BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
                             JEFF DENHAM, CHAIRMAN
                                             


          Bill No:        SB 469
          Author:         Aanestad
          Version:        As Introduced
          Hearing Date:   April 14, 2009
          Fiscal:         Yes
          Consultant:     Donald E. Wilson

                                 SUBJECT OF BILL  
          Burial fees waivers for the Northern California Veterans'  
          Cemetery  
           
                                   PROPOSED LAW  
          Waive burial fees for veterans' families who do not have  
          "sufficient means to pay for the costs of interment" and  
          establish a non-state fund for the payment of these costs.

                           EXISTING LAW AND BACKGROUND  
          AB 50 of 1889 required California's counties to give  
          indigent veterans proper burials in non-pauper graves.

          On Veterans' Day 2005, California opened its first  
          veterans' cemetery.  Some families have been denied burial  
          in the cemetery because of an inability to pay burial fees.
           
                                    COMMENT  
             1.   For 119 years California has required counties to  
               provide indigent veterans with a proper burial based  
               on the premise that those who served their country  
               deserved better than the anonymous obscurity of a mass  
               grave that had been reserved for criminals in past  
               centuries. 

             2.   Present reality is that poor or indigent veterans  
               are forbidden to be in a county pauper's grave but not  
               necessarily allowed to rest in eternity next to their  
               shipmates, squad leaders, or squadron leaders.

             3.   Should this iniquity remain when the solution is at  
               no cost to the state?

             4.   This bill should be amended to include all state  
               veterans' cemeteries.   
                                         
                                    SUPPORT  






          American Legion, Department of California
          Sons of the American Legion
          Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
          AMVETS, Department of California

                                      OPPOSE 
          None received








































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