BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Senator Jim Nielsen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2561 Hearing Date: 6/14/16
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|Author: |Committee on Veterans Affairs |
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|Version: |4/12/16 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Wade Teasdale |
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Subject: Veterans cemeteries
DESCRIPTION
Summary:
Establishes the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery
(CCCVC) Project Donation Fund, and requires that donations for
this state veterans cemetery be deposited in this Fund, and be
expended for the maintenance and repair of the cemetery or for a
specified veterans cemetery maintenance or beautification
project. This bill would continuously appropriate the fund to
the department for these purposes.
Existing law
1)Provides for the design, development, and construction of a
state-owned and state-operated veterans' cemetery at the site
of the former Fort Ord.
2)Establishes the CCCVC at Fort Ord Endowment Fund, which is
available upon appropriation by the Legislature for design,
construction, and maintenance costs of the cemetery.
3)Authorizes the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs
(CalVet Secretary), to accept donations for maintenance or
beautification of the veterans' cemetery.
4)Requires that those donations be deposited in the endowment
fund.
AB 2561 (Committee on Veterans Affairs) Page 2
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This bill:
1)Establishes the CCCVC at Ford Ord Project Donation Fund within
the State Treasury.
2)Requires - for donations in the form of cash:
a) If the donor has not specified a purpose, the moneys
shall be deposited in the Endowment Fund, and expended for
the maintenance and repair of the veterans cemetery upon
appropriation by the Legislature.
b) If the donor has specified a purpose, the moneys shall
be deposited in the Project Donation Fund, and be expended
for the specified veterans cemetery maintenance or
beautification project designated by the donor.
3)Provides for continuously appropriating the Project Donation
Fund to CalVet for these purposes without regard for fiscal
year.
BACKGROUND
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) builds
and operates federal veterans cemeteries, including nine
locations in California. The State also operates state veterans
cemeteries at two locations (Yountville and Redding) with a
third one under construction (CCCVC), and a fourth under
consideration for Orange County.
In 1991 the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission
(BRAC) recommended that the United States Army post at Ford Ord
in Monterey County be inactivated. The fort was closed in 1994.
Part of the Base Reuse Plan includes building a veterans
cemetery. The Legislature has authorized a state veterans
cemetery at that location.
Since 1978, under USDVA's State Cemetery Grants Program, the
federal government will fund up to 100 percent 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 in perpetuity.
AB 2561 (Committee on Veterans Affairs) Page 3
of ?
The CCCVC will be the second California state veterans cemetery
developed and constructed in cooperation with the USDVA Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program. (The Northern California Veterans
Cemetery near Redding, which opened in 2006, is California's
first such cemetery constructed under this approach.) CCCVC is
currently in construction with an estimated opening in the
autumn of 2016.
Once completed, the cemetery will serve all veterans, but most
conveniently for the approximately 100,000 veterans and families
living within 75 miles of the site, an area that includes the
counties of Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito, and the
southern half of Santa Clara County.
The estimated interment needs of that area's veteran population
are 5,600 burial and crypt sites for the initial 10 years. The
actual interment sites to be provided in this initial phase will
be approximately 2,800 burial and crypt sites.
The Phase I plan will develop 26 acres of the site. At a
minimum, the cemetery will provide approximately 11,500
gravesites in its 20-year build-out.
AB 3035 (Laird, 2006) established an endowment to cover
maintenance costs -- prior to applying for grant funding for
construction. The endowment fund goal is $3.4 million. The
current strategy is to sell or lease a portion of the site not
required to meet burial needs for the next 100 years.
COMMENT
Author's comments :
The existing Northern California State Veterans Cemetery has
such a donation fund, and the statutory framework for the
proposed Southern California State Veterans Cemetery has such a
fund. The purpose is to provide a "fenced off" fund into which
CalVet may accept private donations for the cemetery's
improvement or enhancement.
AB 2561 would require that donations for the cemetery be
deposited in the fund, and be expended for the maintenance and
repair of the cemetery or for a specified veterans cemetery
AB 2561 (Committee on Veterans Affairs) Page 4
of ?
maintenance or beautification project. AB 2561 would
continuously appropriate the fund to the department for these
purposes.
Committee comments :
This bill conforms the code structure for the CCCSVC more
closely to that of the Northern California and Southern
California state cemeteries, each of which have distinct
donations funds. The endowment fund for the CCCSVC had the
primary purpose of containing an endowment which was
contemplated to be received from private sources in order to
help get the CCCSVC started and to defray the costs of the
initial work. This bill creates a separate fund, apart from the
endowment fund, for the purpose of clearly segregating and
protecting funds received from donors for maintenance and
beautification projects.
Prior/related legislation
SB 106 (Monning, Chapter 41, Statutes of 2013) provides CalVet
statutory authorization to enter into a financial agreement to
receive cash advances into the Endowment Fund, contingent upon
that agreement not requiring the state to repay or make payments
on cash advances. This bill requires CalVet to develop and
submit a State Veterans Cemetery Grant Program application to
USDVA for the establishment of a veterans cemetery upon the
determination of the State Controller, after consultation with
the CalVet Secretary. This bill specifies that if the Secretary
fails to submit a grant application to the Program, if USDVA
denies the grant application, or if the grant funding is not
received for any other reason, requires any amounts donated,
received, or deposited to the Fund by specified entities to be
refunded.
AB 1842 (Monning, Chapter 745, Statutes of 2012) This bill (1)
authorizes CalVet to enter into a financial agreement to receive
cash advances in the existing Endowment Fund previously created
to help the proposed CCC Cemetery; (2) provides such agreements
are permissible so long as no obligations of repayment are made
to the state, and each agreement is reviewed and performed in
consultation with the Department of Finance; (3) authorizes
CalVet to use money received from the prospective federal grant,
transferred to the Fund, to reimburse costs of developing and
AB 2561 (Committee on Veterans Affairs) Page 5
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submitting the grant application, to reimburse any cash advances
made to the Fund.
AB 3035 (Laird, Chapter 291 Statutes of 2006) This bill creates
the CCC State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Endowment Fund in
the State Treasury and directs that moneys in the Endowment Fund
shall be allocated, upon appropriation, to CalVet for annual
administrative and oversight costs of the cemetery.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author.
Support:
American G.I. Forum of California
American Legion - Department of California
AMVETS - Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
Military Officers Association of America - California Council of
Chapters
Veterans of Foreign Wars - Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of American - California State Council
Oppose: None on file.
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