BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Senator Ben Hueso, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2703 HEARING DATE: 6/24/14
AUTHOR: Quirk-Silva
VERSION: 5/23/14
FISCAL: Yes
VOTE: Two-Thirds
SUBJECT
County veterans service officers: funding.
DESCRIPTION
Existing law :
1.Declares that 50 percent of the amount annually budgeted for
county veterans service officers (CVSOs) is approximately $11
million; and it is a reasonable use of state funds to increase
the annual CVSO budget by no more than $5 million.
2.Provides for an annual appropriation to CVSOs in each year's
Budget Act.
3.Requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs
(CalVet):
a. To determine annually how much new or increased
federal monetary benefits paid to veterans are
attributable to CVSO assistance.
b. Annually, by October 1, to provide its determination
for the preceding fiscal year to the Department of Finance
(Finance) and the Legislature.
4.Requires Finance to consider the CalVet determination in
support of the annual Budget Act for CalVet's budget for the
next fiscal year.
5.States legislative intent that, after reviewing the above
determination, to consider an increase in the annual budget
for CVSOs in an amount not to exceed five million dollars, if
the monetary benefits to the state's veterans attributable to
the assistance of county veteran service officers justify that
increase in the budget.
This bill:
1.Requires CalVet, no later than January 1, 2015, to develop an
allocation formula based upon performance standards that
incentivize CVSO performance.
2.Declares the Legislature's intent to fund specified CVSO
activities and to provide an additional $400,000 for
disbursement to the counties to encourage innovation and
reward outstanding service by CVSOs.
BACKGROUND
County Veterans Service Officers
CVSOs are trained, accredited professionals who help veterans
and their families navigate the complex federal VA benefit
application processes. The CVSOs assist in claims initiation and
development and draw down significant federal dollars annually.
CVSO funding is derived from a combination of local and state
resources - with an understanding that it would be split 50/50
between the state and local governments. However, during the
past decade the state has funded less than half of the program.
As a result, a key veterans' resource is weakened and the state
loses an opportunity to draw down more federal dollars - perhaps
as much as $400 million more than it has been.
Currently, the counties provide about 85 percent of the money to
fund the CVSOs. The other 15 percent ($2.6 million) is provided
by the state. This "Local Assistance" allocation has remained
roughly the same for 18 years and is inadequate to properly fund
the CVSOs.
Efforts to Increase Funding
During the period 2007 to 2013, the Legislature considered
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numerous bills that would have increased the state's actual
share of funding, including SB 296 (Correa, 2013), which stalled
in Senate Appropriations. Nevertheless, in the 2013-14 Budget,
the Legislature provided a one-time additional allocation of $3
million on top of the annual baseline of $2.6 million.
The additional one-time funding for CVSOs contained in the
2013-14 Budget is being used for one of three main themes from
the CalVet/CVSO best practices manual:
" Contacting veterans.
" Connecting veterans to their benefits and services.
" Continuous communication with veterans.
According to the California Association of County Veterans
Service Officers (CACVSO), the above efforts are tailored to
mesh with each county's unique size, demographics, existing
community-based system of care, and identified service
priorities. In the short time CVSOs have had to implement new
programs the counties have put the one-time funds to use as
follow:
" Approximately 50 new staff members have been hired to
assist veterans. Those hires are in direct response to a
number of reports that found it is the most effective way
to increase California's utilization of veteran benefits.
" New service offerings such as veteran ID cards have
increased traffic through county offices by approximately
25 percent. Of those new contacts, 30 percent file new
claims for benefits.
" Increased outreach both as a part of the statewide
communications effort and on tailored efforts focused on
individual county needs.
These enhanced services will be scaled back and possibly
eliminated if CVSO funding is not maintained at the level
temporarily established by the one-time $3 million augmentation.
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Metrics and Dynamic Scoring
When veterans achieve success in claiming federal benefits they
earned during military service, those federal dollars are drawn
down into the California economy. It is possible to determine
some degree of correlation between effective CVSO claims
assistance on a case-by-case basis and the federal dollars drawn
down as a result of those efforts. CACVSO, which is the leading
advocate for CVSO stakeholder interests, offers its own analysis
of the correlation:
Once the funding was finalized and counties started
committing to hiring new staff, CACVSO estimated that the new
staff would result in a $47 million increase in claims
received. Looking at same period results (September to
April), current year versus prior year, the actual increase
in benefits received is $89 million; 90 percent more than
originally estimated.
Some have questioned if the changes made with these new funds
could have had any effect on the claims results in such a
short period of time. While the number of variables involved
in the claims process makes any direct cause/effect
relationship impossible to prove, the current claims
environment leads knowledgeable observers to conclude that
the answer is a resounding YES based upon factors including:
" Hand-in-hand with CalVet's joint strike force
effort, the CVSOs have been focusing on presenting fully
developed claims. Claims that can be rated by the USDVA
with no additional development. These claims can be
rated in a much shorter period than historically seen
from USDVA (i.e. weeks versus years).
" New CVSO staff members are directly contributing to
increasing the number of claims being submitted. Since
most of the claims are fully developed claims the rating
decisions are being received with very short turnaround.
" Outreach is bringing new cliental into CVSO offices.
30 percent of the new traffic has resulted in claims.
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" What CVSOs are finding is a large number of veterans
who have developed medical issues later in life that are
presumptively connected to their service. For example,
Vietnam veterans who develop diabetes as they age;
diabetes is a presumptive disability from service
in-country in Vietnam. This connection is not understood
by most Vietnam veterans. These types of claims are some
of the simplest claims for USDVA to rate and the
turnaround is usually within 4-8 weeks. Presumptive
conditions exist for all periods of service.
Ultimately the true measure of success is simply the number
of federal dollars drawn down for disability claims; and
because California now has a standardized software for
tracking CVSO workload we can absolutely demonstrate the
current spike in awards is a direct result of CVSO efforts.
COMMENT
1.Committee Staff Comments : The introduced version of this bill
contained a provision that would have established a continuous
annual appropriation of $6 million from the General Fund to
CalVet to be allocated as follows:
a. $5.6 million available for disbursement to the counties
to fund CVSO activities
b. $400,000 available for disbursement to the counties to
encourage innovation and reward outstanding service
pursuant to the allocation formula developed by CalVet.
The continuous annual appropriation ($6 million) provision was
removed in Assembly Appropriations.
2.Related Legislation :
SB 419 (Senate Veterans Affairs Comm, Ch. 48, Stats. 2009)
Revises findings and declarations in existing law by declaring
that 50 percent of the amount annually budgeted for CVSOs is
(should be) approximately $11 million (rather than the
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existing $5 million). Sunsets after January 1, 2016. Only
becomes operative if SB 418 (Senate Veterans Affairs, 2009) is
chaptered. This majority-vote bill contained no appropriation,
and was not keyed fiscal.
SB 418 (Senate Veterans Affairs Comm, Ch. 48, Stats. 2009)
Revises legislative findings and declarations in existing law
with regard to the use of General Fund monies for services
provided by veterans service organizations by clarifying that
the General Fund monies shall not be allocated until the
annual budget for CVSOs reaches $5 million. Contained no
appropriation. Nonfiscal.
SB 1778 (Senate Veterans Affairs Comm, vetoed, 2008)
Changes findings and declarations by increasing the amount
budgeted for CVSOs from $5 million to $11 million. This bill
was not an appropriation.
SB 1222 (Cedillo, held Senate Approps, 2008)
Would have (1) Increased funding for veterans outreach by
appropriating three dollars for every California veteran. (2)
Required that each three-dollar appropriation be disbursed as
follows: CVSOs - $2.35; veteran service organizations - $0.50;
and the Veteran Services Division/CalVet - $0.15.
AB 1814 (DeVore, held Senate Veterans Affairs, 2008)
"The Veterans Benefit Recovery Augmentation Plan" would have
facilitated CalVet contracting with VSOs to augment the
outreach services provided CalVet's Veterans Service Division.
AB 2577 (Salas, 2008, held Assembly Rules, 2008)
Supports reinstating funding cut by the Governor for the CVSOs
as well as the State Veteran Service Officers.
AB 389 (Salas, held Assembly Approps, 2007)
Would have appropriated $5,000,000 from the General Fund to
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CalVet for disbursement to the counties.
AB 2268 (Samuelian, Ch. 804, Stats. 2004)
Authorized CalVet to contract out services to VSOs and, with
the approval from the Department of Finance, to reimburse
those organizations for services rendered on a
formula/performance basis starting in fiscal year 2006-07.
SB 608 (Johannessen, Ch. 318, Stats. 1997)
Approved a CVSO funding level of up to $5,000,000 of which
only approximately $2,500,000 has traditionally been funded.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: California Association of County Veteran Service
Officers
Support:
Counties of:Amador, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado,
Imperial, Kern County. Kings, Lake, Los Angeles, Monterey, Napa,
Placer, Sacramento, Santa Barbara,
San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Stanislaus,
Solano, Sonoma, Trinity,
Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura
American Legion Department of California
AMVETS Department of California
California Labor Federation
California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers
California State Commanders Veterans Council
Military Officers Association of America, California Council of
Chapters
Platinum Advisors
Rural County Representatives of California
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
Vietnam Veterans of Diablo County
Oppose: None on file.
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Analysis by: Wade Cooper Teasdale
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