Senate Bill No. 296

Introduced by Senator Correa

February 15, 2013

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

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 296, as introduced, Correa. County veterans service officers.

Existing law requires funds to be disbursed each fiscal year on a pro rata basis to counties that have established and maintained a county veterans service officer in accordance with the staffing level and workload of each county veterans service officer, under a specified formula.

This bill would appropriate the sum of $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the disbursement to counties to fund the activities of county veterans service officers, as specified.

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 the countries of 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. California service
members make up to 10 percent of the military forces used in these
conflicts.

(b) 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 (CVSO’s) are
the initial local point of contact for claimants accessing the United
States Department of Veterans Affairs.

(f) The costs of maintaining CVSO’s 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 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 CVSO’s. Senate Bill 608 of the 1997-98 Regular Session
requires the Department of Finance to consider an increase in the
annual budget for CVSO’s of up $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, the state had
cumulatively budgeted $36.2 million for its share of the cost of
the CVSO’s. As a result of this investment, CVSO’s 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 CVSO’s. 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 life. 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 CVSO’s
qualifying and shifting veterans away from Medi-Cal and onto the
appropriate federal veterans program.

(h) CVSO’s 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 CVSO’s
have not received more than $2.6 million per year from the state.

(i) It is critical that the CVSO’s 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
CVSO’s 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.  

Notwithstanding any other law, the sum of five million
dollars ($5,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund
to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the disbursement to
counties in accordance with the existing procedures established
under Section 972.1.