BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 409
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 409 (Quirk-Silva) - As Amended: April 15, 2013
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:12-0
Veterans Affairs 7-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU) and the
California Community Colleges (CCC), and requests the University
of California (UC), to participate in a task force regarding
student veterans' transition to postsecondary education and
report its findings to the Governor and Legislature by January
10, 2015. Specifically, this bill requires the task force to:
1)Review best practices for meeting the needs of student
veterans and ensuring all campuses offer veterans counseling
services.
2)Evaluate how each segment reviews the effects of postwar
stress, posttraumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain
injuries.
3)Evaluate existing resources offered to veterans and ways to
ensure veterans are aware of these recources.
4)Assess whether additional services are needed, such as an
online course addressing postwar effects on veterans.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Some of the work required in this bill is ongoing within each
of the segments (see Comments below) and these costs would be
absorbable. Providing the information required in a single
report covering all three segments would probably entail
one-time costs of up to $100,000 for coordinating this effort.
It should be noted that, with recent budget cuts suffered by
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all of the segments, particularly in the area of student
services, ensuring that all campuses are offering veterans
counseling services of a best practices caliber is probably
not attainable in the short term.
2)There could also be significant cost pressure to implement
recommendations in the report.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author's office, the CSU and the CCC
have on-campus Veterans' Centers that provide assistance to
prospective and enrolled veteran students on accessing their
state and federal educational and GI benefits, as well as
completing the admission application process. The author
acknowledges that some institutions offer additional services
to help students transition to school, but contends some
campuses could improve. The author believes this measure is a
step in the right direction to ensure all veteran students
have their specific needs met as they endeavor to earn a
postsecondary education.
2)UC , which has a relatively small number of veteran students,
indicates its campuses continue to develop programs and
practices such as special orientations, priority campus
housing, and mental health counseling services for student
veterans.
3)The CSU Student Veteran Research Project, in the spring of
2011, reviewed the 23 campuses' veteran services offerings and
released several recommendations aimed at increasing access
and success among veteran students.
4)At the CCC , which enrolls the overwhelming majority of veteran
students (over 40,000), the level of support varies among the
colleges, but the increase in veteran enrollment has led the
Chancellor's Office and many individual districts to look to
expand support services for this cohort. The Chancellor's
Office CCCO has also (a) organized a regional representation
structure and hosts regular meetings to identify student
veteran needs and share innovative ideas across the system;
(b) established a systemwide email list to communicate
strategies relating to veterans services to the 112 campuses;
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and (c) redesigned its veterans' web page to better support
colleges.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081