BILL NUMBER: AJR 71	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 5, 2004

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wolk
    (Coauthor: Assembly Member Parra) 
    (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Dutton, Kehoe, Matthews,
Mountjoy, Nakano, Parra, Runner, Salinas, Wiggins, and Wyland) 

                        MARCH 23, 2004

   Assembly Joint Resolution No. 71--Relative to veterans health
care.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 71, as amended, Wolk.  Veterans health care.
   This measure would request the President and Congress of the
United States to enact appropriate legislation to provide a
guaranteed level of funding for veterans health care, and to restore
medical benefits eligibility for veterans in Priority Group 8.  This
measure would also urge the Department of Veterans Affairs to seek
out eligible veterans to provide them with benefits information.
   Fiscal committee:  no.




   WHEREAS, The level of funding for the federal Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) health care under the annual federal budget is
within the discretion of Congress; and
   WHEREAS, Section 1710(a) of Title 38 of the United States Code
provides that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs "shall" furnish
hospital care and medical services, but only to the extent Congress
has provided money to cover the costs of care; and
   WHEREAS, Federal law charges the VA with a duty to seek out
eligible veterans and their family members, and to provide them with
information and assistance to ensure that they apply for all
available VA benefits and services; and
   WHEREAS, Veterans have earned the right to VA medical care through
their extraordinary sacrifices and service to this Nation; and
   WHEREAS, Veterans enrolling in the medical benefits package are
classified in enrollment priority groups, with Priority Group 1
having the highest priority and Priority Group 8 having the lowest
priority; and
   WHEREAS, The cumulative effects of continuing shortfalls in health
care funding and the lack of outreach to advise veterans of the
health care resources to which they may be entitled has now resulted
in the rationing of health care, including the suspension of new
enrollment of veterans assigned to Priority Group 8 and curtailed
enrollment to many other veterans; and
   WHEREAS, Veterans in Priority Group 8 include many seniors who are
residents of California and are unable to afford medical care,
mentally ill, or homeless, and unaware of their rights as veterans;
and
   WHEREAS, When veterans cannot get needed health care services from
the VA when they go elsewhere, shifting the cost of care to state
welfare and Medicaid programs or other safety net hospitals where
society pays more and the patient suffers; and
   WHEREAS, The Veterans Health Administration is the most efficient
and cost-effective health care system, providing care for 25 percent
to 30 percent less than comparable Medicare services; and
   WHEREAS, Even though the VA serves a population of veterans who
are older, sicker, and have a higher prevalence of mental and
behavior health problems, it does so at well below Medicare rates;
and
   WHEREAS, Many veterans need and depend on the VA health care
system and its specialized services concerning prosthetics,
posttraumatic stress disorder, spinal cord injury, and blind
rehabilitation to treat their service-connected disabilities and meet
their unique health care needs; and
   WHEREAS, The proposed 2004-05 federal budget does not provide the
necessary funding to adequately provide health care to all of our
veterans; and 
   WHEREAS, It is disingenuous for our government to promise health
care to veterans, but then make it unattainable because of inadequate
funding; and 
   WHEREAS, Making veterans' health care mandatory would ensure the
government meets its obligation to provide timely, quality health
care to all veterans eligible for care in the VA health care system;
now therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the President and
Congress of the United States to amend Title 38 of the United States
Code to provide a guaranteed level of funding for veterans health
care and to require that medical benefits package eligibility be
restored for veterans in Priority Group 8; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature urges the federal Department of
Veterans Affairs to carry out its duties to seek out eligible
veterans and their family members, and to provide them with
information and assistance to ensure that they apply for all
available VA benefits and services, and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President of the United States, the Senate
Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Congress, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the United
States Committee on Veterans Affairs, each member of the California
Delegation to Congress, and to the author for appropriate
distribution.