BILL NUMBER: AB 1453 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk-Silva
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Daly, Mansoor, and Wagner )
( Coauthors: Senators Correa
and Wyland )
JANUARY 9, 2014
An act to add Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) to
Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans,
and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1453, as amended, Quirk-Silva. Southern California Veterans
Cemetery.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (department) is
created in state government and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is
the head of the department. Under existing law, the
Department of Veterans Affairs department , in
voluntary cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and
the boards of supervisors of specified northern California counties,
is required to design, develop, and construct a state-owned and
state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery. Under
existing law, the department, in voluntary cooperation
with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey, the City of
Seaside, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and surrounding counties,
cities, and local agencies, is required to design, develop, and
construct the state-owned and state-operated veterans cemetery, which
shall be located on the site of the former Fort Ord.
Existing federal law authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to make a grant to any
state for the purpose of establishing, expanding, or improving a
veterans' cemetery owned by the state and operating and maintaining a
veterans' cemetery.
This bill would require the department, in voluntary cooperation
with the Orange County Board of Supervisors and city
councils of other participating southern California cities,
local government entities in Orange County, to design,
develop, and construct , and equip a
state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery.
The bill would make all honorably discharged veterans and their
spouses and children eligible for interment in the cemetery. The bill
would impose a fee of $____ for each spouse or child
interred in the cemetery. require the department to
establish a fee to be charged for interment of veteran spouses and
children.
The bill would create the Southern California Veterans Cemetery
Master Development Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, and would
require all moneys received for the design, development, and
construction , and equipment of the cemetery to
be deposited in this fund. By creating a continuously appropriated
fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also
create the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual
Maintenance Fund and would direct all moneys received for the
maintenance of the cemetery, including those moneys received for the
interment of a spouse or child , to be deposited in this fund
.
The bill would make proposals for the construction, placement, or
donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery subject to review
by a specified advisory committee and subject to final approval by
the Secretary.
The bill would authorize the cemetery administrator to accept
donations of personal property to be used for the maintenance
or , beautification , or repair
of the cemetery. The bill would require cash donations to be
deposited into the Northern Southern
California Veterans Cemetery Donations Fund, a continuously
appropriated fund created by this bill, and would require the cash
donations to be expended for the maintenance , beautification,
and repair of the facility cemetery
, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund,
the bill would make an appropriation.
The bill would require and authorize the department to adopt
regulations, as specified.
The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to
appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to support the department
in carrying out the provisions of this bill. The bill would specify
that if no appropriation is made for these purposes, the department
would not be required to comply with the provisions of this bill.
The bill would require the department to apply to the Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs
for a grant of not more than an unspecified amount, which amount
represents 100% of the estimated cost for designing, developing,
constructing, and equipping the cemetery.
The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to prohibit
the expenditure of money appropriated to the department until the
department has received written approval of the grant request and a
commitment from the federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program that the
funds appropriated under the grant are available for expenditure by
the state, except as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) is added to
Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code, to read:
CHAPTER 9.5. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VETERANS CEMETERY
1410. (a) (1) The department, in voluntary cooperation with
the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the city councils
of other participating southern California cities as specified in
local government entities in Orange County pursuant to
Section 1412, shall design, develop, and
construct , and equip a state-owned and state-operated
Southern California Veterans Cemetery, which shall be located in
Orange County, California.
(2) The department shall oversee and coordinate the design,
development, and construction of the cemetery.
(3) For purposes of this chapter, "department" means the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
(b) (1) All honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and
children are eligible for internment
interment in the cemetery. A fee of ____ dollars
($____) shall be charged for each spouse or child interred in the
cemetery. This The department shall establish a fee to
be charged for interment of veteran spouses and children. The amount
of the fee shall not exceed the reasonable costs to the
department for internment interment in
the cemetary. cemetery.
(2) For Subject to Section 1418, for
the purposes of this subdivision, the department shall adopt
regulations to specify the eligibility requirements for interment in
the cemetery. These regulations shall be adopted pursuant to
the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code).
(3) All fees received pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deposited
in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance
Fund created pursuant to Section 1412.
1412. (a) For the purposes of Section 1410, the Orange
County Board of Supervisors all local government
entities in Orange County may join with the city
councils of cities within Orange County wishing to participate
together for the purpose of cooperating with the
department in the design, development, and
construction , and equipment of the cemetery.
(b) All moneys received for the design, development, and
construction , and equipment of the cemetery
shall be deposited in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery
Master Development Fund, which is hereby created in the State
Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, money
in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department for the
purpose of designing, developing, constructing, and equipping the
cemetery. Moneys appropriated by the Legislature for these purposes
shall also be deposited in the fund.
(c) (1) All Except as otherwise
provided in Section 1416, all moneys received for the
maintenance of the cemetery, including moneys received pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 1410, shall be deposited in the Southern
California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund, which is
hereby created in the State Treasury. Any state funding for the
annual maintenance of the cemetery shall be appropriated by the
Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
(2) It is estimated that, It is the intent
of the Legislature that, after the construction of the
cemetery, an estimated ____ dollars ($____) should be
appropriated annually by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or
the participating southern California counties, or both, to the
department for the operating costs of the cemetery.
(3) Total It is the intent of the
Legislature that total expenditures for operations and
maintenance should not be more than ____ dollars ($____) per fiscal
year, as appropriated in the annual Budget Act.
1414. (a) Proposals for the construction, placement, or donation
of monuments and memorials to the cemetery shall be subject to review
by an advisory committee comprised of the cemetery administrator,
representatives from local government entities within
Orange County, local veterans' service organizations, and others as
approved by the secretary.
(b) All proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of
monuments and memorials to the cemetery shall be subject to the final
approval of the secretary.
(c) The Subject to Section 1418, the
department shall adopt regulations for the policies and
procedures to be followed with respect to the design,
construction, placement, donation,
and approval of monuments and memorials proposed to be placed on the
cemetery grounds. These regulations shall be adopted pursuant
to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code).
1416. (a) Notwithstanding Section 11005 of the Government Code,
the cemetery administrator, subject to the approval of the secretary,
may accept donations of personal property, including cash or other
gifts, to be used for the maintenance or ,
beautification , or repair of the cemetery.
(b) Cash donations made pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
deposited into the Northern Southern
California Veterans Cemetery Donations Fund, which is hereby created.
Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, money in the
fund is continuously appropriated to the department for the
maintenance , beautification, and repair of the
facility cemetery or, subject to the approval of
the secretary, for a specified cemetery maintenance or
beautification project designated by the donor.
1418. For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this
chapter, the department may adopt regulations. All regulations
adopted pursuant to this chapter shall be adopted pursuant to the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature to
appropriate funds in the annual Budget Act to support the Department
of Veterans Affairs in carrying out the provisions of Chapter 9.5
(commencing with Section 1410) of Division 6 of the Military and
Veterans Code. If no appropriation is made for these purposes, the
Department of Veterans Affairs shall not be required to comply with
the provisions of Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 1410) of
Division 6 of the Military and Veterans Code.
SEC. 3. (a) The Department of Veterans
Affairs shall apply to the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program of the
federal Department of Veterans Affairs for a grant of not more than
100 percent of the estimated cost for designing, developing,
constructing, and equipping the cemetery.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the money to be
appropriated in the annual Budget Act under Section 2 of this act is
not expended until the Department of Veterans Affairs has received
written approval of the grant requested under subdivision (a) and a
commitment from the federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program that the
funds appropriated under the grant are available for expenditure by
the state, except it is the intent of the Legislature that the
department may expend an amount necessary for completion of the grant
proposal from the funds intended by the Legislature to be
appropriated under Section 2.