Legislative Update Report - June 3, 2007

[boardman]

Legislative Update Report - California Veterans Affairs - June 3, 2007

The State Legislature has now turned its attention to passage of the General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. There is a Constitutional deadline of June 30 to complete legislative action on the Budget – but there are no negative consequences to the Legislators if they fail to meet this date, except that their summer vacations cannot start until they send the Budget to the Governor. In fact, the Legislators have already delayed their normal summer recess until July 20 for this year, indicating that they do not expect to finish on time. ..

No committee meetings may be scheduled now until June 11. The Appropriations Committees were required to report all bills which originated in their house by June 1. Both the Assembly and the Senate rushed through the bills on veterans issues on May 31. The result is that those bills which cost little or no funds are still active, but a large number of bills have been defeated because of anticipated costs.

The following bill was passed by the Assembly:
AB 282 Crimes: military decorations. (Paul Cook, Yucaipa)
Would provide that it is a misdemeanor for a person to falsely represent himself or herself, verbally or in writing, 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, or the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item, with the intent to defraud.

The following bills were passed by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations:

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.

AB 187 Veterans (burial costs, cemetery plots) (Alan Nakanishi, Sacramento)
Would increase the amount that counties may pay for the burial or cremation of any indigent veteran to $350.

AB 418 Vehicles: fees: deployed National Guard member. (Lori Saldana, San Diego)
Would provide an exemption from license fees for a vehicle owned by a member of the National Guard who has been deployed to a location outside of the state in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

AB 581 Military personnel: Combat Stress Support Team Program. (Mary Salas, Chula Vista)
Would require the Military Department to create 2 Combat Stress Support Teams, one in the north and one in the south, to provide emergency crisis counseling, referral and personal support, combat stress evaluations, and mental health support for state military personnel and their families. Both teams would have one psychologist and one clerical staff.
It is a rather sad commentary that 4 of the 5 Republicans on the Appropriations Committee made this proposal a partisan affair and voted against the bill. They included Mimi Walters (Laguna Hills), Doug LaMalfa (Redding), Bill Emmerson (Rancho Cucamonga), and Sharon Runner (Lancaster).

AB 767 Student financial aid: veterans and dependents. (Mimi Walters, Laguna Niguel)
Provides for waiver of fees, including enrollment fees, registration fees, differential fees, or incidental fees, at Community Colleges and State Universities, for veterans who received education benefits under the Federal Montgomery GI Bill, and who have no benefit months remaining under that program. Veterans who entered military service while resident of California are eligible, or have served on active duty as members of the California National Guard, are eligible for the state benefits.
Note: In spite of the title, the benefit does not extent to dependents of the veterans.

The following bills were passed by the Senate Committee on Appropriations:

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

SB 829 Veterans benefits (Cal-Vet Program). (Mark Wyland, Carlsbad/San Juan Capistrano)
Existing law limits the amount that the department may expend for purchasing a mobilehome that is to be sited in a mobilehome park to $125,000. This bill would raise that amount to $175,000.

The following bills were "Held under submission" by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, which kills the bill.

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)
Would appropriate $125,000 for operation of the Museum, in addition to the $200,000 currently provided in the State Budget.

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.

AB 1485 Property tax exemption: spouses of deceased members of the United States Armed Forces. (Kevin Jeffries, Temecula)
Would fully exempt from property taxation the principal residence of a veteran who is 100 percent disabled, and of the unmarried surviving spouse of a member of the United States Armed Forces that died as a result of a service-connected disease or injury.

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.

The following bill was "Held under submission" by the 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 a somewhat unusual action, the following bill was "hijacked."
AB 1552 Vehicles: Special license plates. (Mary Salas, Chula Vista; and Sally Lieber, Mountain View.)
Would authorize a person who is a family member of a member of the Armed Forces who was killed while serving in active duty in the military to apply for special license plates. The plates would contain a gold star and the words "Gold Star Family."
The bill had just passed the Assembly Committee on Appropriations when it was taken over by Assemblymember Mike Feuer (West Hollywood), completely gutted and amended to a completely different subject.
It should be noted that at the beginning of the legislative session, bills were introduced in both the Assembly and the Senate to authorize the Gold Star Family license plates. The Senate bill was dropped in favor of this bill in the Assembly. Now, both bills have failed to pass.

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