California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2703

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk-Silva

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Salas)

(Principal coauthor: Senator Correa)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Brown, Chávez, Chesbro, Donnelly, Fox, Frazier, Grove, Hagman, Logue, Muratsuchi, Nestande, Pan, and Wagner)

(Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Hueso, Huff, Knight, Nielsen, and Vidak)

February 21, 2014

An act to add Section 972.3 to the Military and Veterans Code, relating to veterans, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2703, as introduced, Quirk-Silva. County veterans service officers.

Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to counties that comply with certain conditions. Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to annually determine the amount of new or increased monetary benefits paid to eligible veterans by the federal government attributable to the assistance of county veterans service officers, and requires the department to prepare and transmit its determination for the preceding fiscal year to the Department of Finance and the Legislature on or before October 1 of each year.

This bill would require the department, no later that July 1, 2015, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance to encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers. The bill would also appropriate $6,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs for disbursement to the counties to fund the activities of county veterans service officers, as specified, and to encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by these officers.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating an
entirely new generation of veterans who may be eligible for federal
veterans benefits because of their war service and their physical
and mental condition.

(b) Californians make up to 10 percent of the federal military
forces used in these conflicts. Furthermore, the California National
Guard and California-based reserve units have contributed
significantly to these current conflicts.

(c) Many of these returning California veterans are not aware
of the federal and state benefits that are available to them.

(d) Additionally, it is estimated that in California there may be
over two million veterans, and their widows or widowers, who are
unaware that they may be eligible for pensions from the federal
government based upon their past military service in World War
II, Korea, Vietnam, or the Gulf War.

(e) California’s county veterans service officers (CVSOs) are
the initial local point of contact for claimants accessing the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs.

(f) The costs of maintaining CVSOs are shared from county
general funds and state reimbursement to the counties. In 1997, in
order to track performance, the Governor signed into law Senate
Bill 608, which required the California Department of Veterans
Affairs to annually report the amount of monetary benefits paid
to veterans by the federal government that were attributable to the
assistance of CVSOs. Senate Bill 608 of the 1997-98 Regular
Session also required the Department of Finance to consider an
increase in the annual budget for CVSOs of up to $5,000,000, if
approved in the yearly budget process. In 2009, the Governor
signed Senate Bill 419 into law, which raised this amount to
$11,000,000, if approved in the yearly budget process.

(g) As a result of this annual reporting, by the end of 2011 it
had been determined that from 1995 to 2011, inclusive, the state
had cumulatively budgeted $36.2 million for its share of the cost
of the CVSOs. As a result of this investment, CVSOs were able
to assist local veterans in obtaining $3.3 billion in new federal
moneys. This is a return of about $91 for every dollar the state
allocates to CVSOs. Furthermore, $3.6 billion only reflects the
actual monetary benefits qualified for in a given year. The monetary
benefits qualified for in prior years are not tracked, yet the veterans
and their dependents may continue to receive those benefits for
the rest of their lives. Added to this stellar return on the state’s
investment, but not counted in the annual reporting, are the
Medi-Cal cost avoidance savings incurred as a result of CVSOs
qualifying and shifting veterans away from Medi-Cal and onto the
appropriate federal veterans program.

(h) The CVSOs had accomplished all of this without ever
reaching the allowable state budget allocation of $5 million, set
in 1997, or the updated allowable allocation set in 2009. To date,
the CVSOs have not received more than $2.6 million per year from
the state.

(i) It is critical that the CVSOs receive an increase in this
allocation because there continues to be a large number of
underserved veterans and their dependents who are not aware of
the federal benefits available to them as a result of their military
service. Studies from other states have shown that increases in
CVSOs have resulted in larger amounts of federal moneys to the
veterans. These new federal moneys and benefits are paid directly
from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to the
qualifying veteran or their dependent and are used in the local
economy.

SEC. 2.  

Section 972.3 is added to the Military and Veterans
Code, to read:

972.3.  

The Department of Veterans Affairs shall, no later that
July 1, 2015, develop an allocation formula based upon
performance to encourage innovation and reward outstanding
service by county veterans service officers. Moneys appropriated
for this purpose shall be allocated each fiscal year in accordance
with that formula among those counties that have established and
maintain a county veterans service officer.

SEC. 3.  

The sum of six million dollars ($6,000,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans
Affairs to be allocated as follows:

(a) Five million six hundred thousand dollars ($5,600,000) shall
be available for disbursement to the counties to fund the activities
of county veterans service officers pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 972.1 of the Military and Veterans Code.

(b) Four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) shall be available
for disbursement to the counties to encourage innovation and
reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers
pursuant to the allocation formula developed pursuant to Section
972.3 of the Military and Veterans Code.