Assembly Standing Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs

Can you hear me? We're going to go ahead and get started this afternoon. We do have a quorum, so, secretary, please call the role.

[Roll Call]

Okay, so we have a quorum has been established, so we want to welcome all the members. This is our first committee hearing where we'll be hearing bills. And so we do have committee rules to adopt. So on the rules, the motion is that the rules be adopted. Is there a motion? So we do have a motion and a second. Secretary, please call the roll.

Motion was by Alvarez. Second was by who was it? Okay, we will get it correct.

On the rules. On the rules. The motion is that they have they be adopted on the rules. The motion is that they be adopted. Move by Alvarez. Seconded by Boerner Horvath. Soria. [Roll Call]

So 7 0. The rules are adopted. Okay, so we do have Mr. Ta, if you want to go ahead and present.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. So I'm here today to present selling bill 718, which would direct California Department veteran affair to conduct a study of mental health among women veterans in California. So I would like to thank the committee staff for working with my office on this bill. California women veterans face different challenges than their male culture park.

Women veterans are significantly more likely to have experienced military sexual trauma than men, and they are also more likely to experience PTSD and depression at high rate. Tragically, women veterans also experience higher rate of suicide than civilian women. Despite this, women veterans are not receiving the mental health services they need. Women veterans have been filed to underutilize state benefits and participate in veteran events and organization at a lower rate than men. By 2034, women veterans will comprise 15% of the veteran population in California.

The state has an obligation to understand all the challenges women veterans face and to identify the factor creating barrier to mental health care. AB 718 will help in this effort. Previous version of this legislation was vetoed by the governor, who pointed to funding already allocated for a review of data on veteran mental health and suicide. However, this funding location provide no guidance or direction on what to review.

AB 718 would provide the direction needed to ensure California is analyzing the gender specific challenge faced by women veterans. I'm committed to working with administration to ensure possibility with previously allocated funding. Women veterans have served their country with honor and deserve proper care for an attention. AB 718 ensure that instead of only identifying concerning statistics, the State of California is researching and remedying the root causes driving mental health challenge facing women veterans.

I humbly request an aye vote on this measure and welcome any question you may have.

Thank you. Are there any witnesses in support?

Good afternoon, chair and members. My name is Seth Reeb with Reeb Government Relations, representing American Legion, Department of California, AMVETs, Department of California Military Officers Association of America, and the California Commanders. I'm so sorry. California State commanders, Veterans Council. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Administration for the generous allocation of funds to conduct outreach, education, and the study of veteran suicide in the State of California with the California Veterans Health Initiative. This is a great step forward.

As a combat veteran, I understand the effects of intrusive thoughts, memories, dreams, and the difficulty it presents when returning home and living life as a veteran after service. I have listened to women veterans about some of the struggles that they face, from military sexual trauma to women that don't believe they're vets or don't know that they're veterans after service. Some don't know where to start and some are afraid to seek treatment due to being judged. Some have intrusive thoughts and vivid dreams.

These things can overwhelm individuals and sometimes results in suicide. We should be doing all that we can to help identify the core issues and address those issues before more women veterans become a statistic. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. So we do have a motion in a second, but I did want to allow, if there are any folks from the public in support and opposition, this is your opportunity. Seeing none, are there any questions from the Committee?

Sure.

Yes.

Number one, I want to say thank you so much for bringing this forward. I think it's incredibly needed, especially because women are often overlooked when it comes to health care, and I consider this a part of health care. I notice you're calling it military sexual trauma, and I just want to be super clear that you're talking about sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment within the military. Is that what you're referring to when you call it military sexual trauma?

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing this forward. And again, this is something that we're seeing, suicide rate going up and up, especially with the women veterans. So I'm glad that I would definitely support this and I would like to be a co author.

Yes.

Thank you.

I really appreciate that. Really appreciate your comment.

Yep. Mr. Ta, do you want to close?

I really want to thank you for your leadership and I humbly ask for your aye vote.

Perfect. So we do have a motion by Boerner Horvath and second by Vice Chair Davis. The motion is do pass to appropriations secretary, please call the role.

Assembly Bill 718 by Ta. The motion is do pass to appropriations moved by Boernor Horvath and second by Davies. [Roll Call]

The vote is nine to zero. The bill is out. We will leave the roll open for absent members to add on.

Thank you so much.

The next Bill is AB 569 being presented by Assemblymember Alvarez on behalf of Assemblymember Garcia. Assembly Member Mr. Alvarez, you can begin.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

This bill would require the chancellor's office on or before July 1 of 2028 to submit a final report to the Legislature after the pilot program concludes, focusing on the following items, very briefly here. Recommendations on how to improve the pilot program, data on enrollment in the pilot program, data on how many different groups of people have been served by the pilot program, data on the number of veterans that have participated in the pilot program, and recommendations on how to recruit more veterans to participate in the pilot program.

Don't have any witnesses with us here today, but happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Alvarez. We'll just go ahead and open it to the public. Are there any folks in support or opposition of this measure?

Good afternoon, chair Members. I apologize for not having a letter in. Our clients are still evaluating the bill. They've been overwhelmed with bills and requests for support. So as soon as we have something, we'll get it to the author, the committee, and the appropriate staff.

Thank you. Any other Members of the public? Seeing none, we do have a motion by Mr. Valencia and a second by Davies. Any questions from the committee? No, seeing none. We do have a motion that is do passed to appropriation. So, secretary, please call the roll.

Assembly Bill 569 by E. Garcia. Motion is do pass to appropriation, moved by Valencia, second by Davies. [Roll Call] The motion is do passed to higher education.

What is the vote? The vote is 10 to 0, so the bill is out.

Thank you.

Do we have any other folks to do? Okay, and do we have any other members? Are we good? Okay, so we just have one more thing, which is the consent calendar, but we'll allow if any other Members come in to add on now, we have the consent calendar. Do I have a motion? In a second. So we have a motion by Valencia and a second by Addis secretary, please call the role. Excuse me. Yeah. Moved by Ta, second by Addis.

You guys are too quick for me.

On consent. Moved by Ta, seconded by Addis. [Roll Call]

Consent is approved by 10 votes to 0. So now, sergeants, if you can please call the absent Members and notify them that we are lifting calls. One number. Cool. Yeah, 17 minutes. Okay, so we have Mr. Muratsuchi, who's on his way, so we will hold the call until he gets here. Members, you're. Absolutely.

So should we call on. She convinced about. She'll go through. It's okay.

Should I go ahead.

On the rules? On the rules. [Roll Call]

Yes. For you, was it just the rules?

There was no bill.

There was one other bill I think that you may have missed.

Zero, no, it was also Ta.

So we'll call that one. We can call that one.

Good.

Assembly Bill 718, do pass to appropriations. [Roll Call]

You're good, Cottie. You're good. Thank you. Thank you.

My God, too many cooks. No, they were.

So Mr. Muratsuchi here will lift the calls on the vote. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call] Assembly Bill 718, Ta do pass your appropriations. [Roll Call]

We have one more. zero, we have one more.

One more. Assembly bill. Assembly bill 569, Garcia action do pass to higher education. Marasucci. Marisuchi, aye. Thank you.

So for the record, for the adopted rules, we had a vote of 11-0, consent calendar 11-0, and then AB 569 to higher education, 11-0. And then AB 718 to appropriations on 11-0. And so that's the final vote and we will be adjourning at this moment. Thank you.