Amended in Assembly April 22, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1565

Introduced by Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez

January 29, 2014

An act to add begin delete Section 714 end delete begin insert Article 3.05 (commencing with Section 987.40) end insert to begin insert Chapter 6 of Division 4 of end insert the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1565, as amended, V. Manuel Pérez. Department of Veterans Affairs: state services for veterans.

Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans.

This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to begin delete identify the state services most commonly used by veterans, to work with the state agencies that provide those services to develop a single application process or form for veterans to use to apply for those services, and to create a process for collecting those applications and forwarding them to appropriate state agencies. end delete begin insert review existing providers of transportation services to veterans for the purpose of identifying those areas of the state most in need of volunteer transportation providers for veterans. The bill would also require the department to compile a list, by county, of veterans’ transportation providers and to make the list available on its Internet Web site and on mobile devices, as specified. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 3.05 (commencing with Section 987.40)
is added to Chapter 6 of Division 4 of the end insert begin insert Military and Veterans
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 3.05. end insert   Veterans Transportation Program

 

begin insert 987.40. end insert   

(a) The department shall review existing veterans’
transportation providers for the purpose of identifying those areas
of the state most in need of volunteer transportation providers for
veterans.

(b) (1) The department shall compile a list, by county, of all
entities that provide transportation services to veterans for the
purposes of attending medical and mental health appointments,
including the provider’s telephone number, address, and point of
contact, if known.

(2) The department shall post the list of veterans’ transportation
providers on its Internet Web site and shall make that list available
via the department’s mobile application, known as “CalVet Mobile
App.,” to enable access by mobile telephone and other devices.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 714 is added to the Military and Veterans
Code, to read:

714.  

The department shall do all of the following:

(a) Identify the state services most commonly used and sought
by veterans, including unemployment and disability insurance
benefits and the CalWORKS program, using information gathered
from any relevant source, including data collection efforts related
to veterans, such as the biennial California Women Veterans
Survey and the Los Angeles Survey.

(b) Work with state agencies that administer the services
identified in subdivision (a) to develop a single application process
or form that a veteran could use to apply for those identified
services.

(c) Create a process for collecting applications developed
pursuant to subdivision (b) that are submitted by veterans, and
forwarding those applications to the appropriate state agencies.

end delete