Amended in Assembly June 19, 2014

Amended in Assembly June 12, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 44

Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, and Yamada)

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April 10, 2014

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 44—Relative to veterans.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 44, as amended, Bloom. Veterans’ benefits.

This measure would urge the Department of Defense, Congress, and the President to create a more efficient process of upgrading the status of those who were “dishonorably” or other than honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the United States, and to provide benefits, including applicable spousal benefits, to those veterans discharged solely on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In 1993, Congress adopted a policy known as Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), prohibiting service personnel from
inquiring, or volunteering information, about their sexual
orientation. Prior to 1993, federal law and military regulations
prohibited homosexuality in the Armed Forces of the United States;
and

WHEREAS, From 1980 until the repeal of DADT in 2011, over
32,000 service personnel were separated from the Armed Forces
of the United States under DADT and its predecessor policies; and

WHEREAS, More than 13,000 service personnel were separated
from the Armed Forces of the United States after the adoption of
DADT. Approximately one-quarter of these discharges occurred
during the service member’s first four months of service; and

WHEREAS, California law prohibits discrimination on the basis
of race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age,
sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information, or disability;
and

WHEREAS, Generally, veterans separated from the military
with a discharge that is characterized as “dishonorable” or “other
than honorable” are ineligible to receive federal or state veterans’
benefits, including applicable spousal benefits; and

WHEREAS, Section 711.1 of the Military and Veterans Code
assists veterans by requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs
to provide Internet resources, Internet links, and printed materials
regarding, or created by, veterans’ legal services organizations
that specialize in military discharge upgrades, or links to Internet
resources that provide information and printed resources provided
by veterans’ legal services organizations. It also provides that if
the federal government acts to provide benefits to discharged
veterans who were denied those benefits solely on the basis of
sexual orientation pursuant to any federal policy prohibiting
homosexual personnel from serving in the Armed Forces of the
United States, the state shall provide to those veterans any
state-offered benefits; and

WHEREAS, We must work to ensure that California veterans
who were discharged solely on the basis of their sexual orientation
can access benefits regardless of the classification of their
discharge; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the Department of
Defense, Congress, and the President to create a more efficient
process of upgrading the status of those who were “dishonorably”
or other than honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the
United States, and to provide benefits, including applicable spousal
benefits, to those veterans discharged solely on the basis of their
sexual orientation; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
Department of Defense.