BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
JEFF DENHAM, CHAIRMAN
Bill No: SB 1127
Author: Oropeza
Version: As amended March 22, 2010
Hearing Date: April 13, 2010
Fiscal: Yes
Consultant: Donald E. Wilson
SUBJECT OF BILL
Notification for veterans' families.
PROPOSED LAW
Requires outreach from the California Department of
Veterans' Affairs (CDVA) to the families of returning
veterans to help veterans reintegrate after returning to
California.
EXISTING LAW AND BACKGROUND
1. Returning veterans can often have problems
reintegrating to society after some of the things they
have witnessed in war.
2. After the Civil War, soldiers who returned without
the social skills of an average person were said to
have the ailment of "a soldiers' heart".
3. In the modern era American society witnessed the
problem of reintegration in the early 1980s when it
was discovered that many of the people on skid row
were Vietnam Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress
Syndrome, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD).
4. Soldiers have a tendency when on the verge of
discharge to not bring up unresolved issues for fear
of a delay in separation from the military. So
soldiers may often return home undiagnosed with no
immediate help.
5. Traditionally it is the Federal Government's
responsibility to take care of veterans, but as more
and more unseen ailments such as PTSD and Traumatic
Brain Injury (TBI) are affecting veterans who are
being discharged without diagnosis and without
notification to the Federal Veterans' Administration
(VA).
6. As a result of unseen and undiagnosed ailments
these veterans then fall through the cracks of the VA
health system and land on county mental health
systems, which according to the funding in that
county, may or may not cover that particular ailment.
7. When these conditions go untreated some veterans
turn to drugs and alcohol (now euphemistically called
"self-medicating") and can often lose what few
benefits they have. The loss of these benefits only
continues the downward spiral.
8. When veterans return home undiagnosed and outside
of the VA system, their family is often the only asset
left to help get these veterans help.
COMMENT
1. As presently written this bill is overly broad and
will be cost prohibitive. The California Department
of Veterans' Affairs (CDVA) uses a model that assumes
there are on average four individuals in a veteran's
family. Contacting veterans and family members would
create a necessity to contact over 8 million
individuals, which the department is not staffed to
do. To create a database of several million people
and then hire the staff to contact said individuals is
not possible in this budget atmosphere.
2. The committee may want to consider the following
amendments to accomplish both the Senator's intent of
an outreach program to families while also preventing
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a budget impact that would not allow the program to go
forward.
a) Amendment 1 - Strike present paragraph
page 2, lines one through four.
b) Amendment 2 - Add clause declaring that
CDVA shall make available user friendly internet
resources for families seeking information and
help for returning veterans complete with
information on signs of pertinent ailments from
various conflicts. Information on what agency or
whom to contact to help address the outstanding
issue should also be linked to the internet
resource.
c) Amendment 3 - When possible counties
should make facilities available to the
California Department of Veterans' Affairs or any
of its official representatives or partners such
as County Veteran Service Officers or a private
non-profit designated by the department for the
purposes of reintegration seminars, briefings, or
lectures. If the seminars, briefings, or
lectures are during regular business hours
counties are encouraged to offer the facilities
at no extra charge.
d) Amendment 4 - Printed material for
families shall always be made available to
inquiring family members at any public CDVA
function.
3. This is a new bill. This bill was not voted on in
its prior form.
SUPPORT
American Legion, Department of California;
AMVETS, Department of California;
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
OPPOSE
None received
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