Amended in Assembly May 28, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 17, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 171

Introduced by Assembly Member Irwin

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Brough, Brown, Chávez, Cooley, Cooper, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Gallagher, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Lackey, Linder, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Salas, Steinorth, Mark Stone, and Wood)

(Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Fuller, Hueso, Huff, McGuire, Morrell, Nguyen, Pan, and Vidak)

January 22, 2015

An act to amend Section 972.1 of, and to add Section 972.3 to, the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 171, as amended, Irwin. Department of Veterans Affairs: veterans’ services.

Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to counties that comply with certain conditions.

This bill would begin delete continuously end delete appropriate begin insert on an annual basis end insert the sum of $5,600,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs to be available for allocation to counties to fund the activities of county veterans service officers, as specified. begin insert The bill would specify that the money appropriated would only be available for encumbrance and expenditure for one year. end insert The bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2016, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers, and would require those continuously appropriated moneys to be allocated in accordance with that formula, as specified. The bill would also delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating an
entirely new generation of veterans who may be eligible for federal
veterans benefits because of their war service and their physical
and mental conditions.

(b) Californians make up to 10 percent of the federal military
forces used in these conflicts. Furthermore, the California National
Guard and California-based reserve units have contributed
significantly to these current conflicts.

(c) Many of these returning California veterans are not aware
of the federal and state benefits that are available to them.

(d) Additionally, it is estimated that in California there may be
over two million veterans, and their widows or widowers, who are
unaware that they may be eligible for pensions from the federal
government based upon their, or their spouses’, past military
service in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf War.

(e) California’s county veterans service officers are the initial
local point of contact for claimants accessing the United States
Department of Veterans Affairs.

(f) The costs of maintaining county veterans service officers
are shared from county general funds and state reimbursement to
the counties. In 1997, in order to track performance, the Legislature
enacted and the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 608, enacted
as Chapter 318 of the Statutes of 1997, which required the
California Department of Veterans Affairs to annually report the
amount of monetary benefits paid to veterans by the federal
government that were attributable to the assistance of county
veterans service officers. Senate Bill 608 also required the
Department of Finance to consider an increase in the annual budget
for county veterans service officers of up to $5 million, if approved
in the annual budget process. In 2009, the Legislature enacted and
the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 419 enacted as Chapter
183 of the Statutes of 2009, which raised this amount to $11
million, if approved in the annual budget process.

(g) As a result of this annual reporting, by the end of 2013, it
had been determined that from 1995 to 2013, inclusive, the state
had cumulatively budgeted $41.4 million for its share of the cost
of the county veterans service officers. As a result of this
investment, county veteran service officers were able to assist local
veterans in obtaining $4.1 billion, in new federal moneys. This is
a return of about $98 for every $1 the state allocates to county
veterans service officers. Furthermore, the $4.1 billion only reflects
the actual monetary benefits qualified for in a given year. The
monetary benefits qualified for in prior years are not tracked, yet
the veterans and their dependents may continue to receive those
benefits for the rest of their lives. Added to this stellar return on
the state’s investment, but not counted in the annual reporting, are
the Medi-Cal cost avoidance savings incurred as a result of county
veterans service officers qualifying and shifting veterans away
from Medi-Cal and into the appropriate federal veterans program.

(h) The county veterans service officers had accomplished all
of this without ever reaching the allowable state budget allocation
of $11 million, set in 2009. To date, the county veterans service
officers have not received more than $5.6 million per year from
the state.

(i) It is critical that the county veterans service officers receive
a steady stream of funding because there continues to be a large
number of underserved veterans and their dependents who are not
aware of the federal benefits available to them as a result of their
military service. Studies from other states have shown that
increases in county veterans service officers have resulted in larger
amounts of federal moneys to veterans. These new federal moneys
and benefits are paid directly from the United States Department
of Veterans Affairs to the qualifying veteran or their dependent
and are used in the local economy.

SEC. 2.  

Section 972.1 of the Military and Veterans Code, as
amended by Section 3 of Chapter 401 of the Statutes of 2012, is
amended to read:

972.1.  

(a) Funds shall be disbursed each fiscal year on a pro
rata basis to counties that have established and maintain a county
veterans service officer in accordance with the staffing level and
workload of each county veterans service officer under a formula
based upon performance that shall be developed by the Department
of Veterans Affairs for these purposes.

(1) For the purposes of this section, “workload unit” means a
specific claim activity that is used to allocate subvention funds to
counties, which is approved by the department, and performed by
county veterans service officers.

(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, the department, by June
30, 2013, shall develop a performance-based formula that will
incentivize county veterans service officers to perform workload
units that help veterans access federal compensation and pension
benefits and other benefits, in order to maximize the amount of
federal money received by California veterans.

(b) The department shall annually determine the amount of new
or increased monetary benefits paid to eligible veterans by the
federal government attributable to the assistance of county veterans
service officers. The department shall, on or before October 1 of
each year, prepare and transmit its determination for the preceding
fiscal year to the Department of Finance and the Legislature. The
Department of Finance shall review the department’s determination
in time to use the information in the annual Budget Act for the
budget of the department for the next fiscal year.

(c) The department shall conduct a review of the
high-performing and low-performing county veterans service
officers, begin delete and end delete begin insert and, end insert based on this review, shall produce a
best-practices manual for county veterans service officers by June
30, 2013.

(d) The Legislature finds and declares that it is an efficient and
reasonable use of state funds to increase the annual budget for
county veterans service officers up to a total of eleven million
dollars ($11,000,000) if it is justified by the monetary benefits to
the state’s veterans attributable to the effort of these officers.

(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2016,
and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 3.  

Section 972.1 of the Military and Veterans Code, as
amended by Section 2 of Chapter 401 of the Statutes of 2012, is
amended to read:

972.1.  

(a) Funds shall be disbursed each fiscal year on a pro
rata basis to counties that have established and maintain a county
veterans service officer in accordance with the staffing level and
workload of each county veterans service officer under a formula
based upon performance that shall be developed by the Department
of Veterans Affairs for these purposes, and that shall allocate
county funds in any fiscal year for county veterans service officers
in an amount not less than five million six hundred thousand dollars
($5,600,000).

(b) The department shall annually determine the amount of new
or increased monetary benefits paid to eligible veterans by the
federal government attributable to the assistance of county veterans
service officers. The department shall, on or before October 1 of
each year, prepare and transmit its determination for the preceding
fiscal year to the Department of Finance and the Legislature. The
Department of Finance shall review the department’s determination
in time to use the information in the annual Budget Act for the
budget of the department for the next fiscal year.

(c) The Legislature finds and declares that it is an efficient and
reasonable use of state funds to increase the annual budget for
county veterans service officers up to a total of eleven million
dollars ($11,000,000) if it is justified by the monetary benefits to
the state’s veterans attributable to the effort of these officers.

(d) This section shall become operative January 1, 2016.

SEC. 4.  

Section 972.3 is added to the Military and Veterans
Code, to read:

972.3.  

(a) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government
Code, the sum of five million six hundred thousand dollars
($5,600,000) is hereby begin delete continuously end delete appropriated begin insert annually end insert from
the General Fund each fiscal year commencing July 1, 2015, to
the Department of Veterans Affairs to be available for allocation
to counties to fund the activities of county veterans service officers
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 972.1. begin insert Moneys appropriated
pursuant to this subdivision shall only be available for
encumbrance and expenditure for one year after the date upon
which it first becomes available for encumbrance. end insert

(b) The Department of Veterans Affairs shall, no later than July
1, 2016, develop an allocation formula based upon performance
standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service
by county veterans service officers. Moneys appropriated for this
purpose shall be allocated each fiscal year in accordance with that
formula among those counties that have established and maintained
a county veterans service officer pursuant to Section 970.

SEC. 5.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

Approximately 50 percent of the current General Fund
appropriation in support of county veteran service offices
operations expires on June 30, 2015. In order to provide for
continuity of services critical to the successful reintegration of
California’s veterans, to increase California’s utilization of veteran
benefits, and to ensure veteran’s claims for benefits are processed
in a timely manner, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.