BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 905
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  AB 905 (Pan) - As Introduced:  February 17, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              
          JudiciaryVote:10-0 (Consent)
                        Veterans Affairs                        8-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill,  as proposed to be amended  :  

           1)Recognizes in state law the U. S. Department of Defense (DD) 
            Form 93 (Record of Emergency Data) as an acceptable written 
            instrument of a military service member's designation of a 
            person to direct the disposition of the service member's 
            remains in the event of their death while on active duty with 
            the U.S. Armed Forces.

          2)Makes the above operative only if the United State Code is 
            amended to allow a service member to designate any person, 
            regardless of the relationship of the designee to the 
            decedent, as the agent with the right of disposition of a 
            service member's remains.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible fiscal impact.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  Pursuant to Section 564 of U.S. Public Law 
            109-163, active duty and activated guard/reserve members of 
            the military must complete the federally mandated DD Form 93, 
            in which, among other things, they must designate a person 
            authorized to direct disposition ("PADD") of their remains in 
            the event of death. The document is witnessed (but not 
            notarized) by an authorized military official, and is updated 
            every year on the service member's birthday and prior to each 








                                                                  AB 905
                                                                  Page  2

            deployment.

            According to instructions printed on the form itself: 

               For military personnel, �this form] is used to designate 
               beneficiaries for certain benefits in the event of the 
               Service member's death. It is also a guide for disposition 
               of that member's pay and allowances if captured, missing, 
               or interned.

           2)Purpose  .  California law does not recognize the DD Form 93 as 
            an acceptable written document for service members, in lieu of 
            a durable power of attorney for health care. This could pose a 
            problem if the person authorized to direct disposition by the 
            service member on his DD Form 93 differs from the person 
            authorized to do so pursuant to Health & Safety Code Section 
            7100, which specifies a hierarchy of persons from which to 
            determine the authorized person, the first being an agent 
            under a power of attorney for health care if one was 
            designated. This bill seeks to prevent conflict over the 
            disposition of remains of fallen service members by formally 
            validating the designation of a person authorized to direct 
            disposition on DD Form 93 for that same purpose under existing 
            state law, but only in the specific case where the service 
            members dies while on active duty.

           3)Prior Legislation  . This bill is virtually identical to AB 2190 
            (Block) of 2010, which passed the Assembly unanimously but 
            died in the Senate Judiciary Committee due to the potential 
            conflict with California law regarding designation of a 
            domestic partner as an agent having the right of disposition 
            of the service member's remains.

           4)Amendments  add the provision described in #2 of the summary 
            and seek to address the issue that arose with AB 2190. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081