BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 409
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 409 (Quirk-Silva)
As Amended April 15, 2013
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 12-0 VETERANS AFFAIRS 7-1
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|Ayes:|Williams, Bloom, Fong, |Ayes:|Muratsuchi, Atkins, |
| |Fox, | |Brown, Eggman, Fox, |
| |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |Salas, Yamada |
| |Waldron, Medina, Olsen, | | |
| |Quirk-Silva, Weber, Wilk | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Grove |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 13-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |
| |Bradford, | | |
| |Ian Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, | | |
| |Ammiano, Linder, Pan, | | |
| |Quirk, Weber | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California State University (CSU) Board
of Trustees (BOT) and the California Community Colleges (CCC)
Board of Governors (BOG) to convene a task force to evaluate and
report to the Governor and the Legislature how best to serve the
transitional needs of postsecondary student veterans, as
specified, and encourages the University of California (UC)
Regents to participate in the task force. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires the CSU BOT and the CCC BOG, on or before June 30,
2014, to convene a task force in order to develop a report for
the Governor and the Legislature relating to student veterans'
transition to postsecondary education and encourages the UC
Regents to participate.
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2)Specifies that the task force shall address specific issues
related to student veterans' transition to postsecondary
education, including, but not limited to, all of the
following:
a) Reviewing the best practices for meeting the needs of
student veterans and ensuring that all campuses offer
veterans' counseling services;
b) Evaluating how the campuses of the UC, CSU, and the CCC
currently assist student veterans in understanding the
effects of postwar stress, posttraumatic stress disorder,
and traumatic brain injuries;
c) Evaluating the existing resources offered by the
segments for veterans and ways to ensure that veterans are
aware of the resources; and,
d) Assessing whether additional services for veterans are
needed, such an online course addressing postwar effects on
veterans.
3)Specifies the final report of the task force shall be
completed and distributed to the Governor and the Legislature
on or before January 10, 2015.
4)Sunsets the provision of the measure on January 1, 2019.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the CSU and the CCC and encourages the UC to
coordinate services for qualified students who are veterans or
members of the military by clearly designating Military and
Veterans Offices and individuals to provide specified services
to qualified students. Current law defines "qualified
student" as a student who is any of the following: an active
duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the
California National Guard, a reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the Unites States, a veteran of the Armed Forces of
the United States, and/or a family member of a person (as
described above) who is a legal dependent under 28 years of
age or living in the household of that person and eligible to
be claimed as a dependent on federal or state tax returns
(Education Code (EC) Section 69785).
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2)Requests the UC, CSU, the CCC to report annually to the
California Department of Veterans Affairs the number of
qualified students assisted by a Military and Veterans Office;
the number of qualified students assisted who are active duty
members of the Armed Forces of the United States, the
California National Guard, or a reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the United States, or are veterans of the Armed
Forces of the United States; and the total education benefits
by all qualified students assisted by an office (EC Section
69786).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, some of the work required in this bill is ongoing
within each of the segments 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.
There could also be significant cost pressure to implement
recommendations in the report.
COMMENTS : According to a recent survey by the National Center
for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah, veteran students
are six times more likely to attempt suicide than the general
student population. Nearly 50% of the 525 veteran students
surveyed reported having had suicidal thoughts some time in
their lives. Twenty percent of these veteran students said they
had suicidal thoughts with a plan; this is a rate three times
higher than general college students who seriously considered
suicide. Experts in this field agree that suicidal thinking
with a plan is considered a very severe suicidal risk. The
majority of individuals with serious suicide risks deal with
posttraumatic stress symptoms such as: significant anxiety,
intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, and recurrent images
from combat.
According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder (Center), last year, nationwide over 660,000
undergraduate students were veterans, constituting about 3% of
all undergraduates. Additionally, last year, approximately
215,000 undergraduate students were military service members on
active duty or in the reserves, constituting about 1% of all
undergraduates. Increasing numbers of military service members
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are using Government Issued (GI) education benefits for
postsecondary education. The Center reports that approximately
40% of military service members used their veteran education
benefits in 2007-2008.
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 (housing, tuition,
books, etc.), as well as completing the admission application
process. Additionally, student veterans receive aid on the
evaluation of their military transcripts. The author contends
that some institutions offer additional services to help
students on the transition back to school or students who are
entering college for the first time, but that it appears as if
some of the campuses could improve on offering specific services
to student veterans.
The author believes this measure is a step in the right
direction in continuing to ensure that all veteran students have
their specific needs met as they endeavor to earn a
postsecondary education.
Segment (UC, CSU, and CCC) Policies:
1)The UC total enrollment of veteran students was 958 in
2011-12. Even though they have a relatively small population
of veteran students, individual campuses have and continue to
develop programs and practices such as special orientations,
priority campus housing, and mental health counseling services
for veterans students.
2)The CSU enrolled 11,577 student veterans (including 6,250
active duty and 5,327 dependents) in the fall of 2010,
representing 2.8% of the CSU student body. 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. The recommendations included employing at
least one full-time point person on a campus to coordinate
veterans' services, identifying key data points and tracking
data to evaluate success, strategies, and policies, and
providing student leadership opportunities and designated
multipurpose space for veteran students.
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3)The CCC serves the majority of veteran students in California
and according to the CCC Chancellor's Office (CCCCO), in
2009-2010 academic year, 36,896 veterans utilized education
benefits at a CCC, a 40.8% growth since 2008-09. While the
level of support for veterans varies throughout the CCC
system, the number of veteran students attending has led the
CCCCO and many individual districts to look to expand support
services for this growing population.
The CCCCO 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, and c)
redesigned its veterans' web page to better support colleges.
Additionally, the CCCCO is engaged in several projects to
expand services to veterans.
Previous legislation. SB 1375 (Alquist) of 2012, which died in
the Senate Education Committee, encouraged the CCC, the CSU and
the UC to offer on-campus counseling services for student
veterans by utilizing the resources of existing campus military
and veterans offices.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000782