Legislative Update Report - April 29, 2007

[boardman]

Legislative Update Report - California Veterans Affairs - April 29, 2007

An important calendar event was passed on April 27 – the final date for policy committees to report bills which originated in their house. Bills which failed to meet this deadline are, at least technically, dead for this year. Some may show up again later as 2-year bills.

AB 279 Unlawful demonstrations: military funerals. (Bob Huff, City of Industry)
Would make it an infraction, punishable by a fine not exceeding $250, for a person to engage in disruptive activity at a funeral of a member or former member of the Armed Forces during the time period beginning one hour prior to the funeral and ending one hour after the conclusion of the funeral.

AB 296 Military and Veterans (benefits). (Mary Salas, Chula Vista; Chair, Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs)
Would require the Governor’s Advisory Council on Military Affairs, to study the critical issues facing veterans and members of the National Guard, and to make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on actions that may be necessary to support and otherwise attend to the needs of those men and women that serve or have served in the National Guard or United States Armed Services.
The bill was, reportedly, dropped by the Committee on Veterans Affairs due to opposition by the Governor’s office on the basis that the Advisory Council already had work to do that would require all available time.

In another important action, the following bills have been placed on the Suspense File by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. The Committee will review the bills again after the Governor releases the "May Revise" message about May 15 – this is the annual budget review which provides the Legislators with an update on the State’s income, expenditures, and fund balances. Reportedly, income for the current year is significantly less that was anticipated which will mean cuts in some programs and denial of requests for increased program commitments for next year. When the Governor’s message is received, the Appropriations Committees will have to decide how much money may be available to fund all the new proposals in the bills which have been passed by the policy committees.

Assembly Committee on Appropriations:
AB 11 Vehicles: special license plates. (National Guard) (Chuck DeVore, Irvine.)
Provides for the issuance of special license plates by the department for an active member of the California National Guard and exempts license plates issued under the bill from the payment of a $40 application fee and a $30 transfer fee.

AB 59 California State Military Museum and Resource Center. (Nell Soto, Ontario)
Modifies certain management procedures for the California State Military Museum and the Museum Foundation. Also, beginning in FY 2008-2009, would appropriate $125,000 for operation of the Museum, in addition to the $200,000 currently provided in the State Budget.

AB 138 Vehicles: veterans: parking. (Karen Bass, Los Angeles.)
Would authorize veterans displaying special license plates on their vehicles to park, without charge, in a state or local authority parking facility, a parking space in a time restricted zone of one hour or more, or a metered parking space. The special license plates include Pearl Harbor Survivor, Medal of Honor, Legion of Valor, American POW, Purple Heart.

Senate Committee on Appropriations:
SB 983 National Guard: education benefits. (Lou Correa, Garden Grove)
Creates the California National Guard Education Assistance Program for the purpose of promoting recruitment and retention of Member of the California National Guard by providing reimbursement of approved postsecondary education costs.

In other committee actions:

Passed by Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife:
AB 257 Parks: veterans: park passes. (Joel Anderson, La Mesa)
Disabled veterans, with rating of 50 percent or higher, or a former POW, are eligible for permanent pass entitling the bearer to the use of all facilities, including boat launching facilities, in units of the state park system, for payment of $3.50 fee. This bill would eliminate the fee requirement and would additionally make a veteran who is a recipient of the Medal of Honor eligible for a pass.

AB 1387 National Guard: benefits. (Sharon Runner, Lancaster)
Would authorize a member of the California National Guard to pay a fee of one-half of the amount charged to California residents, and would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to create a state parks pass, as provided, for members of the California National Guard, to use at parking facilities located within any unit of the state park system.

Passed by Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs:
AB 282 Crimes: military decorations. (Paul Cook, Yucaipa)
Would provide that it is a misdemeanor for a person to falsely represent himself or herself to have been awarded any decoration or medal from the Armed Forces of the United States, the California National Guard, State Military Reserve, or Naval Militia, or any service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, with the intent to defraud.

Passed by Assembly Committee on Transportation:
AB 1661 Driver's license and identification cards: Selective Service System registration. (Paul Cook, Yucaipa.)
Would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to forward the personal information of male applicants for an original driver’s license or identification card under 26 years of age to the Selective Service System in an electronic format if the applicant indicates his agreement to be registered with the system.

Passed by the Assembly and sent to the Senate:
AB 7 Armed Service Members: consumer loans. (Ted W. Lieu, El Segundo; Lori Saldana, San Diego.}
Would make it unlawful under the California Finance Lenders Law and the California Deferred Deposit Transaction Law to violate specified provisions of the John Warner National Defense Deposit Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, relating to "payday loans" to members of the Armed Forces.

SPECIAL NOTE – LEGISLATIVE ALERT:Special assistance has been requested for the following bill. Members are urged to contact their own representatives in the State Assembly and the State Senate to ask them to be coauthors on this bill. This is very important to keep the planned construction schedule on track for the next five state veterans homes in California.
SB 630 Veterans Homes. (Samuel Aanestad, Nevada City)
Appropriates additional state funds for construction of the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Home project and authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to borrow state funds pending receipt of the federal share of the construction costs. Also appropriates $30 million for construction of the veterans homes in Fresno and in Shasta County.

Complete information on all state legislation involving veterans issues is available at the website: http://www.califveterans.com

Bill Manes, Legislative Officer
California State Commanders Veterans Council