BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1570
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1570 (Committee on Veterans Affairs)
As Amended April 16, 2009
Majority Vote
VETERANS AFFAIRS 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 10-0
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|Ayes:|Salas, Lieu, V. Manuel |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Davis, |
| |Perez, Saldana, Yamada | |Krekorian, Hall, John A. |
| | | |Perez, Price, Skinner, |
| | | |Solorio, Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
|Nays:|Huber | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires each entity of state government to give
preference to a qualified entity when awarding a grant for a
project that would provide, or when entering into a contract to
provide, social services to veterans. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a qualified entity to submit with the application for
the grant or the bid for the contract a certification, as
provided, from the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
2)Defines a "qualified entity" as an entity that provides
services to veterans and is capable of managing the grant
moneys provided or the contract funds allocated in a fiscally
prudent manner that meets all of the following requirements:
a) Demonstrates a knowledge, experience and capacity to
provide desired services to veterans;
b) Demonstrates through audits and employment history the
fiscal and management capacity to capably perform public
contracts;
c) Is incorporated with the primary purpose of providing
services to veterans and/or their families;
d) Demonstrates that the majority of their resources are
dedicated to serving the needs of veterans and their
AB 1570
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families;
e) Have current all required filings with the Secretary of
State, Charitable Trusts and Attorney General's Office;
f) Have on file, and current, with the Department of
Veterans Affairs: Articles of Incorporation, IRS Letter of
Determination, Employer Identification Number, and last
three years independent Audit Reports.
3)Authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to charge a fee
for the actual costs incurred by the department in reviewing
each application.
EXISTING LAW states that it is the intent of the Legislature to
encourage state agencies, cities, counties, districts, and other
political subdivisions to purchase goods manufactured by, and
services provided by, a nonprofit veteran service agency
whenever it is both feasible to do so and the location of the
nonprofit veteran service agency makes the purchases reasonably
convenient.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would mainly involve grants or contracts
for veterans services entered into by the DVA, the Employment
Development Department, the Department of Mental Health, the
Department of Housing and Community Development, and the
Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. Each department would
probably incur minor absorbable administrative costs to revise
their criteria for awarding grants and contracts to account for
the preference to be provided to qualified entities pursuant to
this bill. The costs to DVA for reviewing applications and
certifying organizations as qualified entities, including
providing an appeals process, would be covered by the allowable
fee.
COMMENTS : The intent of AB 1570 is to ease the problem of the
lack of continuity of care and services by establishing a high
standard certification process for community based veterans'
service organizations (CBOs) and giving those who meet it a
preference when seeking state grants intended for veterans.
This bill is intended to apply to 501(c)(3) non profits veterans
organizations who provides services, such as housing assistance,
substance abuse, mental health, and services case management.
AB 1570
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The committee has stated that it is their intent to enact
legislation that would ensure the selection process used to
determine whether state funds that are intended for veterans
actually go to veterans groups with a track record of providing
specific community reintegration services for veterans. This
would be accomplished by directing the state to award grants for
a project that provides specified services, or enter into a
contract to provide specified services to veterans. The intent
of this legislation is to create a preference for awarding the
grant to, or entering into a contract with, an entity that meets
the specified criteria for community based veterans' service
organization.
The definition of qualified entity in the bill seeks to give
non-profit organizations with a track record of providing
services to veterans as their main focus, an advantage when
applying for state grant funds intended for use by veterans.
This is important because the lack of funding breaks the
continuity of service and resources. These funding sources are
necessary for the survival of CBOs who provide services to
veterans by bringing together a continuum of services, such as
housing assistance, substance abuse, mental health, and case
services management.
Existing CBOs that provide these specialized services to
veterans are operated and housed in facilities built and
maintained with a combination of federal, state and local
dollars for veterans' services. When veteran specific funds are
spread amongst entities that do not have servicing veterans as
their primary purpose those funds are lost by those
organizations serving veterans as their primary function. This
may cause staff lay offs, service disruptions and veterans'
recoveries to be interrupted.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Worthen / V. A. / (916) 319-3550
FN: 0000812