BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1453
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1453 (Quirk-Silva) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: Veterans
AffairsVote: 9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
(CalVet), in cooperation with local government entities in
Orange County, to design, develop, construct, and equip a
state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans
Cemetery for all honorably discharged veterans eligible and
their spouses and children. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires CalVet to apply to the Veterans Cemetery Grants
Program of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for a
grant to cover 100% of the estimated cost for designing,
developing, constructing, and equipping the cemetery.
2)Declares the intent of the Legislature to appropriate
unspecified amounts in the annual Budget Act for cemetery
operating costs, and declares that expenditures for operations
should not exceed an unspecified amount.
3)Declares the intent of the Legislature to prohibit expenditure
of money appropriated to CalVet for cemetery purposes until
CalVet has received approval of the federal grant request.
4)Requires CalVet to establish a fee to be charged for interment
of veteran spouses and children.
5)Creates the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Master
Development Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to receive
all funds for design, development, and construction of the
cemetery.
6)Creates the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual
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Maintenance Fund to receive all funds received for the
maintenance of the cemetery, including fees received for the
interment of a spouse or child.
7)Creates the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Donations
Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to receive donations.
FISCAL EFFECT
Based on the Central Coast Fort Ord cemetery, the cost of
preliminary plans and working drawings will be in the range of
$2 million. The total cost of the cemetery is unknown at this
time, as site and scope have not been identified. Because
revenue sources for plans and drawings may ultimately include
the GF, and because this bill includes legislative intent for a
blank budget appropriation, this bill creates considerable GF
pressure.
Though the bill specifies legislative intent to not expend
appropriated funds until the state receives approval of a
federal grant, the bill also specifies legislative intent that
the CalVet may spend what is necessary to complete the grant
proposal, which could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars
(GF).
In theory, after the grant application and preliminary plans,
most state expenditures will be reimbursed by the federal grant,
which would be awarded prior to the start of construction,
leaving the state's major fiscal exposure to maintenance and
operational costs, likely in the range of $500,000 annually. The
intent is about half of these ongoing costs would be covered by
burial fees, with the balance covered by the GF and endowment
fund contributions.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to author, the National Cemetery
Administration states the closest regional option for Orange
County veterans is the Riverside Veterans Cemetery, which
offers neither a convenient location nor a long term solution
for the large number of Orange County veterans and their
families. Orange County has been identified as the state's
largest county without a veterans cemetery, despite the fact
that Orange County is home to Army, Navy, and Marine bases.
There is clear need, evidence, and community desire for
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establishing a veterans cemetery within Orange County.
2)Current Law.
a) Requires CalVet to administer a state-operated Northern
California Veterans Cemetery in Redding.
b) Requires CalVet, in cooperation with the local
government entities in County of Monterey, to design,
develop, and construct the state-owned and state-operated
Central Coast Veterans Cemetery, located on the site of the
former Fort Ord.
c) Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of the
federal Department of Veterans Affairs to make a grant to
any state for the purpose of establishing, expanding, or
improving a veterans' cemetery owned and operated by the
state.
3)A long and winding road . This bill is the initial step in what
is a long and winding road to funding and creation of a
veterans cemetery. The first legislative proposal to establish
the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery was introduced in 2006 by
Assemblymember John Laird. Several million dollars, several
bills, and eight years later, the federal grant is still in
process.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081