BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1268
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Al Muratsuchi, Chair
AB 1268 (John A. Pérez) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Unemployment insurance: veterans' unemployment:
Veterans Workforce Development and Employment Office.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Veterans Workforce Development and
Employment Office (Office) within the Labor and Workforce
Development Agency (Agency), as specified. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Creates the Office within the Agency for the purpose of
coordinating state veterans workforce development and
employment services and requires the Office to do all of the
following:
a) Administer specified state and federal unemployment
programs and services for veterans currently covered by the
Employment Development Department (EDD);
b) Develop a plan, by May 1, 2014, in collaboration with
the EDD for the transfer of its veterans program and
service administrative responsibilities from EDD to the
Office;
c) Transfer all support staff responsible for
administration of the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program
(DVOP) and the federal Local Veterans' Employment
Representatives (LVER) programs from the EDD to the Office
according to the plan; and,
d) Coordinate its efforts with the state Department of
Veterans Affairs and the Governor's Interagency Council on
Veterans.
2)Provides that the Office shall coordinate and consult with
appropriate state agencies, departments, veterans'
organizations and veterans' service providers to:
a) Research the needs of veterans throughout the state and
develop a profile of veterans' employment and training
needs;
AB 1268
Page 2
b) Develop a plan for the equitable distribution of the
employment funds for veterans' employment services;
c) Develop a strategy and program for identifying employers
and small businesses interested in hiring veterans and
establish the means by which any appropriate training and
placement may occur; and,
d) Seek federal and other funding for the research and
development of veterans' employment and training needs.
3)Repeals existing law referencing the annual report required
from EDD to the Legislature following any fiscal year in which
state funds support the Veterans Employment Training services
program and instead states that the Office shall provide an
annual report to the Legislature regarding specified
performance measures.
4)Makes related findings and declarations.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the EDD within the Agency to perform various
functions and duties with respect to job creation and
retention activities.
2)Requires the EDD to research and develop a profile of the
employment and training needs of veterans throughout the state
and to develop a plan to distribute employment funds for
veterans' employment services, additionally requires the EDD
to seek federal funding for these purposes.
3)Requires the EDD to submit an annual report to the
Legislature, as specified, following any fiscal year in which
state funds support the Veterans Employment Training services
program.
4)Authorizes the EDD, in coordination with the California
Workforce Investment Board (CWIB) to administer the federal
Jobs for Veterans State Grant Program (JSVG), and oversees the
federal LVER, the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), and the
DVOP.
AB 1268
Page 3
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown at this time.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill : To increase veteran employment through
improved performance of the DVOPs and LVERs administered through
the JSVG program.
Problem : California ranks last compared to all the other states
in the key category of veterans that found employment after
having received state employment services . Performance outcomes
for California's federally-funded veterans' employment services
that are currently administered by EDD indicate that California
lags behind other states in helping veterans find and retain
jobs. Based on the 2011 state performance outcomes (the most
recent available), California ranks last compared to all the
other states in the key category of veterans that found
employment after having received state employment services.
According to the California Research Bureau (Overview of
Veterans in California: March 2013):
California has approximately 1.9 million veterans. Of
these, about 185,000 (or 9.7 percent) are women. Almost one
million are currently over the age of 60 (52.3 percent).
Most live in Southern California counties, and are heavily
clustered in Los Angeles (323,431 in 2012), San Diego
(222,348 in 2012) and Orange counties (132,529 in 2012).
Employment
? In general, male veterans are doing better than either
their civilian counterparts or women veterans. Women
veterans have a mixed picture; those returning from the
most recent conflict do worse than either their civilian
peers or male veterans while women veterans from past
conflicts appear to be on par with civilian women.
Overall, male veterans have a lower unemployment rate than
their civilian male counterparts. In January 2013, male
veterans had an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent compared
AB 1268
Page 4
to 9.0 percent for their civilian counterparts. Veterans
participate in the employment pool at a higher rate than
their male civilian counterparts. Nearly 80 percent of all
male veterans participate in the employment pool while only
73 percent of civilian men do. However, our young male
veterans, those 18-24, have a higher unemployment rate than
their civilian counterparts: 20.4 percent compared to 16.4
percent.
Thus it is clear that there is persistent trouble with the
employment of younger veterans, particularly younger women
veterans. California has multiple agencies with programs that
serve veterans, but at issue here is EDD.
Legislative dissatisfaction with the status quo at EDD is high :
The Assembly sponsored a Supplemental Budget Report required in
the 2010 Act that directed EDD to report on options on how to
improve the performance of the its veteran employment and job
training programs. Unfortunately, the report failed to address
in a meaningful way any governance changes that appear to still
be needed.
Moreover, in 2013, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee
approved an audit request to evaluate the effectiveness of the
veteran workforce programs EDD currently administers (Audit due
October 2013).
Argument in support: The status quo is unacceptable. Moving the
programs to a place with a veteran focus will increase their
performance.
EDD's mission is employment for all Californians:
The Employment Development Department enhances California's
economic growth and prosperity by collaboratively
delivering valuable and innovative services to meet the
evolving needs of employers, workers, and job seekers.
The argument of the author is that moving the veteran employment
programs to this new entity puts them in a place where the
entire mission is focused on veterans, rather than at EDD which
has a broader mission. Then the expectation is that, in the new
veteran-focused environment, the programs' performance will
improve.
AB 1268
Page 5
Moreover, the new entity will, according to the author:
?[A]lso assist in ensuring that California's veterans are
sufficiently benefitting from the national movement by
employers to hire more veterans, and other training and
employment opportunities presented with major public works
projects such as high speed rail and the implementation of
Prop. 39, for example.
Finally, the author also maintains that the bill will provide a
single point of contact for employers that want to hire a
veteran:
In fact, one of the author's principal concerns is that
there is no one person or office within state government
for California's major employers to call when they want to
hire veterans.
This approach has worked well with the very successful
California National Guard's Work for Warriors program which
receives employment information from but the program only serves
Guard members. The new entity would be able to serve all
veterans.
RELATED LEGISLATION :
AB 171 (Chávez) of 2013 establishes 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.
AB 171 and this bill are in conflict in that they both affect
the same staff in mutually exclusive ways.
AB 1931 (Gorell) of 2012 would have established the California
Veterans Services and Workforce Development Division within the
Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for the purpose of
coordinating and administering veterans' assistance programs,
and would have transferred those programs from the EDD to the
DVA. The bill was held under submission by the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2143 (Gilmore) of 2010 would have required the California
Employment Development Department (EDD) in coordination with the
California Department of Veteran Affairs (CDVA) to conduct a
study and report to the Legislature, as specified. AB 2143 died
AB 1268
Page 6
without a hearing in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
AB 1806 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 69, Statutes of 2006
requires an annual report from EDD following any fiscal year in
which state funds support the Veterans Employment Training
services program. No report has been completed
Previous Committee : Assembly Labor and Employment
Ayes: 7 Noes: 0
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AMVETS-Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
San Diego Gas & Electric
Southern California Gas Company
VFW-Department of California
The Home Depot
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler / V. A. / (916) 319-3550