BILL NUMBER: AB 1453 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 21, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2014
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, 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 to be located at a specified site in the
City of Irvine. Subject to specified requirements described in
federal law, the bill would make honorably discharged veterans, their
spouses, and eligible dependent 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
dependent children.
The bill would create the Southern California Veterans Cemetery
Master Development Fund and would require all moneys received for the
design, development, construction, and equipment of the cemetery to
be deposited in this fund. 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 to be
deposited in this fund. The bill would make expenditure of the moneys
in those funds subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill
would declare the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in
the annual Budget Act to fund annual cemetery operations and
maintenance and to enact other related necessary additional
legislation.
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 appropriate $500,000 from the General Fund to the
department to be used for the grant proposal, as described below. The
bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to appropriate
funds in the annual Budget Act to support the department in carrying
out these provisions. The bill would specify that if no appropriation
is made for those purposes, the department would not be required to
comply with 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 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 specified moneys appropriated to the department until
the department has received written approval of the grant requested
and a commitment from the federal Veterans Cemetery Grants Program
that the funds appropriated under the grant are available for
expenditure by the state.
Appropriation: yes.
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 at the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro,
on 125 acres known as the Amended and Restated Development Agreement
Site in the Great Park in the City of Irvine.
(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) Subject to the eligibility requirements described in
Section 2402 of Title 38 of the United States Code, as amended from
time to time, honorably discharged veterans, their spouses, and
eligible dependent children are eligible for interment in the
cemetery. The department shall establish a fee to be charged for
interment of veteran spouses and eligible dependent 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. Expenditure of those moneys shall be
subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
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.
Expenditure of those moneys shall be subject to appropriation by the
Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds in
the annual Budget Act to fund annual cemetery operations and
maintenance and to enact any additional legislation that may be
necessary to set dollar limits on funding for those operations and
that maintenance.
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, moneys in the fund 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. The Legislature hereby appropriates five hundred thousand
dollars ($500,000) from the General Fund to the Department of
Veterans Affairs for completion of the preliminary or conceptual
design work required during the preapplication phase of the grant
proposal described in Section 4 of this act.
SEC. 3. 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. 4. (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 moneys to be
appropriated in the annual Budget Act under Section 3 of this act 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.