BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1453
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Sharon Quirk-Silva, Chair
AB 1453 (Quirk-Silva) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
SUBJECT : Southern California Veterans Cemetery.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Veterans
Affairs (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 bill would also make all
honorably discharged veterans eligible for interment in the
cemetery and their spouses and children to the extent provided
by federal law and regulation. Additionally, the bill would
require the department to establish a fee to be charged for
interment of veteran spouses and children. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Creates 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.
2)Creates 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.
3)Makes 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.
4)Authorizes the cemetery administrator to accept donations of
personal property to be used for the maintenance,
beautification, or repair of the cemetery. Requires 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
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continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an
appropriation.
5)Declares 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. Specifies that if no
appropriation is made for these purposes, the department would
not be required to comply with the provisions of this bill.
6)Requires 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.
7)Declares 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.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the department, in voluntary cooperation with the
Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the boards of
supervisors of specified northern California counties, to
design, develop, and construct a state-owned and
state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery.
2)Requires 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, to design, develop, and
construct the state-owned and state-operated Central Coast
Veterans Cemetery, which shall be located on the site of the
former Fort Ord.
3)The Secretary of Veterans Affairs of the federal Department of
Veterans Affairs is authorized 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown at this time.
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COMMENTS :
Traditionally, veterans' cemeteries have been federal
responsibilities, but as the last century came to a close the
federal government enacted a cost saving measure by offering to
build cemeteries but let states pay the maintenance costs in
perpetuity as was done with the now completed Northern
California State Veterans Cemetery (NCVC), California's first,
and the Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery, which will be the
second when complete.
Under the federal Veterans Affairs State Cemetery Grants
Program, the federal government will reimburse up to 100% of
the cost of establishing, expanding, or improving state
veterans' cemeteries, including the acquisition of initial
operating equipment, if the state agrees to cover the
administrative and oversight costs. These administrative and
oversight costs are offset eventually through federal veterans
burial benefits. The USDVA will not pay any off site costs,
land purchases, demolition costs or State employee costs such as
DGS may charge.
The administrative, oversight and operational costs are offset
by a federal plot allowance paid to the state for the burial of
veterans by the USDVA and the dependent fees charged by the
state. The percentage of those costs depends on the type of
cemetery operation. The federal Plot Allowance is currently
$734 and NCVC dependent fees are currently $500.
According to the department:
The burial rate must be determined and is the primary
factor that will determine the size, type and cost of
construction, as well as the operational costs of the
Veterans Cemetery. We will consider the veterans
population, veteran's death rate, and distance from cities
to the proposed location of the cemetery and of existing
active veteran's cemeteries. Riverside National Cemetery is
the closest National Cemetery to Orange, Los Angeles and
Ventura Counties, which is the area that the proposed
Veterans Cemetery would serve. However, the locations of
Bakersfield National Cemetery to the north and Miramar
National Cemetery to the south were considered.
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The National Cemetery Administration uses a 75 mile radius
to determine if a veteran is being served by an existing
Veterans Cemetery. The flaw in their logic in determining
if a veteran is being served within a 75 mile radius is
that they do not consider natural barriers, location of
roadways, traffic and public transportation, which are
proven barriers in the actual use by veterans of veterans
cemeteries.
Much of the area that our proposed veteran's cemetery would
serve is inside the 75 mile radius of Riverside National
Cemetery, but this fact will not prevent the state from
obtaining a federal grant to construct a State Veterans
cemetery. However, it must be considered when determining
our facilities burial rate. For this reason we have not
considered the veterans population in Riverside or San
Bernardino Counties that may be closer to our proposed
location. We are considering the entire veteran population
of Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties as those
veterans would reside closer to our proposed location than
to the Riverside National Cemetery.
The National Cemetery Administration inters 13.5% of the
eligible veterans in their catchment areas (75 mile radius)
nationwide. The Northern California Veterans Cemetery
(NCVC) inters 27% of the eligible veterans within a 75 mile
radius of the cemetery.
When determining the burial rate for the California Central
Coast Veterans Cemetery (CCCVC) CDVA and the USDVA agreed
on a 25% interment rate based on our experience at NCVC.
Understanding that there are so many unmeasurable factors
in determining the percentage this is not a science, but an
estimation of the actual number of veterans that will be
interred in our proposed Veterans Cemetery.
Casket and Cremated Interments at the Proposed Veterans
Cemetery
USDVA Burial Rate Percentage - 13.5% = 2,124 veteran
burials per year, including dependent burials = 2,974
NCVC Burial Rate Percentage - 27% = 4,247 veteran burials
per year, including dependent burials = 5,746
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CCCVC proposed Rate Percentage - 25% = 3,933 veterans
burials per year, including dependent burials = 5,506
Dependent burials are not considered in the above figures
and USDVA and CDVA agree that it averages an additional 40%
to the total of veterans interred in veteran's cemeteries.
The two State Veterans Cemeteries are distant from Orange
County; the Northern California State Veterans Cemetery is
located in near Redding in Igo, California, and the Central
Coast State Veterans Cemetery will be located in Monterey,
California.
Although the National Cemetery in Riverside is a beautiful
resting place for veterans, due to its distance from Orange
County, regional geography, limited driving routes, and the
population density of the region, the needs of Orange County
veterans, veterans from other southern California coastal areas,
and veterans' families are not met by the National Cemetery in
Riverside.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American GI Forum
American Legion, Department of California
American Legion, Post 131 of Santa Ana
American Legion, Post 277 of Placentia
American Legion District 29
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officer
California Republican Assembly
California Senior Legislature
California State Commanders Veterans Council
City of Brea
City of Garden Grove
City of Huntington Beach
City Irvine
City of Laguna Beach
City of Los Alamitos
City of Mission Viejo
City of Santa Ana
City of Stanton
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Coast Community College District
Disabled American Veterans, Department of California
Fullerton College
Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670
League of United Latin American Citizens
Michael A. Houlemard, Jr- Executive Officer of the Fort Ord
Reuse Authority
Orange County Cemetery District
Orange County Employees Association
Public Law Center
Veterans Employment Committee of Orange County
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
125 Individuals
City of Buena Park
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler / V. A. / (916) 319-3550