BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2085
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
2085 (Irwin)
As Enrolled August 23, 2016
2/3 vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Veterans |9-0 |Irwin, Chávez, | |
|Affairs | |Achadjian, Alejo, | |
| | |Brown, Daly, Frazier, | |
| | |Mathis, Salas | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
AB 2085
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(June 2, 2016) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 17, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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SUMMARY: Creates the Office of Military Legal Assistance within
the Military Department upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Creates the Office of Military Legal Assistance in the
Military Department.
2)Requires the office to assist current servicemembers in the
state who require legal assistance by providing access to
educational and informational resources and by providing
referral services to available legal assistance programs,
including reduced fee services, pro bono services, and
self-help services.
3)States that the office may provide assistance in legal areas,
including, but not limited to, the federal Servicemembers
Civil Relief Act, the federal Uniformed Services Employment
and Reemployment Rights Act, consumer protection, and
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landlord-tenant issues.
4)Predicates the bill's effect on appropriation of funds by the
Legislature.
5)Contains a sunset clause.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW: Each armed service of the United States
has a legal assistance program with a governing regulation
promulgated by the service.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Appropriations Committee:
Cost in the $800,000 range for eight positions to serve any one
of the 175,000 servicemembers in California. Nevada has an
office under its Attorney General to provide service to active
members and veterans; it is staffed with two positions to assist
16,000 active members and an unknown number of veterans.
COMMENTS: According to the author:
Attorneys in California are needed to assist active duty
servicemembers and reservists with legal matters. Military
personnel are often presented with legal challenges due to the
requirements of their service, such as frequent relocation,
interrupted employment, financial need, and strain on family
life, among others.
While some legal services are provided to servicemembers through
their respective service's Judge Advocates General (JAG), there
is a gap in service for a variety of legal issues, particularly
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in civil law, because JAGs are prohibited from representing
servicemembers in civilian court in almost all cases. The
primary legal areas with which servicemembers require assistance
include the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, family law,
consumer fraud, property and landlord issues, naturalization and
immigration, creditor and debtor issues, and predatory lending.
Army Regulation AR 27-3 is a good example of the governing
military legal assistance program regulation. AR 27-3 states in
pertinent part:
The mission of the legal assistance program is to assist those
eligible for legal assistance with their personal legal
affairs in a timely and professional manner by -
1) Meeting their needs for information on personal
legal matters.
2) Resolving their personal legal problems whenever
possible. ?
The mission of the legal assistance program is based on the
following military needs:
1) Readiness. Because Active Army and Reserve Component
(RC) soldiers and emergency-essential Department of
Defense (DOD) civilian employees must be prepared for
immediate mobilization and deployment, their personal
legal affairs must be in order at all times. ...
Possessing the capability to deliver legal assistance on
short notice to great numbers during a brief period of
time is essential to readiness.
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2) Morale. Fostering the high morale of soldiers and
their families is an important aspect of readiness. High
morale is enhanced by providing soldiers and their
families information, advice, and assistance responsive
to their personal legal needs and problems.
3) Discipline. Personal legal difficulties may cause
low morale and disciplinary problems and may adversely
affect combat readiness. Prompt legal assistance in
resolving these difficulties is an effective preventive
law measure.
4) Quality force. Providing legal assistance is part
of the Army's ongoing effort to maintain a quality of
life that will attract quality people. The Army must
take care of its own if it is to recruit and retain a
quality force.
Under AR 27-3 legal assistance may be provided for: Ministerial
services, legal counseling, legal correspondence, legal
negotiation, legal document preparation, legal document filing,
and pro se assistance. However, the regulation authorizes in
court representation of clients only in very limited
circumstances. Thus, in civilian court, it is very unlikely
that a military member will have JAG representation.
Related Legislation: In 2015, Nevada enacted SB 60, similar
legislation to this bill, which created the Office of Military
Legal Assistance in the Nevada Attorney General's Office.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
This bill creates, upon appropriation by the
Legislature and until July 1, 2022, the Office of
Military Legal Assistance within the California
Military Department to assist current service members
who require legal assistance.
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I believe this type of bill is more properly
considered during budget deliberations.
Analysis Prepared by:
John Spangler / V.A. / (916) 319-3550 FN:
0005049