Senate Standing Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs

Ladies and gentlemen, we will start the Senate Committee on Military and Veterans affairs in 60 seconds as a Subcommitee.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Senate Subcommitee on Military and Veterans Affairs. And I'd like to begin by saying thank you all for being so patient.

I understand we had some other people in the audience and after an hour or so you got impatient, had to get home and whatever, but you're the die hard, so I appreciate it. The Senate Committee on Military and Veterans affairs will come to order and we have 13 bills on agenda today.

Before we hear the presentation of the bills, we're going to establish the fact that we don't have a quorum, but we will go ahead and come back to it and and continue the voting before it goes on. So the very first Bill that we have, of course is Senate Bill number one. Senator Seyarto, please make your presentation.

Thank you, honorable chair and committee member. I am here to present SB 1. Over the past ten years or the last ten years, a nationwide movement has led to 49 states adopting policies to either fully or partially exempt both retirement and survivor benefits, benefit payments, from state income tax.

As of last year, California is the last state in the union that fully taxes military retirement pay and survivors benefits pay as income. This does not go unnoticed in the veteran community, as we see thousands of veterans and their families move out of California every year while other states gain 94 on average.

SB 1 exempts the first $20,000 from military retirement and survivors benefits pay and can only be applied to families with an adjusted gross income under $250,000 or an individual's AGI under 125,000. Military retirement is an earned benefit paid to those who served our nation for 20 years or more, and survivor benefit payments are an option each service member can opt into paying, allowing their family to receive payments after the service member's death.

Not with me here today is the Rear Admiral of the United States Navy who is retired and CEO of San Diego Military Advisory Council, David Boone. He was going to testify that all of these things are happening in the military community. So with that, I will not have an expert witness with me, but I would simply ask that when the time comes, we have an aye vote.

Thank you, Senator. And I--you know, you said you didn't have the witness to support, but I think you do. They're all here for you. So are there any witnesses in opposition? No? I see none. And so as I said, we will go ahead and pick it up fully when the rest of the people get here.

But so, but witnesses in support, I'd like you to come up and please acknowledge by stating your name, and I'll give you a little bit of time if you'd like to add a little bit, so go right ahead.

Thank you so much. Nicole Wordelman, on behalf of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, in support.

Good afternoon. Kyra Ross, on behalf of the City of Coronado, in support. Very thankful for the author's efforts on this issue.

Thank you.

Steve Vancil from the California Council of Chapters for the Military Officers Association of America. Very much in support. We appreciate your effort. We understand the budget situation, but this is an important first step for us to catch up with the rest of the states. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Josh Baker, and I represent the California Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, representing your hometown military force, and this issue is impacting your California National Guardsmen. After they serve their state in uniform, they're going to other states. The California Enlisted Association is in support of this bill. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Nick Busse, Capital Region Veterans Chamber of Commerce, and we all proudly support this bill.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Dana Nichol with Reeb Government Relations, the American Legion Department of California, AMVETS Department of California, California State Commanders Veterans Council, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the Vietnam Veterans of America; all support this bill. Thank you.

Thank you.

John Thomas Patton, U.S. Army disabled veteran, in support of this bill.

Thank you.

Jim Zenner, on behalf of the California County Veteran Service off--California Association of County Veterans Service Officers, and we're in strong support of this bill.

Thank you.

Hi. Kenneth Smith, Marine veteran, and current member of the California State Guard. I'm in support of this bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

William Franco, Commander of the Veterans Affiliated Council, in strong support of this bill.

Good. Anyone else? Okay. Well, thank you all for coming before us, and I will tell you this: that each and every one of you who serve in these various organizations representing our veterans, we thank you. And from one veteran to another, I'd like to pass the word. Thank you for your service and welcome home.

I appreciate the fact that this bill is coming forward. Thank you. It's ironic that we all had to wait, but here we are again waiting, and hurry up and wait. But it will be, God willing, worth it.

So I look forward to the bill going through the system and it will definitely help our retired veterans and their surviving spouses in California and it's definitely time that we join all the rest of the states in the union honoring our veterans and our retired veterans.

So I'm hoping that as it goes through the system, people will realize the support that's out there from not just our veterans, but families and all those that love God and country.

I supported previous versions of the bill as it moved through the process, and I'm hoping that this will be the bill that finally makes it across the finish line. So once again, Senator, I thank you for bringing it forward, and with that, Senator, would you like to close?

No, I would just respectfully ask for an aye vote when the time comes.

Very good. Thank you, Senator. So we won't be able to have a motion, but we will come back and continue on. Well, thank you once again. So what is the next one I've got? All right, hang on to that. Senator, you've got a second one. Sir, we're going to keep you up here as long as we can and maybe the others will show up, so be patient with us. But, Senator, you have Senate Bill 60, and please make your presentation.

Thank you. Honorable Chair, I am here to present SB60. SB60 is a clarifying Bill on the intent of the Legislature for the Calvet Fee Waiver Program and the California Military Department GI Bill. Both benefits are for California veterans.

The Calvet Fee Waiver is a benefit for spouses and children of disabled veterans, while the California GI Bill is for the California National Guard veterans who have served their required years and fulfilled other criteria.

Unfortunately, some of our public universities have dissected the language 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 Cal Vet Fee waiver while trying to attend a public University for a Bachelor of Wildfire Science degree. The son wanted to become a firefighter and I wanted him to become a firefighter as well.

In investigating this issue, we found that extended education degree programs are not included in the definition of mandatory system wide tuition and fees and were therefore being denied. These extended education programs are self funded and unique to individual campuses, hence the use of the loophole of system wide tuition and fees.

In researching this issue under the Calvet Fee waiver, it came to my attention that a similar issue was happening to the application of the California GI Bill for extended education courses at CSUs.

I found that some CSUs did not offer eligibility to National Guard veterans under their GI Bill since extended education courses had a different admission requirement from regular enrollment. With me here today is Jim Zinner. He is the Legislative Chair for California Association of County Veteran Service Officers.

Will the lead witness come forward? Please take a chair.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members of the Member of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Jim Zenner. I'm the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Military Veteran affairs, and I serve as a Legislative Chair for the California Association of County VSOs.

I'm here today on behalf of CAC VSO to express strong support for Senate Bill 60. Senate Bill 60 represents an important step forward for California's veterans and their families. Military spouses and children endure long periods of separation, frequent relocations, career disruptions, and the daily uncertainty that comes with military life.

They make tremendous sacrifices to support their loved ones service to our country. The Calvet Fee Waiver program was created in recognition of those sacrifices. It removes tuition and enrollment fees for eligible spouses and children at California's public universities, helping open doors to higher education that might otherwise be closed due to financial barriers.

However, despite the program's success, a gap has emerged. As county Veterans Service Officers, we see those gaps and we talk to our veterans and their families regularly about those issues. Under current policies, many extended education programs at our CSUs and UCS campuses are not covered, even when those programs fulfill undergraduate degree requirements.

This creates an unintended barrier for spouses and children who need flexible, accessible pathways to complete their degrees. This Bill closes the unintended loopholes that currently exist with this critical benefit. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other witnesses in the room in support of the Bill? Senate Bill 60. Please come forward to the microphone.

SB60. Dana Nichol with Reeb Government Relations, American Legion, AMVETS, California State Commander's Veterans Council, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Veterans Association. Strong support. Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Josh Baker with the California Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States. We are in strong support of this. Bill and we thank the author for addressing this loophole for US National Guardsmen. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

William Franco, Commander of the Veterans Affiliated Counsel, in support of this Bill.

Thank you. Anyone else? I invite you to come up, state your name, and participate. Absolutely. Historic Bill, please.

Nick Bussey, the Capital Region Veterans Chamber of Commerce, and we support this Bill.

John Thomas Patton, US Army Veteran, in support of this Bill.

Kenneth Smith, Marine veteran, Member of California State Guard, and I support this Bill.

Steve Ansel from Sonoma, in support of the Bill.

Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone in the room in, in opposition to Senate Bill 60? I see none. And oh okay, we've got one of our Senators, Jerry McNerney. We're not ready to take roll yet, but you certainly can comment on Senate Bill 60 if you wish.

Well, first of all, I want to thank the Chairman for your unending enthusiasm to support veterans and military issues. You've done a lot of good for the, for the state. Thank you and I apologize I wasn't on the on time caucus this afternoon.

Duly noted.

No, this is, this is really important and I see it, I see it. My son is a veteran and he's worked on similar issues. And to see that veterans get opportunity to be educated, you know, with tuition waivers is really, it's important. It's part of American dream.

And to see this move forward is something that I can get really behind. So briefly I'm just going to say thank you for bringing this forward.

I know that there's a little bit of opposition from Cal State and the University because of loss of tuition, but I don't think that any idea what percentage of or what kind of loss they'll be facing?

It's not a big loss, number one, but number two, you know, their self funded program is really lucrative and has over doubled its revenue fund in less than a decade going from 198 million in 2014 to 328 million as of 2023. So it's not like there is a big drain on that part of the program.

So, you know, that's the answer I have for you. Okay. All right, thank you.

I'm going to yield back. Yeah, I'd like to interrupt for just a second because we have enough to for quorum. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll?

Archuleta. Here. Grove. McNerney. Here. Menjivar. Here. Umberg. So we've got a quorum, sir.

Okay, we have a quorum. Thank you. So we will continue with, with my remarks and Senator Menjivar, we've had people come forward in support of the bills that we've had today. And I've acknowledged Senator Seardo for his work and I think the veterans in the room have done the same.

And this Bill, particular Bill pertaining to the education of our children, veterans and so on, that the active duty Members that have participated over the years who swore an oath and allegiance to our country and their units. And of course now we turn it over to Calvette to honor what we have done.

And I think it's a small token of appreciation for the family Members and those Veterans who have actually said that they're hoping that the education they're able to get through Calvet will extend onto their dependents, because that was something that we tried to do.

And I know in my own office, when I had a veteran came to me and said that he had hurdles to climb and walls that kept appearing, and we turned it over to our military veterans secretary, and she picked up the ball and she ran with it.

So I'm thinking that we're going to be able to, in the future, handle that situation. So this will open up a lot of doors. The Bill before us was historic, and I think this one will be, too.

But I thank you for bringing it forward to clarify that our California schools should get behind our veterans at every opportunity and help when they can. So with that, Senator, would you like to close?

Sure. And I'll make it brief. You know, the whole intent of this Bill is simply to ensure that the legislative intent of our Cal Vet fee waiver and our National Guard GI Bill are followed. I simply ask for an aye vote. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Well, Madam Chair. I'm sorry, Madam Secretary, let's go ahead and call the vote first. Well, did we. We took the roll call?

Yes, we did. Okay, thank you.

And I've got Senator Menjivar who moves the Bill. So let's go ahead and call for the roll.

Senate Bill 60 do pass, but first we refer to Appropriations. Archuleta. Aye. Archuleta, aye. Grove. McNerney. McNerney, aye. Menjivar. Aye. Menjavar, aye. Umberg. That's 3-0, sir.

Okay. That 30. That will move on. Thank you, Senator. Appreciate it. Okay, let's go back and do the consent calendar. We can do that. I see Senator Umberg has just come in. So let's go ahead and establish a the consent calendar.

All right, here we go. The. Before we do that, we will adopt the Committee rules. Without objection, the Committee rules will be adopted. As I had mentioned that we have a number of bills on consent. We have 10 bills on consent. So let's go ahead. And I'm going to go ahead and recite the bills that are consent.

First Bill is Senate Bill 56, Senate Bill 67, Senate Bill 54, Senate Bill 55, Senate Bill 296, Senate Bill 519, Senate Bill 694, Senate Bill 85055 Senate Bill 621, and Senate Bill 798. They are all on consent. And we have a motion by Senator Menjavar. And with that, let's go ahead and get the votes. Madam Secretary, Call for the votes. Zero, there it is.

[Roll Call]

I had to plug in that Navy for those sailors out in the audience there. Okay. Yeah. All right, here we go. Next item is—where's my name? We have Umberg—Blakespear. There she is. Okay. So, welcome, Senator, and I understand you have Senate Bill 99 to present, so please begin.

Well, thank you, Chair. Hello, colleagues. Thank you for having me.

I have fun on this.

You have fun? Oh, good.

Yeah, we have fun here.

I am pleased to author SB 99, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

SB 99 would allow family childcare providers, which are also known as FCCs, who are already certified by the Department of Defense, or the DOD, to forego a duplicative state license, provided that they care only for military families, follow California's anti-discrimination laws, and meet the health and safety requirements for licensed FCCs—those are family childcare providers.

State licensing requirements are often duplicative of those that are already required for DOD certification. For example, DOD certification and California licensure both require FCC homes to be inspected before childcare services can begin.

While it takes between 2 and 4 weeks for the military to complete the initial fire inspection, it can take California Department of Fire up to three months. To maintain DOD certification, FCCs are inspected monthly, while state-licensed FCCs are inspected every three years.

Further, 87% of DOD certified providers are military spouses and frequently have operated in multiple states. Collecting the work history information required for state licensure adds additional time. With DOD certification, that information follows the provider across states, meaning providers can reopen much faster after moving.

California's redundant licensure requirements are often seen as too burdensome for DOD-certified FCC providers. This extra burden discourages many from operating in California, knowing they will likely be relocated out of the state in a few short years.

The children they would otherwise care for are then forced into civilian childcare options, which further exacerbates our childcare shortage statewide and makes wait times longer for everyone. Several states already accept DOD certification, in lieu of state licensing, and California law already exempts several types of childcare from state licensure.

SB 99 would add DOD-certified FCC providers as exempt from state licensure, provided they only care for military children, and that the DOD and the California Department of Social Services, or CDSS, have agreed to a policy governing the exemption.

While these providers would not be required to hold a state license, they would still be required to follow the state's safety and health requirements. CDSS would retain the right to inspect exempt FCCs, even without notice or reason, and the policy will include procedures for enforcement, reporting, and corrective actions against DOD-certified FCC providers.

Finally, I'm working closely with CCPU, which is the Child Care Providers United, to address their concerns and have already included an amendment requiring that these DOD-certified exempt FCCs adhere to the state's anti-discrimination laws. I await their additional requested amendments, if any, without sacrificing quality or safety.

SB 99 will ensure that FCC providers, who are already certified by the Department of Defense, and exclusively serve military children can offer critically needed childcare services in California, without the need for, or delay in getting, a duplicative state license. And with me today, I have Kelly Douglas, on behalf of the Department of Defense.

Bring your witness forward, please.

Thank you.

Hello. You can sit right there.

Good afternoon, Chair Archuleta and Members of the Committee. My name is Kelly Mae Douglas, and I work within the Department of Defense Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel in Readiness, here to testify as a sponsor in strong support of the policies addressed within SB 99.

Access to quality childcare for military families is not just a workforce development issue. It is a matter of national security. Like their civilian counterparts, military families often rely on the workforce participation of both spouses in a family. Many are single parents or dual military families.

When they cannot access quality, affordable childcare, especially when called to duty, the military mission itself is put at risk. The Department of Defense has implemented a variety of initiatives aimed at expanding access to childcare for military families, including family childcare homes, or FCCs, and fee assistance programs.

SB 99 leverages these federally funded programs to strengthen California's ability to meet the needs of military families where and when they support the most—where they need the support the most—ultimately ensuring the readiness and security of our nation.

We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts to address the needs of military families, while supporting the economic viability of both military and community childcare providers in California. If enacted, this Bill will allow California to demonstrate its strong commitment to the nearly 241,000 members of the military in the state, who sacrificed so much for their country.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other witnesses in support of Senate Bill 99? Please come to the microphone.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members of the Committee. Ned McKinley, with Marine Corps Installations West, in support. Also, on behalf of all of the Services here in California, in support.

Thank you.

Steve Vancel, with Solano MOA. There's a shortage of childcare in California. It's a critical need for the military families who move so often. Many of the families who need help the most are the young, enlisted families. They are also many of the childcare providers—volunteer childcare providers.

Our chapter has helped a little bit with some of the liability insurance they need to get started. But this is a great help to get more family childcare providers for our military families. Thank you.

Thank you.

William Franco, Commander of the Veterans Affiliated Council. We're in support of this Bill.

Thank you.

My name is Nick Bussey and this time, I'm the CEO of the Cheesy Keynes Foundation. Too many hats. As a veteran, I do understand that as a lower enlisted individual, we don't make too much until you become senior ranking.

Now, some of the most important parts of the foundation to the success of the soldier is going to be the foundation of the home. So, I believe this is going to be great for supplementary income and also good for the overall wellbeing of our service members' families. And I do support this Bill. Thank you.

Dana Nichol Reed, Government Relations American Legion, California State Commanders Veterans Council, Military Order of the Purple, Military Officers Association of America, and the Vietnam Veterans of America, in support. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else in support? If not, then, anyone in opposition or concern of the Bill? Senate Bill 99. Seeing none. All right. Any questions or comments from the Senate—Senators—that are here? Senator McNerney.

Well, thank you, Chairman. Thank you for bringing this Bill forward. Honestly don't see how people could—anyone could be opposed to this, since there's already a shortage of childcare in California. And as you as your witness, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name. Put this in a national security framework, it even makes the more sense.

Young families have a hard enough time finding childcare and affording childcare. And so, I think this just makes a tremendous amount of sense. I'll yield.

Good. Anyone else? I'd like to make a couple of comments and again, I'd like to thank you for being patient with us and coming before us today, in your Senate Bill 99, that it is so important that we all understand that this is so prevalent across California, if not the nation.

And that's why the Department of Defense was able to bring their representative.

We appreciate you coming. But as we heard, the path for some of the spouses that are married to our active-duty members, they do provide safe and appropriate in-home childcare for our active-duty members, waiving some of the state requirements because the Department of Defense, their policies are much stricter and that is an issue that we must pay attention to.

The Department of Defense uses specific standards and threshold, as I mentioned, often higher than the state standards, so. But it also has to ensure, as it should, that there's quality and security and compliance with various regulations within the state. So, I encourage all the unions that are concerned that—to work with us.

And I'm hoping that the Senator will continue working within unions to work together on this important issue that pertains to our military personnel. The care and maintenance of their children is so important, especially when—once they're deployed for weeks on end.

But the industry does need more workers, no doubt, and we've got to reduce some of the barriers and regulations that face our active duty personnel, that it is so important that we move together and make sure that anything we can do to help our veterans, especially when they're deployed.

And as you well know, that training could go on for three weeks or three months, and we need the childcare that we can do. So, with that, I would like to ask you if you're ready to close, Senator.

Yes. Thank you for the supportive comments, Chair. And thank you, Senator McNerney, for the supportive comments. And I respectfully ask for your "Aye" vote.

Very good. Madam Secretary.

Move the Bill.

Thank you.

We have Senator Menjivar moving the Bill.

[Roll Call]

And that—that roll was four to—four to zero. One more Bill.

Senate Bill 1. Because Umberg's the only one that voted on it. You passed. But first we referred Appropriations, Archuleta. Aye. Grove, McNerney, McNerney. I minifar. Aye. And emerg voted. So it's 40.

Okay, good. All right. I closing. So before we go, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to just ask you for one more minute of your patience because I'd like to acknowledge a veteran to the Committee. Senator, would you please come back in for just one minute? I'm going to have you do this because this will be on the test tomorrow.

It's killing me here.

You know, we are here acknowledging our veterans, who's given us 10, 15, 20, 30 years of service. I'd like to acknowledge to my left and to your right, very important person to our lives as veterans, and that's Cindy Baldwin. Cindy has given us 25 years here in the Senate.

And those 25 years have been recognized by a Senate resolution honoring her for her commitment and her love of veterans and as I always use the term God and country. And this is her last official meeting before she retires here with the Military and Veterans Committee. And she's done a lot of good work.

She's been an advisor to us, and she has now gone into the next level of being a grandma. And so what happens when you're 25 years of service and being a grandma at the same time? It's time to hang it up.

But she'll be working with her daughter, who's a physician here in the State of California and here in Sacramento. So I know she'll be busy, but on behalf of everyone in the room and Cindy Baldwin, we'd like to say thank you for your time.

To the State of California and to the Military Veterans Committee, I applaud your service. Please join me, ladies and gentlemen. . And with that, the Senate and Military Veterans Affairs Committee is adjourned. Thank you, everyone.