BILL NUMBER: AB 1453	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 19, 2014
	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, 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 local government entities in Orange County, to design, develop,
construct, and equip a state-owned and state-operated Southern
California Veterans Cemetery.  The   Subject to
specified requirements described in federal law, the  bill would
make all honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and
children eligible for interment in the cemetery. The bill would
require the department to establish a fee to be charged for interment
of veteran spouses and  eligible  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,
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,
beautification, or repair of the cemetery. The bill would require
cash donations to be deposited into the 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 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   moneys 
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 local
government entities in Orange County pursuant to Section 1412, shall
design, develop, 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   Subject   to the
eligibility requirements described in Section 2402 of Title 38 of the
United States Code, as amended from time to time, all 
honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and children are
eligible for interment in the cemetery. The department shall
establish a fee to be charged for interment of veteran spouses and
 eligible  children. The amount of the fee shall not exceed
the reasonable costs to the department for interment in the cemetery.

   (2) 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.
   (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, all local government
entities in Orange County may join together for the purpose of
cooperating with the department in the design, development,
construction, and equipment of the cemetery.
   (b) All moneys received for the design, development, 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   moneys  in the
fund  is   are  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) 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 the intent of the Legislature that, after the
construction of the cemetery, an estimated ____ dollars ($____)
should be appropriated annually by the Legislature in the annual
Budget Act or the participating southern California counties, or
both, to the department for the operating costs of the cemetery.
   (3) It is the intent of the Legislature that total expenditures
for operations and maintenance should not be more than ____ dollars
($____) 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) Subject to Section 1418, the department shall adopt
regulations for the policies and procedures to be followed with
respect to the construction, placement, donation, and approval of
monuments and memorials proposed to be placed on the cemetery
grounds.
   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, beautification, or repair of
the cemetery.
   (b) Cash donations made pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
deposited into the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Donations
Fund, which is hereby created. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the
Government Code,  money   moneys  in the
fund  is   are  continuously appropriated
to the department for the maintenance, beautification, and repair of
the 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
  moneys  to be appropriated in the annual Budget
Act under Section 2 of this act  is  are 
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.