BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 393
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`Date of Hearing: April 7, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Jose Medina, Chair
AB 393
(Roger Hernández) - As Amended March 23, 2015
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly Veterans
Affairs Committee and will be heard as it relates to issues
under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT: Veteran Resource Centers Grant Program
SUMMARY: Establishes the Veteran Resource Centers Grant (VRCG)
Program and the VRCG Fund housed in the State Treasury.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Creates the VRCG Program and Fund.
2)States the Legislature finds and declares all of the
following: a) more than 60,000 veterans and active duty
service members enrolled at campuses of the California
Community Colleges (CCC) in the 2013-14 academic year; b)
education is a tool for community college students to achieve
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economic success; c) veterans face unique challenges in
achieving professional success, including posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and assimilation to civilian life during and
after serving on active duty; and, the intent of the VRCG
Program is to help veterans and active duty service members
enrolled at campuses of the CCC achieve academic and
professional success.
3)Specifies the VRCG Fund is established in the State Treasury;
and, that monies in the Fund, upon appropriation by the
Legislature in the annual Budget Act, shall be allocated to
the CCC Chancellor for the implementation and administration
of the VRCG Program.
4)Authorizes a governing board of a community college district
(CCD) and a CCC campus at which a veterans resource center has
been or is intended to be established to jointly apply to the
CCC Chancellor for a grant for purposes of providing resources
to the veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces of
the United States enrolled at the campus to help them succeed
academically.
5)Specifies that the CCC Chancellor shall do all of the
following:
a) Administer the VRCG Program and distribute awards to
recipient CCDs and CCCs; and,
b) Develop application criteria, administrative guidelines,
and other requirements, by May 26, 2016, through a
stakeholder process and public meetings, for purposes of
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administering the program. Specifies that said
requirements may include the CCC Chancellor awarding
funding priority to CCD and campus applicants that commit
to contributing an amount of funds in addition to the grant
to develop, enhance, or maintain a veteran resource center
at a CCC campus.
6)Requires the CCC Board of Governors (BOG) to submit a progress
report of the VRCG Program to the Legislature on or before May
31, 2018.
7)Specifies that the reporting requirements, as specified, will
become inoperative on June 1, 2022; and, shall comply with
current law reporting requirements.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the California State University (CSU) and the CCC and
encourages the University of California (UC) to coordinate
services for qualified students who are veterans or members of
the military by clearly designating Military and Veterans
Offices and individuals to provide specified services to
qualified students. Current law defines "qualified student"
as a student who is any of the following: an active duty
member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the
California National Guard, a reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the Unites States, a veteran of the Armed Forces of
the United States, and/or a family member of a person (as
described above) who is a legal dependent under 28 years of
age or living in the household of that person and eligible to
be claimed as a dependent on federal or state tax returns
(Education Code Section 69785).
2)Requests the UC, CSU, the CCC to report annually to the
California Department of Veterans Affairs the number of
qualified students assisted by a Military and Veterans Office;
the number of qualified students assisted who are active duty
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members of the Armed Forces of the United States, the
California National Guard, or a reserve component of the Armed
Forces of the United States, or are veterans of the Armed
Forces of the United States; and the total education benefits
by all qualified students assisted by an office (EC Section
69786).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Background. According to a recent survey by the
National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah,
veteran students are six times more likely to attempt suicide
than the general student population. Nearly 50 percent of the
525 veteran students surveyed reported having had suicidal
thoughts some time in their lives. Twenty percent of these
veteran students said they had suicidal thoughts with a plan;
this is a rate three times higher than general college students
who seriously considered suicide. Experts in this field agree
that suicidal thinking with a plan is considered a very severe
suicidal risk. The majority of individuals with serious suicide
risks deal with PTSD symptoms such as: significant anxiety,
intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, and recurrent images
from combat.
According to the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder (Center), in 2012, nationwide over 660,000
undergraduate students were veterans, constituting about 3
percent of all undergraduates. Additionally, in 2013,
approximately 215,000 undergraduate students were military
service members on active duty or in the reserves, constituting
about 1 percent of all undergraduates. Increasing numbers of
military service members are using Government Issued (GI)
education benefits for postsecondary education. The Center
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reports that approximately 40 percent of military service
members used their veteran education benefits in 2007-2008.
According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, in 2013-14, veterans
and active duty military personnel comprised over 60,000 of the
over 2.1 million students attending CCCs.
Purpose of the measure. According to the author, "Based on our
research, current law is silent regarding VRCs [Veterans
Resource Centers]. The recent proliferation of VRCs is largely
based on philanthropic efforts by public and private donors."
The author contends that, "AB 393 demonstrates a commitment by
the state to work with charitable groups and build VRCs to
provide veterans with necessary academic tools to succeed."
Joint hearing on student veteran issues. To prepare for the
influx of veterans, on February 28, 2012, the Assembly Higher
Education and Assembly Veterans Affairs Committees held a joint
oversight hearing on the challenges facing California student
veterans. Several students and representatives from the higher
education institutions spoke for the need for more resources for
veterans' services, including more transition assistance,
improving outreach and campus-based programs, and easing the
matriculation of prior military learning.
Current student veterans outreach. The CCCs are providing more
services to a growing population of student veterans; the CCCCO
recognizes the need for continued support of our student
veterans and as such has been the lead on several statewide
projects, including, but not limited to, the Veterans Resource
Center Project: At VRCs, student veterans can interact with one
another and obtain information and services. As a result, 24
additional colleges have established a VRC on their campus.
To note, because the individual campuses do not have to report to
the CCCCO as to if they have a VRC, it is presently unknown the
exact number of campuses that have VRCs, however, it is estimated
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that at least half of the CCCs have a VRC. Additionally, VRCs are
staffed by either full-time employees or a mix of volunteers and
student mentors.
Related legislation. AB 421 (Calderon), which will be heard by
this Committee today, would, among other things, require the
governing board of a CCC to provide each college within the
district a veterans counselor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
Community College League of California
Citrus Community College
Military Officers Association of America, California Council of
Chapters
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
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23 individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960