Legislative Update Report - CDVA

[boardman]

Legislative Update Report - California Veterans Affairs - December 9, 2006

This is the first report for the Legislative Year 2007.

The Congress is finally winding down its session, and the State Legislature has been meeting in Sacramento to get organized for the year, for such matters as assigning members to committees, elect Members to leadership positions, etc.

On the subject of organization, the Democrats in Congress are selecting their Committee Chairs when they take over the majority party position in January. Rep. Bob Filner (Chula Vista) successfully claimed the chairmanship of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs after overcoming a challenge from Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine). On the Senate side, Senator Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) has been the Ranking Member for the Democrats on the Veterans Affairs Committee and would be expected to become Chairman, but that is not yet official.

California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has named freshman Assemblymember Mary Salas (Chula Vista) as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs. ASM Salas was elected to represent the 79th District after Juan Vargas was termed out. So far, the new Chair of the State Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs has not been announced. In the State Legislature, we can expect many changes in the membership of the committees because of the large turnover in the membership during the November elections.

Just before leaving Washington, Congress passed Senate Bill 3421 which was an important authorization bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs construction projects. According to Senator Larry Craig, outgoing Chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, the new law will allow the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to proceed with major construction projects across the country, improve mental health care access, enhance telehealth outreach, increase assistance to address homelessness, and improve protections for veterans’ personal information, and more. On the other hand, it is greatly regretted that Congress failed to pass some very important appropriations bills, including the bills for the USDVA operations, which covers veterans’ health care, and the USDVA Construction which includes funding for the start-up of construction of the new California State Veterans Home at West Los Angeles. It will probably be sometime in February before these bills are taken up again.

Back at the state scene in Sacramento, a few veterans-interest bills have already been introduced on such subjects as regulating "payday loans to military personnel," service awards for state military reservists, and retirement plans for the state National Guard members. Details concerning these bills, and additional information concerning the important committee assignments, will be sent in my next report in early January.

Also, the information concerning Members of Congress and the State Legislature is being updated on the website: http://www.califveterans.com . I expect to have the important information available in about a week.

Bill Manes, Legislative Officer
California State Commanders Veterans Council