BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1258
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1258 (Wolk and Correa)
As Amended August 24, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 38-0
VETERANS AFFAIRS 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Cook, Pan, Atkins, Block, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Gorell, Nielsen, V. | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Manuel P�rez, Williams, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Yamada | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
(CDVA) to establish a system for monitoring outcomes for
veterans including employment and employment-related earnings,
incidence of suicide, higher education, and involvement with the
child welfare system and with the criminal justice system.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires CDVA to develop outcome and related indicators for
veterans for the purpose of assessing the status of veterans
in California, for monitoring the quality of programs intended
to serve those veterans, and to guide decisionmaking on how to
improve those services.
2)Specifies that indicators shall reflect the following issues,
including, but not limited to, employment and
employment-related information such as earnings, incidence of
suicide, higher education including access to higher
education, involvement with the child welfare system, and
involvement with the criminal justice system.
3)Authorizes the CDVA to receive any data, the access to which
is not restricted by any state or federal law, that is
necessary to develop outcome and related indicators as
specified, including, but not limited to, data held by other
state agencies or departments.
SB 1258
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4)Directs CDVA to prescribe a manner in which to ensure the
confidentiality of information in the possession of the
department received pursuant to this section, that is equal
to, or greater than, the protections in place for data
received by other state agencies or departments.
5)Permits CDVA to establish one or more advisory bodies to guide
and inform the selection of outcome and related indicators and
the strategy for developing and reporting those indicators, as
determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. An existing
state entity that involves diverse representation of state and
local veterans, including, but not limited to, the California
Interagency Council on Veterans, may act as an advisory body
for purposes of this section.
6)Requires the CDVA to report to the Senate and Assembly
Veterans Affairs Committees, on or before March 1, 2015, all
of the outcome and related indicators developed by the
department. The report shall also include recommendations on
ways to establish a system for monitoring those indicators on
a continual basis, including additional staffing or technology
that might be necessary, as well as any regulatory or fiscal
barriers that may hinder future progress on the development of
a monitoring system.
7)Specifies that the report required to be submitted shall be
submitted in compliance with Government Code Section 9795.
8)Specifies that the requirement for submitting a report is
inoperative on March 1, 2019, pursuant to Government Code
Section 10231.5.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor general fund costs to CDVA to identify,
develop, and report on outcome and related veteran status and
outcome indicators over the next two years. Assuming the
equivalent of one-half of a mid-range personnel-year for two
years, the annual cost would likely be in the range of $45,000.
Subsequent to the actual requirements of this bill, the
development of an ongoing system to monitor developed indicators
would likely be significant, in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
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COMMENTS : The ultimate goal of this bill is to create a system
to assess veterans' status, what happens to them, and what
benefits they obtain so that an accurate picture of how well
their needs are being met can be compiled, thereby driving
future decision making with regard to veterans. However, what
the bill requires is an interim step, a report on which "outcome
indicators" are important, how to establish a system to track
those outcome indicators, and what the barriers might be to
establishing such a system. Assessing the status of veterans,
tracking the success of programs for veterans, and measuring the
extent to which veterans' needs are being met seems aligned with
existing public policy and in particular with the recent
establishment of the Interagency Council on Veterans.
Recent amendments to this bill address a chaptering out issue
with AB 174 (Monning) and SB 691 (Perea).
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler/V.A./(916) 319-3550
FN: 0005548