Assembly Standing Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs

Okay. Good afternoon. We are going to call the hearing of the military and Veteran Affairs Committee to order. There are five bills on the file today. One resolution. Two bills are on consent. The bills on consent are SB 920, Sallardo and SB 1138 Newman. And we are also.

We're going to be having hearings for SB 914, Umberg, SB 916, Seyarto, SB 1500, Durazzo and SJR6, Caballero. And so, we will just move forward as a Sub-commitee and allow for Bill presentations, and the bills will be placed on call if we don't have a quorum by the end of the Bill presentations.

And Mister Senator Seyarto, would you like to like to present SB 916? Thank you for being here. Public post-secondary education waiver of tuition fees veterans extended education courses. Please proceed.

Thank you, honorable chair. And I'm here to present SB 916. SB 916 is just a clarifying Bill on the intent of the Legislature for the California Veteran fee waiver program known as calvet fee waiver. The calvet fee waiver is a California specific benefit for spouses and children of disabled veterans.

This unique benefit has gone through many changes and adjustments through the years and currently provides free tuition at public universities for these dependents with certain age requirements as long as the veteran is 100% disabled due to service connected injuries.

Unfortunately, some of our public universities have dissected the law in intent of the Calvet fee waiver program and used an unintended loophole to deny this benefit to our veterans families for specific degree programs.

This Bill came to me through one of my own veteran constituents who believed there was a mistake when their child was denied the CalVet fee waiver while trying to attend a public University for a bachelor's degree of wildfire science and the son wanted to become a firefighter.

And anytime somebody wants to become a firefighter, it is okay by me. In investigating this issue, my staff found that the loophole being used is the phrase mandatory system wide tuition and fees for determining that special extended education degree programs are not included in system wide tuition and fees.

These extended education programs are self funded and unique to individual campuses, hence the use of the loophole of system wide tuition and fees. Under the UC and community college systems, extended education is limited to certification and licensing classes largely used by adult populations shifting their careers.

It is uniquely under the CSU system that these extended education programs are also full degree programs. Seeing that these programs can cover much more than degrees, I narrowly tailored my Bill to cover just undergraduate extended education degree programs. I did this to keep and clarify the original intent of the Legislature in creating the calc fee waiver.

It is time that we close the loophole that is denying benefits intended to provide a free public education to this specific population. SB 916 will solidify the intent of the Legislature in the Cal vet fee waiver program for the benefit of the families of our disabled vets.

So, Members, I would ask when the time comes that you respectfully ask or vote I on this Bill and help our veterans families out. And with that, I do not. In keeping with my usual practice, unless I really, really need an expert, I don't bring them because all they do is say the same thing I just said.

So, with that, I just ask for an aye vote when the time comes.

Okay, thank you. And any opposition to the Bill, since you don't have a witness in support? Any witnesses in opposition?

Thank you very much. Eric Bakke with the California State University office of the chancellor. Our commitment to our students who have served in our country and armed services and their dependents has been unwavering. We have served over 9000 students in the last enrollment year, and we intend to continue to do so.

It's unfortunate that we're here in opposition. It's not because of the merits of the Bill, but it's really about the financial structure by which we operate to extend to extended education programs. These are 100% self support. These are programs that are funded only by student fees and tuitions.

So the waivers would reduce the level of revenues to support those programs. Currently, as we sit here today, we can probably get by.

We're just worried that with the expansion of this language, it will grow, and if it grows, the unintended consequences that those programs could not be sustainable, and we may be at risk of losing some of those programs due to the number of fee waivers that would be provided.

It is only on that basis that we have an opposition. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And anyone in support of the Bill to speak from the public? Anyone in opposition? Okay, bringing it back to the dais. Any questions or comments?

Senator, I want to thank you so much for bringing this Bill, and unfortunately, I find that our veterans and their families are always the last to get, you know, grants or other things that are definitely needed. So I'm glad that you're able to close the loophole, and I would like to be considered as a co author.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Obviously, I think this is a very worthy proposal, and I'm a bit disappointed that we just got validation that the office of the chancellor does not prioritize veterans, and I think that's disappointing, unfortunately.

And it shows the need for the Bill, so it validates the very need for us to take legislative action to make sure that this is taken care of, and I'm proud to support it. Thank you.

Thank you. I want to thank you for bringing the Bill forward. We. As someone who had a fee waiver to get through college myself because of my dad's service in Vietnam, it made all the difference in the world for me to be able to get an education.

And I know how important this is for students, especially students who are struggling. So appreciate you looking at the ways in which we need to make sure that kids are covered, students and spouses are covered, no matter what they're studying in school. Thank you. So with that, we don't have a quorum. No quorum yet. No quorum yet.

But would you like to close? Would you like me to close?

Okay. So I am not without sympathy or, you know, I understand the concerns of the CSU, especially in regards to the budget being is that, you know, I am on the Budget Committee and I have to deal with it.

However, you know, this self funded program, according to our own Higher Education Committee staff analysis for another Bill that's before this Legislature, the state University continuing Ed Revenue Fund has increased from 198 million in $2014 to $328 million as of 2023.

And, in fact, that Fund is so lucrative that the SCSU is sponsoring legislation to be able to absorb the account into the General Fund to be used for other academic ventures. I think there's room for this program and to help our veterans. And with that, I would respectfully ask for an aye vote when the time comes.

Thank you so much. We will keep this bill on call until we establish a quorum. And thank you. Don't think we have another author, so we'll wait. Come on down. Come on down.

Okay. Why don't we go ahead and establish a quorum as you get settled here? Senator Caballero. Just 1 second. Secretary, call the roll.

[Roll Call] We have a quorum.

Wonderful. Senator Caballero, do you want to go ahead and present SJR 6?

Thank you very much. Madam Chair and Members of the Committee. Today, it gives me great pleasure to present SJR 6, an important bill to denounce the historic discrimination against the LGBTQ community created under the U.S. military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

SJR calls upon the United States Congress and the President to create an effective remedy to address the other than honorable and dishonorable discharges issued under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that have negatively impacted LGBTQ members of the military and to restore the benefits that they are entitled to.

Under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, if a member of the military identified as a member of the LGBTQ community, it could lead to a dishonorable or other than honorable discharge. Veterans that received these discharges lost access to their military benefits such as healthcare, college tuition assistance, employment opportunities, and retirement benefits.

Between 1994 and 2011, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy under the Department of Defense led to the discharge of more than 14,000 service members.

Additionally, prior to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, the US Department of Defense established policies that penalized military members and resulted in the discharge of gay, lesbian, and bisexual members, regardless of their service to the country and good military service. During the 1980s, more than 17,000 military members were dismissed from their duties due to their sexual orientation.

In 2010, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was repealed by President Obama, which allowed members to serve openly without fear of discharge and created a process for discharged members to amend their status through the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The review process to grant benefits to a member who has been wrongfully discharged is made on a case-by-case basis. Veterans require an advocate to gather and submit documentation for the VA's review, including service records, incident details, supporting evidence, and performance evaluations.

The current process to upgrade the status of discharged veterans is unnecessarily burdensome, adding complexity to an already strained relationship, forcing veterans to revisit what was, for many of them, a difficult time in their life and could create emotional barriers for many.

In many cases, reengaging with the department that discriminated against them could worsen veterans trauma and amplify feelings of shame, anxiety, and anger.

SJR 6 urges the President and Congress to establish a straightforward process, provide legal assistance, and rectify the wrong discharge or misclassification of veterans based on sexual orientation, ensuring they receive the benefits to which they are entitled due to their honorable service in the military.

With me today to testify in support and to help address any questions is Joe Engel, a cryptological technician Interpretive 2 Class in the U.S. Navy.

Hi, good afternoon. I want to thank the Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committee for allowing me to testify in support of SJR 6. My name is Joe Engle. I've been a California resident since 2000 and am a service-connected disabled veteran.

In 1999, I was honorably discharged and was awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal for my outstanding work as a Navy linguist. I'd come out as a gay man to myself at the age of 23 in 1993 and started my service in the active-duty Navy a year later, in 1994, the year Don't Ask, Don't Tell went into effect.

As a veteran who helps others in both my professional and private lives, I encourage them to take advantage of all the veterans benefits they have earned.

Unfortunately, because some of my queer friends were separated due to their self-identified sexuality with non-honorable discharges, they have been denied benefits they would have otherwise earned due to Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I was unable to confront 10 years of sexual trauma that preceded my time in the Navy for fear that in speaking to a psychiatrist, I would end up coming out, which would have very well ended my Navy career. I was unable to be completely honest with my doctors, especially about my sexual health.

At one point in Hawaii, I was diagnosed with a condition called thrombocytopenia, or low platelets. One of the causes of that is HIV. The military doctors put me through a routine of six-monthly HIV tests, which compounded my already high levels of anxiety around my sexuality.

By the time results came back from test number one, results came back slower back in those days, I was headed back for test number two. I also almost was not awarded my security clearance I would need for my work as a linguist.

The Department of Defense civil servant who was conducting my security clearance interview asked me if I had led an alternative lifestyle. He informed me that my refusal to answer could cost me my security clearance, but ironically, my refusal to answer that question was in accordance with Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Fortunately for me, my clearance was granted.

Despite my many medical and security clearance challenges I faced due to my sexuality and the anxiety they caused, I considered myself to be one of the lucky ones who was able to fulfill my entire six-year contract with the Navy.

One of my lesbian friends, who was a linguist in the air force, was unintentionally outed by one of her fellow airmen in passing during a conversation soon after finishing almost two years of expensive training to work as a linguist.

One of my gay marine friends, who also served in Hawaii and a fellow California resident, had a worse experience. For months, he was followed, bullied, beaten, and even threatened with death by a group of fellow marines who saw him leaving one of the gay bars in Waikiki. Had it reported what happened. He feared being kicked out of the marines.

Needless to say, he still suffers from mental anguish that experience had caused him. After many years, our paths faithfully crossed again over social media. After he shared the story with me, I encouraged him to file a service-connected disability claim, for which he was eventually awarded 70% disability.

For these reasons, I wholeheartedly support SJR 6, which will help those service members who indeed served honorably but were discharged due to their sexual orientation.

Their separations, unlike mine, came with a reduced characterization of service, which now needs to be addressed retroactively with an upgrade to an honorable discharge, which SJR 6 addresses so they can reap the benefits they deserve. Thank you again for allowing me to share my testimony today.

Thank you very much. And anyone witnesses in opposition? Anyone from the public speaking in support?

Craig Pulsipher on behalf of Equality California in support.

Thank you. Anyone from the public speaking in opposition? Bring it back to the dais. Any questions, comments? Okay, motion by Addis, second by Villapudua. Thank you so much for being here today, sharing your story and the stories of others, and appreciate you bringing this resolution forward.

It's, I think, a really important position for us to take and message for us to send. So, very much appreciate it. Secretary, can you call the roll?

Yeah.

Oh, did you want to close?

Respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you for your comment. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

SJR 6, motion is be adopted to third reading. [Roll call]

Okay, we'll leave that on call. Thank you. Thank you very much. And so we'll go to the consent calendar now, and while Mister Umberg comes and gets settled, can you call? Is there a motion for this consent? Addis Davies is second. Call the roll.

On the consent calendar, we have SB 920 by Seyarto and SB 1138 by Senator Newman. Both have. The motions are do pass to Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

Okay, we'll leave that on call for absent members as well. And, Senator Umberg, would you like to go ahead and present SB 914? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I want to thank you and Christian Birkin for their help on this bill. Let me tell you what this bill's about, how it was generated for the last several years.

Employers in particular have come to me and said, look, we would like to hire veterans with certain skills specifically, as is the case in this bill, the new car dealers have said, we would like to hire auto technicians, folks that have gained experience in the military that is analogous to what they might do in the civilian sector, offer them very high paying jobs or direct them towards training.

They actually have a scholarship. And I said, that's a great idea. And I've suggested this for a number of years to CalVet, and thus far, we've not had a matching website where an employer can say, look it. These are the skills I'm looking for. I'm looking for veterans.

And veterans can see these are the skills I have and do a match online. I know this is a unique concept. It's only been around for about 20 years, but it's about time that California do this for its veterans, and not just for its veterans.

Actually, for the employer community, it is a shame that we spend as much money as we do training people to perform certain skills, whether it's aviation skills or leadership skills or auto mechanic skills. And we don't have a place where those skills can be matched with an employer that's seeking just those skills.

So that's what this bill does. It says CalVet make it so. Thank you.

Wonderful. And do you have no witnesses in support or.

Oh, I do. I got a witness in support. I'm very happy. So yes.

Marjorie Lee, on behalf of the California New Car Dealers Association, I'll just keep it really short. Strong support of this, this legislation. Happy to answer any questions as they arise. Thank you.

And any witnesses in opposition? Anyone from the public like to speak in support or in opposition? Okay. Any questions? Comments?

I just want to thank the Senator for bringing this forward. Such a great. Could be such a great asset for our communities. The Assemblymember Lackey will agree that Antelope Valley would greatly benefit from the aerospace industry that we have there.

And this, I believe, will actually help us get more veterans being employed in different industries, not only in the auto industry, but also in the aerospace industry. Thank you for bringing this forward.

Well, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the bill. Did you want to close?

I would urge an aye vote, thank you very much.

Thank you. So we have a motion and a second. Will you call the roll, please?

SB 914 by Senator Umberg. Motion is do pass and refer to Committee on Appropriations. [Roll Call]

We'll leave that on call for other members.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay, so on the hunt for Senator Durazzo. While we're waiting, why don't we go ahead and is there a motion for Senator Seyarto's bill, SB 916? Great. Motion and second, can we call the roll, please?

Senate Bill 916 by Seyartp. Motion is do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations. [Roll call]

We'll leave that on call for missing members as well.

I do. While we're waiting, I do have, actually, something I wanted to say since this is the last hearing for our consultant, Christian, who is moving on to the Speaker's Office. Yes. Next week. So, I just wanted to thank him for his amazing work here.

I know he's supported many chairs of this Committee in his seven years, and I have really very much respected his work, his diligence, his deep care for the issue in supporting veterans and those serving.

And I know that he's going to be a great asset for us to have in the Speaker's Office and still very much involved in this issue and a resource for us going forward. But we will deeply miss him at the Committee, and I know we'll miss him a lot.

So I just wanted to say thank you so much. Congratulations, and thank you for your amazing work and incredible service and advocacy. Thank you. And amazing timing. Senator Durazo is here to present the last bill, SB 1500.

Last bill. I gotta go back to Judiciary. Yeah, 50 bills. Thank you, Madam Chair and members. This is about housing, and particularly in the City of Los Angeles, but housing overall, that we know that we have this tremendous responsibility for our low-income and extremely low-income households. So the mayor of Los Angeles has been singularly, almost singularly focused on this and has come up with one way in which we could be helpful to help provide housing opportunities for low-income individuals.

Cities like Los Angeles provide voucher programs to incentivize developers to house the low-income tenants who may not have immediately the economic means to get their housing. In 2023, the US Department of Housing granted waivers to the city and County of LA for greater flexibility to move unhoused people into temporary housing.

Despite having the resources, housing providers expressed a concern that they were risking with the current housing voucher system and rules. If these providers housed families based on the representations they were making about their income, once they had proper documentation, they might later find discrepancies such as income eligibility and risk financial penalties, and the vouchers would go unused.

So this bill addresses this issue by providing these vouchers more flexibility to developers and operators. And with me to testify in support and answer questions, I have Freddie Quintana, senior director of state affairs for La Mayor Karen Bass.

Good morning. Good afternoon, Chair and committee members, my name is Freddie Quintana. I'm the senior director of state affairs for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. SB 1500 would create a statutory guideline for HCD and TCAC to count a tenant at 30% AMI when the tenant gets a third-party income verification above 30% AMI, but below 50% AMI, and was placed in an income-restricted unit using the HUD waiver authority.

This bill is critical to the successful use of our HUD waiver authorities in the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. And this would allow our developers and property managers to rely on income, on the self-certification process to get a person indoors quickly, and then follow a timeline to then certify the income and make sure that there's no penalty that's unintended as a result of the federal waiver. To give one quick example from our new partner at our new partners at Path who just came on support of the bill, they had an example where they worked with a veteran in Los Angeles. He served our country.

They navigated the bureaucracy for him, and once they got him connected to his full benefits, it turned out that he was less than $100 over the 30% AMI threshold. And without something like this, that would have created a penalty for that provider who housed the person under self-certification process. So we're making sure they have a timeline to cure that if that's found, and we would respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Any witnesses in opposition? And any witnesses from the public in support or in opposition? Any questions or comments from the dais? Okay, I want to thank you for bringing this bill forward. Have been working very hard to support veteran housing in my own community of Chatsworth that's just opened up.

And I know it's been a real challenge to get people indoors, people who are ready to go, and it takes months and months and months to go through verifications and paperwork. I know this bill is complicated. And the system is way too complicated when you're trying to really solve homelessness. So appreciate that the streamlining efforts are moving forward and really making a difference in people's lives. So with that, we have a motion and a second. Let's call the roll. Oh, did you want to close? Sorry.

No, thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[Roll Call]

Thank you, and we will leave that on call for an absence. Thank you. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you so much. Okay, so we will leave this. oh, yeah, we'll go back through now to add Ms. Boerner on, and hopefully Mister Villapudua shows up in the next 10 minutes. Valencia. Sorry.

So we'll go back through the consent calendar.

[Roll Call]

And that is on call. And. Okay, eight minutes and counting. Mister Avellino Valencia. Okay, we'll go ahead and open the roll for consent.

[Roll Call]

Thank you so much. So all of those bills are out and all of them are 9-0, except for SJR 6, which is 7-0. And this concludes our hearing of military and veteran affairs.