
          jointly resolve:

          1)To urge Congress and the President to provide benefits to  
            those veterans discriminated against solely on the basis of  
            their sexual orientation. 

          2)To direct that the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies  
            of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the  
            United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives,  
            to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and  
            Representative from California in the Congress of the United  
            States.

          The Senate amendments  replace the term "reinstate" with  
          "provide" to clarify that the benefits are new rather than  
          "reinstated." 

           EXISTING LAW  :  Military and Veterans Code Section 711.1 assists  
          veterans by requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to  
          provide Internet resources, Internet links, and printed  
          materials regarding, or created by, veterans' legal services  
          organizations that specialize in military discharge upgrades, or  
          links to Internet resources that provide information and printed  
          resources provided by veterans' legal services organizations.   
          It also provides that if the federal government acts to  
          reinstate benefits to discharged veterans who were denied those  
          benefits 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, the state shall  








                                                                  AJR 19
                                                                  Page  2

          reinstate to those veterans any state-offered benefits.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  None.  This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by  
          the Legislative Counsel. 
           
          COMMENTS  :  The Senate amendments include not only those people  
          who were discharged from the Armed Forces on the basis of sexual  
          orientation, as in the version of this measure passed by the  
          Assembly, but those who have experienced other forms of  
          discrimination based on sexual orientation, for example the  
          denial of spousal benefits to the same sex partners of veterans.  
           The language change to "provide" encompasses those instances,  
          as in the preceding example, where benefits have not previously  
          been provided.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    John Spangler / V.A. / (916) 319-3550 


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