BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1565 (V. Manual Perez) - LGBT Veteran Services
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: VA 4-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 11, 2014
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1565 authorizes the Department of Aging to
provide grants to nonprofit organizations for outreach services
to elder veterans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender
(LGBT).
Fiscal Impact:
Annual administrative expenses of $63,603 (General Fund)
Unknown appropriation for future grant funding (General
Fund)
The Department of Aging estimates the need for 0.6 PY. First
year costs result in startup activities including developing
contracts, requesting proposals, and posting award notices.
Ongoing costs include contract oversight activities and
administering the grants.
Background: The federal VA's Veterans Benefits Administration
administers a variety of benefits and services that provide
financial and other forms of assistance to service members,
veterans, their dependents and survivors. These include monetary
payments, education and training, home loans, life insurance,
and vocational rehabilitation. In addition, the VA's Veterans
Health Administration provides health care to eligible veterans.
Federal veterans payments, including pensions, disability
compensation, and "aid and attendance," are vital to helping
senior veterans on fixed incomes live in safety and dignity.
Furthermore, federal VA health care may be their best health
care option for senior veterans.
AB 1565 (V. Manuel Perez)
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Older veterans (60 and older) are those who performed their
military service between World War Two and the Vietnam Era. By
definition, their service came long before the September 2011
change in Department of Defense policy, which now allows open
service by LGBT members. Older gay and lesbian veterans served
within different cultural and legal paradigms under which, had
their sexual orientation been revealed during military service
in the 1940s through 1980s, and perhaps even under the
now-defunct "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" period (1994-2011), the
career or personal consequences were likely to be serious at a
minimum, and perhaps catastrophic.
Proposed Law: AB 1565 authorizes the Director of the Department
of Aging, to the extent appropriations are made for this
purpose, to provide grants to nonprofit organizations with
experience providing services and training that are culturally
competent and sensitive to issues relating to the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender community.
Nonprofit organizations that receive grants must use the funding
for the following:
a) To provide outreach to elder veterans who are LGBT.
b) To refer elder LGBT veterans to agencies, individuals,
and other appropriate entities that provide services to
elder LGBT veterans.
c) Provide training, outreach, and education to agencies
and individuals that provide services to elder, LGBT
veterans.
Authorized organizations include, but are not limited to,
organizations authorized to prepare, present, and prosecute a
claim before the United States Department of Veterans Affairs,
such as county veterans' service offices and congressionally
chartered veterans service organizations.
AB 1565 also provides that grants must be awarded through a
request for proposal process.
Staff Comments: The Los Angeles LGBT Center, the bill's
AB 1565 (V. Manuel Perez)
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cosponsor, serves more than 3,000 senior members of the local
LGBT community. A recent survey of their clients revealed that
22.7 percent had served in the military, but only four percent
were receiving veterans benefits