BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 171 (Irwin) - Department of Veterans Affairs: veterans'
services
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|Version: May 28, 2015 |Policy Vote: V.A. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 13, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 171 would appropriate $5.6 million from the General
Fund every year to the Department of Veterans Affairs to support
county veterans service officers.
Fiscal
Impact:
Annual costs of $5.6 million per year to provide support to
county veterans service officers by the Department of
Veteran's Affairs (General Fund).
Minor costs to develop an allocation formula to govern the
distribution of the appropriated funds to county veterans
service officers (General Fund). The Department has already
developed most of the criteria required in the bill.
Background: County veterans service officers are county officials who are
authorized to represent veterans in the process for claiming
federal veterans' benefits. 56 of California's 58 counties have
AB 171 (Irwin) Page 1 of
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a county veterans service officer. Due to historically low
levels of receipt of benefits by California's veterans, the
Department of Veteran's Affairs has provided funding to county
veterans service officers to provide assistance to veterans in
claiming the benefits they are entitled to.
Current law authorizes funding in the annual budget act to the
Department of Veteran's Affairs for allocation to county
veterans service officers. Current law requires the Department
to collect information on the additional federal veterans'
benefits that California veterans receive due to assistance by
county veterans service officers.
Proposed Law:
AB 171 would appropriate $5.6 million from the General Fund
every year to the Department of Veterans Affairs for allocation
to counties to support county veterans service officers.
The bill would require the Department of Veteran's Affairs to
develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards
for allocating the appropriated money to county veterans service
officers.
This bill is an urgency measure.
Related
Legislation: AB 2703 (Quirk-Silva, 2014) would have required
the Department of Veteran's Affairs to develop an allocation
formula to distribute funds to county veterans service officers.
That bill was held on this committee's Suspense File.
Staff Comments: The current year (2015-16) budget includes $7.5
million in funding for county veterans service officers,
including $5.6 million from the General Fund.
By assisting veterans with the requirements to access their
benefits, county veterans service officers help veterans access
the benefits they are entitled to, bring additional federal
funds into the state economy, and potentially reduce the
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dependence of veterans on state and local programs. According to
the Department of Veterans' Affairs, during the 2013-14 fiscal
year, county veterans service officers assisted California
veterans in accessing $545 million in federal benefits.
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