AB 171, as introduced, Chávez. Department of Veterans Affairs: consolidation of services to veterans.
Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans.
This bill would establish the California Veterans Services and Workforce Development Division within the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of coordinating and administering veterans assistance programs in the state, and would require the division to perform various functions and duties relating to the coordination and administration of veterans assistance programs, as specified. The bill would require the administrative and support staff responsible for the administration of the specified programs to be transferred from the Employment Development Department to the division, and would require the costs of the transfer to utilize existing resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 90 is added to the Military and Veterans
2Code, to read:
(a) The California Veterans Services and Workforce
4Development Division is hereby established within the department
5for the purpose of coordinating and administering veterans
6assistance programs in the state. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
7shall have authority over the division.
8(b) The division shall do all of the following:
9(1) Coordinate with other state agencies, including, but not
10limited to, the California Interagency Council on Veterans, that
11provide benefits and assistance to veterans to ensure that
12information about veterans assistance programs and benefits is
13made available to all state agencies that serve veterans in the state.
14(2) Administer the programs and services described in the
15federal Jobs for Veterans State Grant Program, including, but not
16limited to, overseeing the federal Local Veterans’ Employment
17Representatives Program (LVER), the Transition Assistance
18Program (TAP), and the Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program
19(DVOP), as currently administered by the Employment
20Development Department (EDD). The division shall work with
21staff from the EDD to develop a plan whereby responsibility for
22the administration of these programs shall be transferred from the
23EDD to the division. The development of the plan shall be
24completed on or before May 1, 2014.
25(3) Ensure that other state agencies and officials that are
26involved in the implementation and administration of veterans
27services programs are informed when any changes in existing
28programs are required, or new programs are established that
29provide assistance
and benefits to veterans, and require that those
30agencies and officials report to the division when those changes
31occur or new programs are established.
32(4) Collaborate with the California Interagency Council on
33Veterans to implement any further change to the delivery of
34veterans services not prescribed by the plan in paragraph (2) to
35implement this section.
36(c) (1) In complying with this section, all administrative and
37support staff responsible for the administration of TAP, DVOP,
38and the LVER shall be transferred from the EDD to the division.
P3 1(2) Any costs associated with the implementation of these
2transfers shall utilize existing resources of the Department of
3Veterans Affairs, as the operational cost of these programs utilizes
4funding from the Jobs for Veterans State Grant program, as
5
prescribed within the United States Department of Labor.
O
99