Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration

Good morning and welcome to Anaheim. I am Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, and I am the Chair of the Subcommittee number five on State Administration with jurisdiction over the California Department of Veterans' Affairs. We want to thank you all for joining us especially on this rainy morning at the Anaheim Council Chambers for this public hearing.

We also want to especially thank the Anaheim city and all of their staff for working with us on this hearing. Today's program, honoring our heroes, the Path Forward for the Southern California Veterans Cemetery at Gypson Canyon brings together state, county, and community partners committed to delivering this long-promised project for our veterans.

We are grateful to everyone who traveled here today, including our presenters, local leaders, veterans' organizations, and community members. We will begin by posting of the colors. We are proud to invite—to post—our colors today, the Sunburst Youth Academy Color Guard.

[Pledge of Allegiance]

Thank you to our color guard for this meaningful presentation and just a acknowledgement to Sunburst Youth Academy. If you don't know about what they do at the Los Alamitos base, they are running a very impactful program for youth and that's an example.

All right, now we are going to be inviting up from the City of Anaheim two of our councilwomen and council member to make brief remarks.

Good morning. Thank you. I'm here with Council Member Kurtz and Council Member Leon. I'm Mayor Pro Tem Natalie Meeks. We are—the entire council is so supportive of this project, and we all want to make sure that this moves forward as quickly as possible. So, on behalf of the City of Anaheim, welcome to our city hall.

We are proud to host you here today as part of a shared mission to bring a long overdue veterans cemetery to Orange County and I am honored to play a leading role on Anaheim City Council in supporting the Gypsum Canyon Cemetery Project. It is within my district, District 6 in Anaheim Hills.

And it will be a final resting place to honor and remember the those who have served. I also know firsthand the importance of this project. I come from a military family. My husband, Chuck Smith, is an army veteran who served in Vietnam.

My brother, Bill Meeks, was a Navy sailor for 20 years and served in Lebanon, Granada, Panama, and Kuwait. And my nephew in law, Ryan Casey, is an army soldier who served in Iraq as one of the many who enlisted after 9/11 and also, the community, and it's heartbreaking to me.

One of my neighbors said a few years ago when this project first started getting talked about, he's like, can you get that done right away before I die? And I said, I am going to work on it. And he passed away this year and it wasn't done.

But there's so many other veterans that are living that reality, and we need to make sure this project moves forward quickly. But those are just a few of the examples of the services that we need to honor as we move forward and that have benefited us all.

Anaheim has been unwavering in our city's support for a veteran cemetery. When a clear path forward was needed, Anaheim stepped up and we are committed to ensuring it will be a great neighbor for everyone in and around Anaheim Hills.

Our city stands ready to handle the final planning and processing and to provide the last mile power and water and other connections needed. But there are still funding questions ahead, and we welcome your continued support and that of our federal partners.

I want to thank and acknowledge Chair Quirk-Silva for her work on this project and her leadership. You have worked to streamline the process, recognizing the needs and responsibilities that we owe to our veterans.

I also want to thank CalVet, the VA, the Orange County Cemetery District, and Veterans Alliance of Orange County, and to the entire Subcommittee. We wish you a productive session here in our city today. Thank you. Mayor Kurtz.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. We are closer than ever to seeing Orange County's first and only veterans cemetery, right here in Anaheim. Our focus now is on advancing federal and state support. Like Mayor Pro Tem shared, everyone has a loved one or someone close to them who has served. For me, it's my husband, Ken.

He's a Navy veteran, served aboard the USS Estes, three tours in Vietnam. A veteran cemetery in Anaheim is as much about families as veterans. Today, our veteran families have to go to Riverside, San Diego, or Los Angeles to honor their fallen loved ones. With 80,000 veterans in Orange County, that has to change.

Anaheim is proud, very proud, to lead the way. There is still work to do, but we are ready to roll up our sleeves, just as we do in Anaheim. We welcome your continued support as we all work to honor our veterans. And with that, we thank you for your important work today. Thank you very much.

Thank you. To all the veterans that are here today, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your continued work and advocacy for yourselves, for your peers, for so many that we know in our community that have served our country and our community.

And we are here because of you. So, if you would please give yourselves a round of applause, please. And to Chair Quirk-Silva, to Senator Umberg, the Committee Members, thank you for your continued work, our county partners, everybody who has really stepped up to make this a reality and make it happen.

It was an honor for me to join my colleagues in unanimously approving the cemetery here in the City of Anaheim. And to all of our veterans here in Anaheim, we say thank you, we say welcome, and we say that we want to continue to work with you and for you, for you and your families.

Thank you very much.

Thank you to the Anaheim City Council Members, and that last speaker was Carlos Leon, Anaheim Council Member. I don't think you mentioned your name but thank you. All right. All right. I'm actually a little bit comfortable here because I sat for eight years on the Fullerton City Council, so I'm noticing the chairs and all these things.

But we are happy to be here, and I will be making opening remarks and then my colleague will as well. So, as Chair of the Budget Subcommittee 5 on State Administration, I want to offer brief welcome remarks and then we will be inviting our Committee Member here and we may have other legislators drop in.

Just to give you a context, at the State of California, we often have what we call informational hearings. And this is indeed an informational hearing. And so, we have a very formal process.

But if we do have our colleagues from the Senate side or the Assembly side, they often come in and then they often aren't able to stay for the entire hearing. So, you may see Members coming in and out, but this in no way does not mean the issue is not important.

We may also see Assemblymember Avelino Valencia join us as well. But as was already mentioned, by population, Orange County is the sixth largest county in the United States and is the largest county in California without a veteran cemetery.

In 2014, I authored and Governor Brown signed into law, so I want you to notice Governor Brown, so, I've now served under two governors, but signed into law Assembly Bill 1453 to require the California Department of Veterans Affairs involuntary cooperation with local governments in Orange County to design, develop, and construct and equip a state owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery in the City of Irvine.

Unfortunately, due to a number of challenges, we were unable to build a veterans cemetery in the City of Irvine. But after over a decade, we have finally identified an appropriate site to construct a state owned and state-operated southern Californians' veterans cemetery right here in the City of Anaheim.

In July of 2021, the City of Anaheim adopted a resolution in support of Gypsum Canyon Site for the veterans cemetery, an Orange—and Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a 20 million allocation for the development of this project. You will also hear from the supervisors today.

Additionally, over the years, the legislative body has set aside over $40 million, with the support right here from my colleague, for the design and construction of a Southern California veterans cemetery. This year and last year, in tight budget years, we were able to bring in close to 9 million additional dollars.

And the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has just this month deemed the Gypsum Canyon site to meet all of the necessary criteria to be a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs sanctioned state veterans cemetery. Things are finally coming together.

But today, we are here to focus about next steps in the future and the final construction of our new veterans cemetery. Today, our first panel, we will hear from our veterans community about the urgent need and importance of this project.

And our second panel, we will hear from the county about its unwavering and continued support for the project and how we can benefit by joining forces. And finally, with our third panel, we will hear from the California Department of General Services, or DGS, and the California Department of Veterans Affairs about how we move forward, or CalVet.

Then, we will open up for public comment. I will note to the audience that this hearing is being live streamed and recorded. Anyone who has missed the hearing will be able to watch it later on demand via the California State Assembly website.

Now, I'd like to ask my colleague, Senator Tom Umberg, who, I'm looking at his official military title, who was a Colonel Paratrooper in Army Special Operations Command in the Airborne Corps. Senator Umberg.

Well, thank you, Assemblymember Qurik-Silva. Being quite gracious, as some of you know, we're very territorial in the Assembly and Senate about our hearings. And Assemblymember Quirk-Silva has been very, very kind in allowing me to participate today. So, I want to thank you. But before we get going, Veterans Day, Veterans Week, was just last week, week before.

So, I want to do a little roll call here if you don't mind. I'd like to know if there's anybody who's a veteran or a family member of a veteran in the Army. Let me hear a hua. Hua. All right, how about Navy? Any Navy? Any Navy here? Let me hear you. There's just a few Navy.

Oh, Air Force. Any Air Force? All right. Coast Guard, Space Force, Coast Guard? Did I get them all? I get every branch? Yeah, I got them all, I think. Did I miss anyone? Who'd I miss? The mar.

Oh, you know, Sharon, the Marines are so sensitive. They have very fragile egos and if you forget them, their self-esteem is impacted. So, to the Marines, happy birthday, belated birthday. 250 years of protecting our freedom, so, good for you.

This has been a long journey and there are a number of people who are in this room who have been engaged in this mission for a very, very long time, and I'm reluctant to start mentioning names because I know I'm going to leave some folks out.

But I see Nick here and I see Bobby and I see so many others who have basically made this their passion for over a decade. But most importantly is Assemblymember Quirk-Silva. She's made this a passion for well over a decade.

She's been the champion, the leader, the moving force behind the Veterans Cemetery in Sacramento and here in Orange County. And very few things you can say but for, but I think you really can say but for Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, we wouldn't be here today. So, a round of applause and a thank you to you.

So, today, today, we're a bit about money. And I recall, and I know Sharon will recall, I think it was six years ago we gathered in her office, Assemblymember Daley and Assemblymember Quirk-Silva and myself, to talk about the cemetery. And the most important aspect is how we're going to fund that cemetery.

And all of us literally put our hands together and said, we're each going to commit to request a budget request. This was when the state actually had money, not so much anymore. We're going to commit to make this our number one priority, and the Senate did $10 million and the Assembly did $10 million.

And so, we had a little pot of money with 20 million and there was 4 million sort of floating around. That may not sound like much to you, but it was $24 million. And we thought that was pretty good seed money. Now, that's still sitting there.

We need to spend that, Sharon, before somebody else figures it out and use it for some other purpose. We need to spend that. But a special thanks also to the county for stepping up because at that point in time, we didn't have the county quite as the partner that they've become.

So, a special thank you to the county, the Board of Supervisors. I don't know if Supervisor Wagner is here or Supervisor Foley—I know they have representatives here—that they are also leading the way. It is so important. It is so important, not just because it's the right thing to do.

So important, not just because our veterans deserve, and their families deserve a dignified, dedicated final resting place; it's important because we have a continuing mission. There are many, many veterans in this room and we have a continuing mission.

That continuing mission is to, after we leave service, to continue to remember and serve and support those who are in service. Right now, right now, as you know, in Syria and Iraq and Korea, in ships at sea, there are soldiers and sailors and marines and airmen and coasties and others who are standing watch.

And they're depending on us. They're depending on us when they leave service, that we provide them, we provide them an education, we provide them health care, we take care of their families. And finally, we provide a final resting place. And it's important not just again, because it's the right thing to do.

We're challenged here in the United States. We're challenged in terms of our national defense. We're challenged because young people are not coming to the military as they once did. We no longer have a draft. We have an all-volunteer force. They're not coming to the military.

And so, we need to make sure that they understand that that service, that service beyond self is so honorable, that that mission is not just good for themselves. It's good for all of us. And let me conclude with my wife's favorite quote. And some of you know, my wife is my superior commissioned officer. Yeah, I know.

I actually had to salute her, just like Nick. Any event, in any event, this is my favorite general's favorite quote. And it's from our first Commander in Chief, George Washington.

He said the willingness with which our young men—and if he were alive today, and women—are likely to serve in any war, no matter how, just shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars, how they were treated, and appreciated by their country. Thank you for appreciating veterans. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Senator Umberg, and we have had many robust conversations about this cemetery. And together, we have partnered to bring this forward. And I appreciate all of your support. Next, we have...and he is familiar with maybe even this seat when he served on his Anaheim City Council is current Assemblymember Avelino Valencia. Welcome.

Good morning, everyone. So familiar that I tried to use the City Council mic instead of the Assembly mic. Right. Going back to old habits. Good morning. Good morning. There you go. Just mention that such old habits and so familiar that I was trying to use the City Council mics instead of the Assembly mics.

So, you know, always good to be home. But once again, it's a privilege to have an opportunity to serve as a newer member of the State Assembly on the Veterans Committee in Sacramento. We have had an incredible leadership come out of Orange County.

I want to commend the incredible work of Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, the steadfast direction of State Senator Umberg, and it is an incredible opportunity this morning to really share how far we have come, because I truly believe that when it comes to doing what's best for our community, takes teamwork.

And what better to show teamwork and collaboration than on behalf of the servicemen and women of this nation. Senator Umberg has been a champion for many, many years. Again, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva has done the same. And I had the opportunity to vote for this project when I served on the Anaheim City Council.

So, my small contribution, you know, I hold dearly. And I just want everyone to know that, especially our veterans, that you all have a friend in me and we look forward to this project coming to fruition. Thank you.

And one of the things some of you may or may not know is the Senator and myself will actually be termed out in 2026. But we will be—are now entering our last year of service at the state. And we certainly believe in teamwork.

And we know that is exactly why we need to have the Assembly Member, a future Senator, not only enrolled in this and engaged, but will be our future supporter.

So, passing on and working, everybody in this room has played a role in this, and it certainly is about teamwork, which is exactly why I'm calling up our first panel, which is the California Veterans Community Support Panel. And we'd like to invite Nancy Soltz for American Gold Star Mothers.

We will be inviting David Bambia, State Commander of the California American Legion, and Nick Beradino, the President of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County Valor. And they will each make comments and then we will have some questions after. I believe we are starting with—who are we starting with? We are starting with the Commander.

Oversee 410American Legions and am an advocate for the 1.5 million Veterans of California. Orange County is home to more than 100,000 veterans, yet remains the largest county in California. Without a veterans cemetery, proximity to Riverside County is not accessible. Traffic congestion, long travel times create real barriers for grieving families and aging loved ones.

This lack of geographical equity has left Orange County veterans community underserved despite their long time long standing contribution to our nation's military. And public service. The Southern California Veterans Cemetery at Gissolum Canyon would fill this critical gap, ensuring that Orange County veterans will finally have a dignified local resting place where their families can access without hardships.

After years of delay, Orange County is united and ready to move forward. The County of Orange, all 34 cities, a bipartisan majority of the county, state and federal delegation, public safety and labor organizations and more than 100 local, state and national veteran organizations are united in support of the Gypsum Canyon location.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has has committed over 200 acres of land 20 million for development for the veterans cemetery. The State of California has allocated an additional 35.5 million in state funding.

With $55 million already secured to a dedicated site and overly overwhelming public support, this project is not only needed, but also ready to break ground and begin construction. The National Cemetery Administration is reviewing a Veteran cemetery grant pre application submitted by the California Department of Veteran Affairs. In order to begin construction, federal funding needs to be prioritized.

The American Legion is asking that the state immediately take possession of the property and begin site preparations. It is long overdue. It sounds like we all want the same thing. Let's get it done for our veterans. Let's get it done for our country. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Next we have from our American Gold Star Mothers. Nancy Can. How do you say that? Soltis, welcome. Yes, turn your mic.

Thank you very much for having me here today. And thank you Anaheim for welcoming this decades long effort. And to all of the 34 Orange County cities for offering their bipartisan support. Supporters of this project are my heroes.

And a special attention goes to Valor for its tireless leadership in moving forward this long promised Orange County Veterans Cemetery. I speak as one voice for many in strong support of the cemetery. It was four years ago. The ground was broken.

It was just shy of three years that a spectacular 60 by 30 foot American flag was raised to soar 100ft over the hillside. Our flag is a powerful symbol of hope. But it's time for there to be more than a flag.

On this 240 acre site, from the earliest days of our country, Americans have answered its call in war at home and abroad, often to defend the freedom of others. The pride our veterans have having been able to serve their country, is not frequently spoken, but quietly resides in their hearts and minds.

My own family knows this pain well. Starting in the Civil War, I had a great grandfather killed, never returning to his widow and his seven children. A century later came Vietnam, where my husband served two tours. Our Vietnam veterans returned home having carried out the missions they were assigned. Yet they came back to a divided nation.

Over 20 years, more than 58,000Americans lost their lives in Vietnam. Upon their return home, the battle weary military were too often met not with gratitude, but with insults, harassment, and sometimes even physical violence. To avoid that hostility, many veterans went into hiding, hiding their wounds, their emotions, and often even their service.

It has taken decades for many veterans to begin to heal. Out of that healing came a promise. Never again. Never again would returning warriors be treated as less than. Never again would their sacrifices be ignored and promises to them quietly set aside. Since then, Vietnam veterans have led the way in changing how America treats its service Members.

Yet there is one promise still unfulfilled for our Orange County veterans. A final resting place in the county they call home. Orange is one of the smallest counties in our state, yet it's home to more than 8% of California's veterans. 36% of our veterans served in the Vietnam War and are now 75 years or older.

As they age and face increasing infirmities, they are eager for a resolution to the cemetery debate. Please do not let them down. My family's. I evidently have lost the last page my talk, so I'll just speak extemporaneously.

Our son, 140 years after his great great grandfather was killed in the Civil War, lost his life in Mosul, Iraq, in 2004. Many things had changed in the interceding years, and our son was brought home to us for his final resting place. The first thing the army did was to say, look at Riverside.

And we looked at Riverside. It's beautiful, it's serene. It's everything you want it to be. But it was so far from where we lived and to catch up with what David was saying, it's a journey. It's a congested nightmare to get out there. It was something that our son's young family could not easily handle.

And it was hard for us older folks as well. So we made alternative arrangements.

Not that long ago, one of the other Gold Star mothers whose son was buried at Riverside, actually had him moved from Riverside to a local cemetery just for the very reason it traumatized her to go to visit her son at Riverside with every visit. So she brought him closer to home. And that's what our veterans deserve.

They deserve to be near their families. Their families need them, too. They need the closeness of having them nearby. They need to be near their neighbors, their friends, their faith communities. And it's time to do that now.

John Kennedy once said in his Thanksgiving address, which we soon have coming up, that it's not what you say, it's what you do, essentially, that makes a difference. And it's time to do the right thing for these veterans, whatever their ages, whatever their infirmities. It's time for them to be properly taken care of and properly respected.

And I request on behalf of Gold Star families across the state, particularly in Orange County, and with the backing of almost all of our veterans, that action is taken on this. Now. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much. And of course, thank you. We know that the loss is never easier. That being said before we have our last speaker on this panel, there are some extra seats, so if you have an extra seat, can you raise your hand? Because I see people standing that way. You can grab a seat.

Unless you want to stand. All right. All right. Last on this panel, we have Nick Barradino, who is the President of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County, better known as Velour.

Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Thank you to everyone on our panel, and certainly Senator Umberg and Avellino, all your help over the years. I represent Valor, which represents approximately 150 veterans organizations. We are supported by every City Council in Orange County. We. We are supported by the entire Orange County congressional delegation.

We are supported by every Member of the Board of Supervisors. We are supported by the board of the Orange County Cemetery District. And as of this morning, we have now been notified. We have both. Both US Senators from the State of California have come on board. Senator Schiff and Senator Padilla. I don't know.

What in the hell does it take to honor us? What does it take? 10 years of fighting. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I have been in government since 1964, and I love public hearings because it's our opportunity to tell the truth.

It's our opportunity to speak and for people to hear what's really going on behind the scenes. 10 years. My God, that's shame. Look at us Vietnam veterans. Vietnam veterans here. Look at us. We're Dying. And you tell us to be patient. You should have told us that 60 years ago, but you didn't then.

You didn't ask us to be patient. Then you sent us into war and you brought us home, where we had to go into hiding for 50 years because you didn't care. Because the American people didn't care. When we were in hiding, our lives, some disintegrated. We couldn't join the VFW because they said it wasn't really a war.

I came home and I had blood on my boots because I had to change my clothes to get to the San Francisco airport. And they said, you'll get harassed when you get to the airport.

I didn't think so until a young woman came up to me and yelled something and threw a cup of ice in my face while there was blood on my boots. But you tell us to wait. We got to wait.

I find that to be for all of those brothers and sisters that didn't come home, for all of them. They're looking down. You want to tell them to wait. Gold star mothers with their children. You want to tell them to wait, they got to wait longer. That's what this is about. We don't have the money.

Listen, I worked with this Legislature from 1973 until 2017. And when you want to find the money for something you want, you find it and you find it fast. And that's a fact. You know that. I know that. Where's this frustration coming from?

Do you know in 12 years, not once has anybody from Cal Vet reached out to our coalition for a meeting to meet with us formally? Not once. Not one time. We see them at events where they pull us aside and tell us, zero, you know, guys, you have to be patient. zero, we don't have the money.

zero, you got to go to the feds. Not once. Not once. And what you learn in government like I have after all these years, 62 years, you go by what those who are deep inside that bureaucracy. You don't go by what they say. You go by what they do.

And what they've done is not once have they reached out to us. This isn't what people want to hear at a public hearing. I know that. But the truth has to be told. Every single one of these men and women deserve that. They'll drag their feet.

You know it and I know it, but we're not going to wait. And what are we waiting for? We have a project that's so beautiful, a project that half of it will honor our first responders. And our allies and the other half for veterans. And on that project, there will be a pumping station.

You're going to hear about an additional pumping station to save the fires from that terrible wild land. And I met last week with folks from Pacific Palisades because I said, look, can you help us? Can you join our coalition? You've suffered the delays, you've suffered the forgetting about it in the state, and it's moving slowly.

And you know what will happen? There'll be a fire there someday. And everybody's going to point their fingers. We didn't do it. We didn't do it because some. Because we got to wait. Because it takes a long time. Takes more than 12 years. No, it doesn't take more than 12 years.

We have $55 million in the bank on one project, $50 million in another project. That's compatible. The ability to work together, to have cost savings, to have cost savings, to bring the costs down where we can work together. But you will have to wait, because everybody has to wait. We are dying.

Can I make that clear to Cal Vet? Do you understand? We are dying. Do you get that? Does it matter? Or do we have to wait? I won't know because they'll never call.

And that's why Valor today at this public hearing asks that you take it to our commander in chief of the State of California, Governor Wilson, Governor Newsom. Blast from the past. About ready to get thrown out of here. That's a quick way to empty the room, but I'm going to tell you. But we ask. We ask him.

We ask him to go to you and ask you, will he respond to us and say, no, we're not going to build it. You have to wait. Will he respond to it? Yes, we can get it done. We can protect those veterans. Well, I am going to wind it up, but I've waited 12 years. Okay.

Or will he say nothing? But we want this message carried to him because we're not waiting any longer. And I got some news for everybody, including you, Calvett. If you think we're going away, if you think we. We're giving up, we ain't going away. We ain't giving up. God bless all our troops.

God bless you, your son and everybody else has died. And God bless America. We're going to get it done. Thank you very much.

Thank you for all three of you for your comments. And we certainly know the passion, the dedication and the frustration. And we hear that, we see that and we understand that now. We. Are there any questions for the current Panel.

Not a question, but a special thank you to the panel. But in particular, Ms. Soltis, taking your pain and turning into passion for all those who are similarly situated inspires us. It makes us have to up our game. So just thank you. Trite words, but thank you.

Assembly Member.

As a newer Member, it's encouraging to see the passion and the camaraderie and teamwork that has come to this very point. You know, my understanding of the progress has been one of different ideas in the past, but I am encouraged to see the progress that has been made to this point.

And to paraphrase Mr. Berradino, it's about time. And the fact that everybody in the State of California is on board should facilitate the progress moving forward. So thank you for the testimony.

Thank you. And I would, I just do also want to, as I've worked on this topic for since 2013, you know, you learn and hear new information all the time through this process.

And I think hearing again from the gold star mothers and really understanding because sometimes on paper, black and white applications, it might read, well, there is a veteran cemetery in Riverside. It's not that far. And if you're making those decisions nationally, you may not understand the California freeway system, the traffic, but also really the burden on families.

As you mentioned, your young family of your son, who we know when they're caring for young children, they lose somebody in their family. That that is not an easy trip an hour one way, an hour back. And what happens is families stop going because it gets harder and harder, same things as families age.

So I really appreciated that. I knew exactly why we were trying to get this cemetery. But you really brought home to me what that looks like for a family member trying to visit somebody who's easily an hour away. And that's really the impetus for us to have this cemetery here.

It's not only for the reverence to our veterans, but also the families who have lost these loved ones. And whether it's because of their service or because after their service, either way, families want to be near their loved ones after they have left. So thank you so much. Thank you to our panel. We appreciate Nick.

We always appreciate you. Thank you. We will invite our next panel up and again, just so those who don't follow hearings, we will have our panelists speak, then offer some questions. We'll do the same with the third. Please come up to our next panel.

And then the public will get a chance to speak at the very end of all three panels. And we will have 30 seconds or less at that time for you to come to the podium and make any remarks. Again, our second panelist, or panel two, is Orange County support for Veterans Cemetery at Gypsum County.

And we're talking about Orange County supervisor body. And we are happy to welcome the honorable Dawn Wagner, supervisor of Orange County Tim Dusch, the General manager of the Orange County Cemetery District, and Thomas, or better known as Matt Miller, the chief real estate officer of Orange County. Welcome.

And I believe we are going to start with our supervisor. Do you want to turn your mic.

It's been a while since I've been on this side of the dais. Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a privilege and an honor to be here. And I do represent the third District which is the site of the Gypsum Canyon property where this cemetery will be built.

And I have been fighting for this project along with you, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, for more than a decade, as you outlined first in the State Assembly as Mayor of the City of Irvine and for the past six years as a member of the Board of Supervisors.

And frankly, it was ranked politics that led to Irvine's failure to build the cemetery and caused years of unnecessary delay. But since this board stepped in and took responsibility to deliver the vets the deserved cemetery that this Board of Supervisors and again along with you, Assembly Member Quirk-Silva, we wouldn't be here without you.

And of course the veterans who join us today, we have brought this project to the very brink of success. We dedicated 200 acres of county owned land at Gypsum Canyon to the Orange County Cemetery district represented by Mr. Deutsch here for the with a condition that a portion of it be dedicated to our veterans.

We allocated $20 million for the cemetery. That money is ready to be transferred today. If Calvet wants to slip me a note as I walk out with the account number, that money will be in their account by the close of business today.

We sponsored and you carried two bills, Assembly Bill 1595 in 2022, which directed Calvet to design, develop and construct a state operated veterans cemetery in Gypsum Canyon and and authorized 25 million in previously secured state funding to be used at that location. So we're up to $45 million.

And you sponsored AB571 in 2025 to exempt the project from CEQA challenges beyond what was already done. And you authored both of these bills. Both required a 2/3 majority because they were urgency. And both of course passed. But that's not all.

Supervisor Foley and I have been up in Sacramento where we have met on multiple occasions with the Orange County delegation, with the chairs and Members and staff of the Senate and Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee, the Governor's Office, the Department of Finance, the Department of General Services, Calvet Secretary Lindsey Sinn, Undersecretary Keith Boylan. We have made the rounds.

We have been talking about this project and we've had them even tour the Gypsum Canyon property, which as Mr. Barradino says, will be gorgeous. You've seen it. We've got the slopes out there that will be an echo of Arlington we will have the vets in a dignified place.

Up top, we have spot for our first responders, which is unprecedented in the United States of America. This is a project that is going to absolutely redound to the benefit of everybody who's had a part. Our veterans, led by Nick Barradino and Valor, have worked tirelessly to build unprecedented support.

As you've heard, we have resolutions from all 34 cities in Orange County, unanimous bipartisan support from our state and federal delegations from public safety, from business and labor organizations, 140 local elected officials. You know all this. But it is to be emphasized because this is the way government should work.

Bringing everyone together on a project that will benefit the entire the entire community. In October, the U.S. Department of Veterans affairs released its fiscal year 26 priority list of state, territory and tribal government pre applications for. For the first time, for the first time ever, a Southern California veteran cemetery made the list.

Not the Irvine site, our Gypsum Canyon site. And being on that conforming list means the project conforms to the standards and guidelines for site selection, planning, construction required by the VA. We've got this project to the brink. We've relentlessly identified and eliminated every. Every challenge, every bureaucratic roadblock, every threat from the opposition.

We've been proud to stand united for our brave military veterans and their families to reach this moment. And let me be perfectly clear. As you all know, we will continue with the same level of urgency to get the state to take possession, to get shovels in the ground and to build this cemetery.

It is critical that we do it to honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans. We can't afford any more unnecessary delays. The VA has provided clear guidance to Calvet. Calvet does not need to wait for federal funding to move this project forward.

The VA has confirmed that nothing prevents Calvat from taking possession of the property now and applying for federal funding at a later date. That means that the first and most important step, take control of the land, is entirely within Calvet's authority and can happen without waiting for additional resources.

And we've already outlined the millions and millions and millions of resources that are already available. I met with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, Sam Brown back in September. Under Secretary Brown told me that in order for Calvet to receive federal grant funding, they must be in possession of the property.

So take possession of the property. Finally, the VA has emphasized that taking possession demonstrates momentum and commitment. We've demonstrated it in Orange County. We cannot demonstrate it in any more serious of a way.

It is time for Calvet, please to signal to our federal partners that California is serious about this project, elevating its profile and increasing the likelihood of the necessary support. In short, action today sets the stage for the success we anticipate tomorrow. We at the county have dedicated significant time and resources to advance this project.

We have met with decision makers and we've already contacted the VA for additional conversations now that the Federal Government has reopened following the shutdown. Representatives Young Kim and Lou Correa and have already requested another meeting with Under Secretary Brown and expect Calvette to be at the meeting.

And it will go very well if Calvett can say we've taken possession of the property. Our veterans have waited long enough. We, all of us in Orange County, we are all in on this project. We are all in for our veterans. And we ask the wait end. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. And some might not know that we actually served together way back in 2012 and 2013 as Assembly Members and have known each other quite a long time. And I'll just jump in at this point just to make that a point which is so often in government today or really in our world.

We're so divided. And we've seen that escalation over the last years. And what is unique about this project is it is a bipartisan project.

And it is rare in politics to to not only work together from both sides, but to have the respect and you know as veterans that when you go out to do the jobs you need to do as veterans, you don't put a tag on your uniform. I'm a Republican, I'm a Democrat, I'm this or that.

You work together as a team. And I think we'd all be better off if we did a little bit more thinking of how do we work together. So thank you, Supervisor. All right, next we have Tim Deutsch from the county. Welcome.

Thank you again. My name is Tim Deutsch. I'm the Orange County Cemetery District, General Manager. As far as this group goes, we're the little engine that could. We're such a small entity to be part of this major project. We're very thankful. First and foremost. Thank you to Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, Senator Umberg, Assemblymember Valencia.

We appreciate the opportunity to be part of it. I want to thank initially the veterans from the Orange County Memorial Park Committee for their initial grassroots efforts and allowing the district to get involved early in their planning efforts.

Then I want to thank Nick Barradino and Valor for their continued efforts to Get a state veterans cemetery in Orange County and for getting the attention of the Board of Supervisors.

I want to thank then supervisor Todd Spitzer and the Board of Supervisors in 2018 for taking action to dedicate 283ac acres of land at Gypsum Canyon for the purposes of the state veterans cemetery and a public cemetery, which was given to the Orange County cemetery district for the opportunity to collaborate to develop this important community need.

And then finally, I want to thank supervisor Wagner and the current Board of Supervisors for all their efforts to authorize staff to assist the cemetery district. Again, we're a small district. I don't have legal counsel day in and day out. I don't have engineers. The county has put all those staff Members forward to help in this project.

Since September 2019, the development team, which was hired by the district, has been working through all aspects of the planning and development process, coordinating their efforts with the County of Orange, CEOs Office, Public Works Department, and along with the City of Anaheim, planning, development, public works and public utilities departments.

In August 2024, as we all know, the City Council of Anaheim unanimously approved the development project documents, providing direction to our team to take the next steps to begin preparation of construction drawings. Shortly after that, we received notification that our development approvals were on hold because we were being sued because of the environmental process.

The district then collaborated with City of Anaheim, city attorney's office, County Council, District Council to prepare to defend this lawsuit. We hired Myers Navi to defend the lawsuit, and in June 2025, we received a ruling from the court that was in favor of the city and the project, thus ending the litigation.

All the time that this lawsuit was going on, the development team was working on options to make this project as cost effective as possible for both the state, the district. This project has overcome so much to get to this point. We have the land, thanks to the county.

We have the support of the Board of Supervisors, all 34 cities, the Federal Veterans Administration with their conforming designation, Development approvals from the city and funds have been set aside for the district's portion as well as from the county and the state for the state cemetery portion.

By collaborating on this project, there will be cost savings for both entities. The utility cost will be shared. Grading cost will be shared. Bridge development cost will be shared. Project management and oversight on the whole project will be shared.

Our team will be working to prepare the construction drawings with the goal of submitting them to the City of Anaheim for review and approval in 2026. As we've heard from many here Today, the need is now. Our veterans are dying before our eyes.

And personally at the district, we're having a depleted inventory that will basically be sold out in 2027. So we need this for the community at large. We know that the state has a process to work through and in order to commit to this project.

So we are hoping that while we prepare the construction drawings to submit to the city, that the state will continue their efforts to prepare for their next step.

We are very honored to be part of this once in a lifetime collaboration and to create a sacred place where families can visit not only their veteran loved one, but as we mentioned, other family Members on the public side.

Again, thank you to all that's been part of this and thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime for the district.

Next we have Matt Miller, the chief real estate officer from Orange County.

Thank you, Assembly woman. My name is Matt Miller. I'm the Chief real estate officer for the County of Orange. I'm one of the staff members that Tim referred to who at the direction of Supervisor Wagner and the Board of Supervisors, has been working on this project.

And I think I'm going to get into the details a little bit more so that you all understand kind of what's been going on and the unique opportunity that we have here. You know, generally when a state veterans cemetery is sited, it is by itself and you know, the state has the process that it goes through.

What we have here is a unique opportunity and a unique partnership. The Orange County Cemetery district is a special district. They are separate from the county. So in partnership with the Orange County Cemetery district, with the City of Anaheim and with the state, we have a very unique piece of land and a unique opportunity. We would be.

The state veterans cemetery would be sharing the 283 acres with a public cemetery. What that allows is common infrastructure, common utilities. As Tim mentioned, there's a bridge that's needed, there's roads. All of that is what we have been working on with Tim for the past couple of years.

As Tim mentioned, the City of Anaheim has approved the ceqa, improved the entitlements for the whole parcel. So we were very deliberate in including the state veterans cemetery property with the hopes that we would be giving the state a, you know, they would start at the 50 yard line. Right. They're not starting from nothing.

The cemetery district, the county. We've done the environmental analysis, we've reviewed the topography, we have grading plans. We've been working deliberately in conjunction with Calvet, who applied to the Federal Government last year to minimize the Site costs. Right. So what we have, what we're.

The point we're at now with the cemetery district is that we are nearing the time when we can start site preparation. You can start grading the site. You can start putting in the utilities.

You can put in the roads, the entrance, the backbone infrastructure that is going to ensure that both the public cemetery and the state veterans cemetery can be ready to build. Right. Right now you've got a hillside. We've got to turn that hillside into buildable pads and phases for both of those cemeteries.

And that is the unique opportunity we have now. It is not. Would not wholly be on the back of the state to do that. In partnership with the cemetery district, with the support of the Board of Supervisors, who we've mentioned has dedicated $20 million as well as significant staff time.

I have a staff of five people who are working on this, along with the cemetery district staff. And we are ready to start that process along with the cemetery district to ensure that when and if those federal funds come in, which go towards the improvements, that there is a pad there that's ready to build on.

And to Supervisor Wagner's point, we are prepared and ready. And I'll speak for Tim here, to transfer the property to Calvet if they are at that point.

In lieu of that, we're happy right now to partner with them and the cemetery district to ensure that when the preparations on the site start, it is for both cemeteries that we're ensuring that both cemeteries not only meeting the Orange County Cemetery district's public cemetery needs, but meeting the state veterans needs, as Nick emphasized earlier.

So that this is a seamless process. And it really is, as I said, you know, a lot of times in government, and I am obviously at blame for this, sometimes we have our lists. You go A, B, C, D, you work down the list. This is how we always do it.

And that's what you hear in government a lot of times. This is how we always do it. This opportunity, fortunately or unfortunately, we can't do it how we always do it. We need to be imaginative. We need to partner.

We need to sit down at a table and figure out how we start this construction as soon as possible. And as Supervisor Wagner emphasized, the county is ready and willing to do that. And I know the cemetery district is. And I thank you for your time.

Thank you. We appreciate that. We are going to move into questions. One of the things that I heard throughout all three of your commentaries was opportunity and unique project. I'm really appreciative of your clarifying because I think that the public, and you can see the diagrams out there, that these would be two separate cemeteries.

They would not be commingled, as the state could not do that. But what you were talking about was the shared goal of two separate cemeteries and how with coordination and collaborations, we could not only move forward together, but also see cost savings. Can you just elaborate a tiny bit more on that?

Let me take a stab at that. And what Mr. Deutsch mentioned, but really perhaps undersold, is the lack of public cemetery space here in Orange County. I am led to believe that the last time the County of Orange constructed a cemetery was way back in 961896. We are out of space. So this cemetery is coming.

What we see here is the opportunity not just to serve the public who needs that cemetery, but to also give to the veterans that dignified resting place and share the costs. We've got to sink costs into that hillside to put the public cemetery.

There is no good reason for us to to spend money twice, first on the public cemetery and then later, whenever we get around to it, on the veteran cemetery. Let's get around to it today so that those costs get shared. And that works to the benefit, obviously of the cemetery district.

It works to the benefit of the people of Orange County, and it works to the benefit of the veterans. There's no need to wait. So that's the unique opportunity that's here.

And it also works to the benefit of taxpayers who in essence we know is where these funds ultimately come from. But Tim, can you explain a little bit on the urgency, on the timeline. Of. How we want to try to get these two pathways to not commingle on the sites, but commingle on the infrastructure?

Sure. Thank you for those questions. So we have one access point into the property that's going to be a shared access.

The utilities that our Anaheim Public utilities is working on on behalf of the city for this project requires electrical and water utilities to come about a mile and a half down Santa Ana Canyon Road to the site. Access onto the again, access to and cross the creek is a shared access.

Probably two thirds of the roadway that we put in is a shared access roadway. And at some point it'll separate. To your point, there will be two unified parcels that will share an access.

We'll have to cohabit and work together on all of the day to day interaction as well, making sure that we're cognizant of each other's services. There's the opportunity also for shared maintenance. We have a crew locally, Calvet Doesn't I know that veteran cemeteries typically privatize their maintenance services.

We have the ability to provide that service for them on a going forward basis. And that will be part of the collaboration and process that we'll work through with Calvat when we get to that point of up and operating the cemetery. You know, there's been thoughts about sharing facilities, maintenance facilities or office facilities.

We're willing to take any opportunity that's going to have a cost savings for both the district and the state. I know it's not your typical layout, you know, based on the guidelines, federal guidelines, or Calvet's guidelines, but there's that opportunity as well that we're willing to work with Calvet and the state on. So thank you.

So to sum up, we have a unique opportunity to work collaboratively with the county and the cemetery district to do something that really hasn't been done before, but certainly could provide a. Not only a space, but a place that really gives reverence to our veterans, but also to public Orange County individuals who have passed. And two separate.

Last thing on this question is you said pads. Matt, not everybody understands what you're talking about on the pads and the grading. So if you could just clarify a little bit there.

Sure. Thank you, Assembly woman. I think you can analogize this. Think of your house, think of, in essence, these two cemeteries as two adjacent houses. If you're going to build a house, you need to grade it, you need to make it flat, you need to compact it to be able to put your house on it.

So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the pads is being able to grade and build that site, that flat, compacted site that you can start the cemeteries on. And just like with houses, you need a road that gets there, right.

The road is a common road that goes to the two houses and then you have your driveways. So what this allows us to do is put in the things get that, you know, if you see a subdivision being built, they're putting in roads, they're grading things, they're getting it ready to build on.

And that's really all the stuff that we're talking about. And two, you know, the point about the cost savings, and these are round numbers. But, you know, there is a potential for tens of millions of dollars in cost savings by. By doing this together. Right.

If you think about the house analogy, and you have unspoiled land, if you go in and you build your house and you don't touch the property next to it, you don't grade it, then you're duplicating costs over time.

So by doing these at the same time, you're preventing the cemetery district spending, say, $60 million, and then the state having to come in and spend the same $60 million on their pad when if you did them together, it could be 20 to 40 $1.0 million cheaper.

Thank you. That's really important. Really appreciate it. And thank you for all of your time and any last questions on this panel. All right, thank you so much appreciation.

All right, we will be moving into our last panel, which is panel number three, California Capital Project design and Construction process and current status of the Gypsum Canyon Veterans Cemetery. I would like to introduce our last panelists. We have Jason Kenney, who is the Chief Deputy Director for California Department of Services.

Some of you know them by DGs. And we have Roberto Herrera, who is the Deputy Director of Veterans Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and also somebody who has been here from the very beginning from Cal Vet John Spangler.

But I first met him when he was the consultant, like our consultant here for the Veterans Affairs Committee in 2013, I believe. So we appreciate you being here. And I. We're going to start with Roberto. Okay. We are going to start with Jason Kenny from DGs. Welcome. zero, all right. Are all of them going to do that?

Okay. All right. So we're going to just start with questions directly to Jason Kinney. And. So, as has been talked about the relationship between the county and DGs with CalVet, we understand there has been a completed feasibility study confirming Gypsum Canyon suitability for a veterans cemetery and the associated construction costs.

So my question is, could you summarize the study's conclusion and the estimated project cost costs?

Oh, there we go. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong button. For those who don't know what our Department does, we are the aptly named Department of General Services. So we will ultimately perform services on behalf of state departments who either don't have the authority or wherewithal to do them themselves.

One of those services is real estate design and construction. So for something like this, we would step in and assist Calvet in getting a project completed. As the Assembly mentioned, in very late 23, early 24, we completed a study of Gypsum Canyon. This is typical for a veteran cemetery project.

The study is generally built around the Veterans Cemetery grant program requirements. It serves as a sort of pre application process as well. So kind of two birds. It might be also helpful to kind of piggyback off a little bit on what Matt had been Saying as well in terms of just the site context.

So yes, it's a 283 acre site. There's a 156 acre proposed carve out that the state would take jurisdiction of. Like most cemeteries, it's a 10 phase, hundred year build out. We're talking plus or minus 200,000 total burials. It's usually about 70% cremation, 30% precast.

And what was studied in this case was after meeting with the county and with occd, the cemetery district, and kind of understanding what they were planning at the time. I'm going to say that a couple of times because again, this was a 2023 study. Things have changed since then.

But based on what they were planning at the time, the study evaluated what it would take to get the state's portion of that site active and operational. And the assumptions about who would kind of do what.

So importantly for the cost estimates, the study at the time did understand OCCD to be developing the public cemetery or at least starting that prior to the state constructing the. The veteran cemetery. And I mean, physical work, not necessarily starting design, but their work would begin.

And the reason why that's important is Matt gave an analogy of a house. And I think it would be helpful to kind of think of a really, really long lot. With the state cemetery being in the back, the county being in the front. But there's also a gap. So most residential districts have.

If you're building a house, your utilities are pretty close to the house. In this case, they're pretty far away. And so there's three components of work. There's what we'd call make ready work, which was getting all of the utilities to the site. For both the state and the local cemetery.

There's the development of the local cemetery and the development of the state cemetery. So what the study assumed, again based on conversations with the cemetery district and the county, is that the cemetery district would be bringing those utilities to the site. That was assumed at their cost. They would be bringing utilities to the site.

They would grade their own property. There's a portion of the state site they would have to do some grading on in order to complete their own work. But it primarily focused on their own pad.

They would construct the access road, the bridges over Gypsum Canyon, the intersection improvements, the off site water main, storm drain, water electrical communications infrastructure and the access road. All of that in order to make the state site usable. And then the study also assumed that the cemetery district would be clearing the encumbrances on their property.

There are a few things that run through that site that hinder development. Specifically a couple of easements that need to be quick claimed or eliminated or relocated. And then there is a easement for pipeline purposes that needs to be relocated to the edge of the property with a new easement.

But at the time they were beginning to work on those, it was just flagged in the study.

And then what was assumed was that the state would come in and we would essentially take those subdot utilities, we would grade our entire 100 acre cemetery site supporting slopes within the 156 acre proposed parcel, and then begin phase one, which is a 30.4 acre initiative cemetery.

So that would include all the things you would expect in an initial build at a cemetery. You know, bringing utilities throughout the site from those points of contact.

The drive aisles, main entry, access roads, landscape irrigation, storm drainage, firewater lines, telecom storage tanks, the almost 1400 in ground cremaine plots, about 4100 column base niches, the administrative building, public restrooms, maintenance building, and of course, like the ceremonial entrance and those sorts of things with some perimeter walls, fencing gates to secure the property.

The study focusing in again on the state's portion of it came to a project cost of 126 million. I will say a couple of big caveats to that number. Number one, by far the largest amount of that had to do with the site work and the grading, which I'm sure will come up in a second.

Number two, these were 20, $23. And so whenever the state does an estimate, we always estimate not from the just the date, not just the date in which we do the estimate, but assuming when physical construction is going to come.

And we are pretty conservative about estimating what the future cost costs are going to be, you know, what the cost to put a shovel in the ground today is probably going to be more tomorrow. And we are conservative in what those projections are. So there is about three years of escalation built into that.

There's always contingency for unknowns. And at the time the Assemblymember's Bill, you know, CEQA had not been waived. And so there's a pretty sizable chunk in there for environmental mitigation. I will say CEQA may be exempt, but nepa, the federal version, still has to go through.

But some of those assumptions and those costs are probably not going to be as relevant as they were. But $126 million was the estimate in 2023, assuming physical work would start about three years later. And so that's the study in a Nutshell, that's what was assumed and hopefully that answers your question.

A lot of information there, I think. Well, let's have the other, our other guest speak and then we'll ask questions after that, if that's all right. Yes, sure. We want to welcome Under Secretary Roberto Herrera. Welcome.

I appreciate the promotion, Ma'am. Deputy Secretary.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Deputy Secretary.

So just if you mind, I have a couple just opening remarks. I'll add some color to some of the things that the Chief Deputy Director has mentioned.

Is your mic on? Can everyone hear me? Yeah, there you go.

Okay, cool. So. Good morning, Madam Chair, Assemblymember Valencia and all the stakeholders and veterans in the room today. My name is Roberto Ferreira. I serve as the Deputy Secretary of Veterans Services at the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

I first want to thank thank you first and foremost, Madam Chair, for your continued leadership, dedication and advocacy for the development of Southern California Veterans Secretary over the decade and also for your continuous support to initiatives related to behavioral health, access, housing and other critical areas of need for veterans here in Orange County and across California.

Further, I'd also like to recognize the continued leadership and steadfast coordination of local leaders in the vendor community within Orange County as it continues to be one that represents the very best qualities in a community based system of care that other regions in the state should revere and emulate.

The quality of life of veterans and their families here in OC is surely elevated due to due to your all tireless passion and dedication. Calvin's continued role in the development of a Southern California Veterans Cemetery is one of part partnership and collaboration as we continue down this path together.

Together, I want to emphasize the Department's willingness and dedication to always maintain an open channel communication with local leaders and veterans in the community to be as much assistance in navigating the process that reflects your communicated needs and asks.

The barriers and hurdles that this community has overcome to unite around an agreed site at Gibson Canyons is one that everyone in this room should commend and celebrate.

Further, the placement of Gypsum Canyon site on the National Cemetery Administration's conforming list is one that reflects a commitment from the Department to continue walking with this community to facilitate the establishment of a Southern California Veteran Cemetery. However, this process is not one that comes without further work and advocacy ahead.

As mentioned, the initial concept plan to develop the Gibson Canyon site is one that is very, very broad and vast. Calvet, working with OCCD and DGS is currently developing a revamped concept plan for the initial 100 acre plan released in late 2023.

This effort has been initiated, was initiated by OCCD and supported through an investment from Calvet independent of the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund in order to find innovative ways to bring site prep and other projected costs down while at the same time preserving many of the natural features and topography of the site to retain its natural beauty.

Once finished, the revised concept plan will bring further clarity on design, project costs and ultimately timeline. Although there are still hurdles to clear, I want to be clear. Calved is committed to continue working with the OSU community and its leadership towards the vision of a Southern California Veterans cemetery.

So to piggyback off of DGS's comments, you know we are currently in the throes of working with DGS and OCCD to get away from the not get away from, but to reduce costs related to the site prep and work related to the site.

I mean obviously $126 million project cost and that's given the assumptions that DGS mentioned, the assumption that utilities and everything we brought up right to the property line that there be work prepared on the site beforehand. So there are additional shared costs that come with that that are not included in that $126 million.

So the need for taking another look at the initial design, the initial hundred acre concept plan is critical and we are currently in the throes of that now to begin those conversations and how we can get the well not begin conversations actually going into the study to find exactly where those costs can be saved to make the reality of this cemetery closer within grasp.

Do you have any questions?

Assemblymember, any questions?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Appreciate the context that you've provided, the general overview of how massive this project actually is and how the impact of dollars really has slowed down this process. But I do again want to commend the incredible work of Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva.

It was mentioned by Mr. Kenney that the bifurcation of the CEQA process substantially does reduce the burden of cost in the project. Right? I also want to thank the City of Anaheim and the leadership here for their proactiveness to provide the utility line component all the way to the property line.

So, it goes to show that there are folks out there willing to invest the dollars needed to bring this project to fruition. One of the questions that I have is what else is needed to reduce the project cost, number one? And number two, legislatively, specifically, what can be done to expedite the program and the project?

Yeah, I can start on the first part. So, in terms of the, as Roberta mentioned, the study, so typically what happens in that process is we reengage the same design teams and so we're not having to reinvent the wheel so it's quicker.

Number two, we're sitting down with the parties who have been iterating on this, which is largely OCCD and the county, understand what their latest thinking is. Is it merely a contraction of the site? Is it an alternative means of design those sorts of things?

To the extent that there are the ability to do work once, it is cheaper, I'm not sure I would assume the same amount of reductions as the county did, but it is definitely doing things once as opposed to doing something now and then in the future, definitely cheaper.

And so, kind of working through those and then re-kajiggering, for lack of a better technical word, the CalVet cemetery design concept to make sure that it is still in keeping with the federal standards and still honors ultimately what a state cemetery ought to look like.

And then rerunning the numbers. From there, it's a little bit of a matter of what shakes out. Is it a material cost difference? Is it de minimis? Are there places where leaning into one thing really does save costs, where it's de minimis in others. And so, that generally shakes out what the next step steps could look like.

But I will say, you know, we've been in communication regarding this particular study, CalVet, which is, you know, kudos to them for funding the study update. The money is literally on its way. We're beginning to get the consultants engaged. We would imagine that we'd have the update conservatively sometime in June.

Thank you for that. And to the second question, as a Legislature, what can we do to help expedite the project further?

And another question as well, going back to the CECA component, but on the federal level, is there a plan to potentially estimate what the cost would be if the...component is removed as well and engaging federal partners in that regard?

I know that's a much bigger challenge as well, but time being of the essence, and it sounds like everybody in the State of California is on board, why not be creative, as it was mentioned, and pursue all options?

Yeah, when we do the study, we do a roll up of the cost, but we also have granular breakdowns. I don't have in front of me the exact breakdown for what the NEPA component was and the assumptions.

But yeah, it's quite easy to sort of break that out and say it would be on the order of magnitude X. And then I might defer to Roberto on sort of, you know, the legislative help, but I think, just speaking off the cuff, a lot of it really depends on what that, that shared partnership could look like.

As has been mentioned both by the county and by the members, there are processes for everything. Most of those processes exist for a reason. They're designed to be very, very conservative. But all these projects are ultimately legislatively authorized.

And so, like, how they move forward is absolutely a joint conversation between the Administration and the Legislature in the budget process. So, I think there's ample opportunity to, you know, figure out the best path forward in that context.

Yeah, I would say that the statutes are already in place regarding design, acquisition, construction, you know, they're already in place. I think the big one would be the statute. The statutes regarding Southern California Veteran Cemetery require legislative action for spending out of that fund, for each budget year. So that would be to your question, Assemblymember Valencia, that would be the first thing that would come to my mind.

Thank you. So, speaking to the legislative action, as we know, we are heading into a new budget starting of January, and we definitely want to make sure through the Budget Subcommittee 5 that we are able to move forward with the legislative budget action to actually start using these funds and start the project—the process.

So, as far as what we need to have in a budget trailer bill, I know that that is something that we want to have prepared now for January, if you could speak to that.

And then of course, the big question is, is what are the steps that need to happen for the state to take ownership of this property? And if you can, a timeline. And then, what—I was hearing from Jason related to all of the things that have to happen from the county.

I'm not sure if that's exactly what I've heard from the county or if there's an agreement on that, or if this is new news.

So, I'm not going to bring up the county's people, but I just want to make sure we're not having two different pathways and we're not meeting in the middle somewhere, because I'm not sure if that's what I've heard from the county—everything from the roads and utilities having to be prepared before the state takes ownership.

So, is this—because this could be new news and a big surprise. And if it is, we may be adding a lot of time here. So, I guess from the county without bringing you up, but cemetery—well, I will. Can I have Tim come on up as well from the cemetery?

Because otherwise we're just going around in circles here and we really have to—I don't know if we're speaking the same language. So, Jason, you said in your remarks that there has to be roads and utilities up to the project site before we can start. Is that what you were saying?

No, sorry, to clarify, I didn't say there has to be. I said that's what the study assumed. So, in the purposes of the 2023, there was assumptions made in conjunction, again, working with the locals about what was planned at the time. Everything changes. But who was bearing what cost? The study, which was public, acknowledges all of that.

There is lines in the study that, of course, it would be not unexpected for the cemetery district or the county, depending, to want to have a negotiation or discussion about shared costs for some of that make ready work, but was careful not to say it must happen that way. It's simply what the study assumed.

I will say, though, that historically, the process by which the state acquires property for projects, those are generally considered necessary preconditions. This is all fungible because it is. You know, you could probably pick 100 projects and the lines in the sand get drawn slightly different places across those hundred projects in the grand scheme of things.

But as a general rule, as a matter of process or principle, if you're acquiring property for the purposes of doing something, you generally have to be able to ensure that you have all the rights necessary to do that thing.

And so, if you're acquiring a property and you don't have access to it because it cuts to somebody else's property, or you're dependent on utilities being brought, those sorts of things, there's not really much of an opportunity to actually physically construct anything without those initial estimates materially differing. And so, that's usually the process.

There are ways of solving that.

It's not as if it has to be sequential in a draconian way, but that is generally the way the state's process is built is securing the property and all of the rights to make sure that the thing you want to do, that you get in the property for, spending money in design for, you actually have the ability to do.

So, going to cemetery district, is this in line with what you have been thinking?

So, speaking on behalf of our team, the development team, which includes the county, the district has set amount of funds for district-associated costs associated with the build out of our portion, our shared portion.

When we've looked at our cost estimates, we've taken into consideration doing the utilities, doing the grading, for both sites, to prepare that for CalVet with the idea that either from the county's fund or from some of the legislative funds would cover those costs. The district, again, we're a small entity.

We don't have, you know, we've got about 50 million for the district's portion. So, the goal is for us to work collaboratively again with the county and the state to make those funds available because that's the logical next step as part of our first phase of development is the utilities and grading.

And again, to the point made earlier by Senate Member Valencia, yes, the city public utilities is taking action and is moving forward on the utilities portion of it for the project.

And we've been working hand in hand with them closely to try and get that action taken care of as soon as possible because they've got projects that they have to work through on their CIP schedule.

So, we're trying to get them going in that manner because having electricity and water on the side is very important for all the grading process and moving that forest, that's probably the biggest portion of it that needs to move forward first.

As far as Jason had mentioned, the study, the 2023-'24 study, yeah, that was based on, you know, looking at 100 acres on top and 80 acres, 90 acres below. We realized quickly because of the cost estimates that we performed and that CalVet or DGS performed, that that was just not cost effective. We met on site, and I don't have the exact date.

It was after a meeting that we had here at the county.

We met on site with Undersecretary Boylan and staff and talked about that problem and issue and they were somewhat to the conclusion that, hey, why, we've got this pad that's out there, why can't we downgrade the grading process to utilize that first pad and subsequent pads below it and wait on pad three, which would be part of their, you know, 10 year or 10, 10 phase, you know, 40 year, 50 year, 100 year plan.

And that's truly how cemeteries need to work. And so, you know, we, we knew that that was the case. But yes, they had to modify their designs in that proper. All, all along the process, our team has made assumptions on what would be where, as far as buildings.

We're not, you know, our architect isn't designing CalVet's buildings and any other factors that are above ground. They've been focusing on the geotechnical, the grading, the utilities that would serve both sites and doing that collectively, as we mentioned, so that we would have some cost effectiveness.

All right, so we've had a lot of information. We are now at 11:43. And I think for the people who are tuning in or here in the audience, I think there is a lot to digest. But I think the good news is that CalVet, the cemetery district, and the county have been meeting on the regular.

And even though there is a large price tag, there's also been solutions that have been brought forward to bring down this price as long as we're working together in a shared way. And I think that that is the point that I'm hoping to drive home—that if we work together, there's opportunities to reduce costs, to speed up the process, and to get the first phase.

And it might have been lost on the audience that this is a phased project and that, in order to achieve the long term, we want to get these roads, utilities in, but we will not be sharing the burden of the entire 125, 126 in this immediate first phase.

And in the first phase, we can move forward with a public cemetery and with the first phase of the veteran cemetery that would not require the initial 125 costs. Is that—can we at least feel confident that we do not need to have 125 million in the bank to start a first phase for the veterans' cemetery and the public cemetery and that these projects often take many, many years to complete all phases?

But the first phase, Jason, can you repeat how many burials and internments that we could count on for the first phase? I know you mentioned some numbers there.

Yeah. So, to address you—I'll do that—and to address your larger point, yeah, the 126 million was for phase one.

But the whole idea of working with OCCD and the county as they sort of revise their thinking as CalVet's own thinking evolves with those two partners, we'll be restudying to see what the revised costs are, factoring in the CEQA exemption, factoring anything that's changed since 2023. We are a couple of years after that as well.

And again, we are pretty conservative in our future time cost estimates, usually more so than the actual costs are, so those can go down theoretically as well. So, the new number will tell the tale. But, and now, I've lost the vein on your second question. I'm so sorry.

In the first phase, you mentioned.

Oh, yes. So, phase one, as was contemplated in the original study, was 30.4 acres. It was 11,372 in ground cremains, 3 foot by 4 foot plots, and 4,160...niches for cremaine internment. Overall, the total 100 years would be about 20—or 200,000 total burials.

All right, that makes me feel a little bit better in the sense that we're not trying to get to the end of the goal here, which is 100 years. I mean, I think there will be other people that will be moving that ball forward since we have a football player here.

We're not trying to get to the touchdown here. We're trying to get to the 50 yard line, I think, if we want to say that—first down? Okay, first down, guys. First down. We need to get to the first down here, which includes internments and give me the correct word for burials, so I'm not saying it.

The in ground cremates.

In ground. That's what I was going to say, but I don't want to misspeak.

All right, so as the coach for a short time here, the chair of the budget sub 5, and the coach, we're going to continue working together with regular meetings and updates and you're going to clearly let us know what we need in this next, not quarter, but this next 20 minutes to make sure we have the language for the budget for early January. Yes?

Well, you know, we're not inclined to make comments on the Governor's proposed budget that will be released in January. But most definitely, looking forward to working with you and everyone in the room and all the stakeholders in Orange County regarding, you know, in the springtime through sub 5.

But our, our job up here would be to make sure we have language into a trailer bill in January or the fall—or not the fall, the spring here—to make sure that whatever we need, as far as legislative action, will be included there or any legislation. You will continue to work with us?

Absolutely.

All right. All right. I think.

[Unintelligible]

With all respect, just, you can do it at, at, at.

Okay, but one quick question, please. I just want to know, did you, sir, speak on behalf of their commander in chief? Our commander in chief.

Nick, we're not going to do that right now. We're going to move to public comments. We're not going to, we're not—we're working with CalVet. We're not calling people out here. I know, I know. No, I know. Yeah. The Governor has signed all of the legislation that has moved forward and they're, yeah, we're, we're not doing this.

Thank you. All right. We know that there is urgency. We know that there's frustration and we know that people are being timed out because of the age they are as veteran. We, we, we, we understand, Nick. And we have done everything we can in the steps. We—the Governor supports this project.

[Unintelligible]

All right.

All right. We are going to close this part of the hearing. We're going to thank the cemetery district, the county, CalVet, and DGS. As has been discussed several times, we are part of a team to move this project forward. I understand.

I see some of the faces of friends that I have worked with and here I'm not going to start naming names, but there's an 89 year old veteran here from the City of Fullerton that is desperately wanting to see this.

We are trying to do our best to speed it up as much as we can, but we also know there's costs, there's processes, and we will continue to work together to do what we can to move this forward. That being said, thank you to this panel.

And now, we are going to open it up for public comments. If you wish to make a comment, we are going to follow the Anaheim—City of Anaheim. It is 30 seconds, and you will see a green line start to blink. I think that's what happens here. Right? And again, your name—your name and your position.

And just a very short 30 seconds or under to make a comment regarding this Orange County Veterans Cemetery. We're not going to use the cards. We're just going to speak and move forward very quickly. All right?

Hi, everybody, again.

Yes.

My name is David Brambilla. I am the State Commander for the American Legion. We have sat here for an hour, and it sounds like everybody is on board, we're ready to move forward, and then, what I heard from CalVet was a filibuster. It wasn't an answer to us. I'm leaving this meeting confused. We all want this.

We didn't get any answers from CalVet. We, as legislators, as, as veterans, we need to put up the heat and make sure that CalVet is on board. I didn't get any answers today. It is—I am leaving here confused. And CalVet, shame on you. You answer to us, and you answer to the veterans. Thank you.

Shame.

Yes. My name is David Lopez. To my friends, I'm known as Bulldog. I'm a retired law enforcement officer, retired high school teacher, and I came in here with a ray of hope, but I'm walking out here depressed because I've heard so much rhetoric, so most bullshit that I haven't heard since.

Guys, we are going to stay with being respectful. Otherwise, I'm not gonna hear the public comment. All right, I get that. Nick.

I am Bobby McDonald, Third District Representative for Don Wagner's office, Supervisor Don Wagner, and a Member of Valor and Member of the Buffalo Soldier Group. I just wanted to say that I went to a function a couple weeks ago down at CalVet in San Diego where you attended, and so did Archuleta, Senator Archuleta.

And one of the things that came out when both of you all spoke was the CalVet said they were connected, protected, and respected all their veterans. And I hope they continue to do that. Thank you.

Hello, Assembly Members. Thank you for hosting this hearing in Anaheim. My name is Natalie Rubicava. I'm a Council Member who has the honor of serving for the City of Anaheim, and we are so grateful to have this veterans and first responder cemetery in our city. And as you know, we unanimously supported this at the dais.

And we look forward to working with the state and the county to continue to make sure that our veterans have a place here in the City of Anaheim to rest and their families have somewhere local to come and visit them.

And like I mentioned, our first responders, also, the fact that we're able to incorporate both is a big deal for the City of Anaheim.

And I know some of you veterans here today feel that you're leaving here hopeless, but I want to take a moment to instill an opportunity of hope here and let you know that the people here in the City of Anaheim, who are leading and governing, are working closely with Assemblymember Valencia and Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, who has been advocating fiercely for this cemetery, which was so distant a long time ago where we were in Irvine and then it was rejected and brought here to Anaheim.

So, I just want to thank you for, for doing this and let all of our veterans here know that we, in Anaheim, support the veterans cemetery and will continue to advocate for its swift implementation. Thank you.

If you see me doing this, it means we're going to start to wrap up comments.

Good, good afternoon and thank you. Jesus Silva, and I, I remember when this came up in 2013 and a large group of us on both sides thought it's a no-brainer, it'll take 2-3 years. And so, unfortunately it hasn't.

But I am hoping that everyone comes to the table again, the county, the cemetery district, CalVet, and the Legislature and get this thing done. Yes, we have a lot of veterans here who are waiting, who want it, and citizens who want this.

So, please, let's come to the table, get that team going, and let's get beyond first down. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Tori Richards. I am the Communications Director for Orange County Supervisor Janet Wynne, and she just wanted me to relay her gratitude towards you, Chair Quirk-Silva, for working tirelessly on this issue. She was in the Legislature for a decade and worked alongside you to try and advance this project.

She's aware that Orange County has 84,000 veterans who deserve a dignified resting place, and one in three over the age of 75, roughly 1,000 of those are Vietnam War veterans who are passing away quickly, every year. So, she realizes this is a time sensitive issue.

She supports you in all that you do in this issue, and she wants to make it known that this plan is a great plan. Thank you for doing this. But the window is quickly closing to have all of these people laid to rest where they want to be, next to their brothers and sisters in arms.

And so, she just asked for speed on this issue.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Melinda Liu, proudly serving on Irvine City Council and I'm here to offer our support and thank the leadership for showing your leadership and innovation on the state level, on the county level, and also all 34 cities in Orange County. Orange County is home to 130,000 veterans, the biggest population in the State of California.

And the veterans deserve better. In the last 10 years, your leadership has proven that innovation can speed up the process as well as keep the cost down to give the veterans finally a place to rest and their families somewhere to visit nearby.

Thank you.

So, I urge the—you continue to push this forward to let our veterans and their families have that final resting place. Thank you. And thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Brian Heyman, Southern California Director of Vietnam Veterans of America. Thank you, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva and one of our newest Assembly Members. We look forward to working with you. To achieve the greatest cost savings, begin the construction now. The longer we wait, the more it will cost with inflation, materials, et cetera.

And the longer we wait to begin construction, there's also a cost in capital, political capital, not just economic capital.

So, please, I urge you to move forward and give a clear direction to Department of General Services, the County of Anaheim, I'm sorry, the City of the—County of Orange—to transfer the property, however it's required to do it, whether it be a gift, that's the most expeditious way. And get the Governor on board with this project.

My goodness, he needs to do that for us veterans. Thank you so much.

Stephen Vargas. I'm a councilman in the City of Brea and I had the honor of signing the proclamation to 2021 to support this program. I want to thank you for holding—for hosting this. I want to encourage Assemblyman Valencia to take up the challenge because it's a long-term thing.

So, we're looking forward to serving with you in any way I can, and thank you very much for holding us today.

Thank you.

Bill Lemming, proud marine veteran. Hurrah. Assemblywoman Silva, I want to thank you because I know you've been working on this a long time. I started attending meetings at the Snoopy Fox, if you can go back that far. Also went to the April 22nd meeting at Irvine, but I got to tell you.

Amen, brother.

I feel like this cemetery is like a foster child nobody wants. We've been handed down, down, down. We need to have a complete—in order to have transparency, we need a federal, state and county accounting for every dollar that's been spent.

We've gone from the great park to a strawberry field to a piece of shit land out by the freeways. And I'm not going to make it. I've already made my arrangements. I'm going to Riverside or I'm going Back East. But I do want to thank you for your effort, but this is crazy.

I had the privilege of working on Fort Ord closure. We were able to build Cal State Monterey in five years and 2013, that should say 2009, because that's when we started talking about it. After my tour in Vietnam, the first place I landed, three o'clock in the morning was at El Toro.

And I thought when it first came up, great, I'll be buried there. But you know what? That's out the window. Do what you can, but we need a complete audit of every dime, developers. Everybody needs to be held accountable. Thank you.

Thank you.

30 seconds or under, please.

Good morning. Councilman Amado Salinas. I'm the Legislative Counsel for the American Legion on the national level. I'm also the State Department of California's Foreign Relations and National Security. We have also the Allied Cemetery there. We have Korean veterans. We have veterans that have been allied for us that live out here in the Orange County.

And they need a place of services there. They're also dying. They're totally full on there, so your assistance is much appreciated, but your pressure on our Secretary of the Veterans Affair Collins would be much appreciated. That seems to be the holdup. We are not getting any response back at all from the Veteran Secretary Collins.

Even a courtesy saying thank you for the notice would be appreciated. So, we appreciate you putting pressure on that and we look forward to having the Congresswoman Yong Kim to join us to meet with the Secretary Collins for this matter. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Good morning. Connor Trout, Vice Mayor of Buena Park and Fire Authority Board Director with the OCFA. Orange County Veterans have waited long enough. It's time to begin construction immediately at Gypsum Canyon. Our veterans deserve a final resting place here at home, close to the families they fought to protect. This is the promise we owe our heroes.

And in the section for peace officers and firefighters, we pay tribute to those who protected our neighborhoods every day. Now, let's honor their service with action, just as the leadership of Sharon Quirk-Silva and Nick Barradino and many other advocates have done; stay relentless until the cemetery is built. Thank you for your efforts. Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Chairwoman. My name is Roger Haig. I am the Adjutant for American Legion Post 716 in Los Alamitos. I'm speaking on behalf of our veterans, our families, and our post...families. Our post has a motorcycle club called the American Legion Riders.

And one of their tasks, along with other American Legion groups that have riders as well, is to escort caskets of killed-in-action veterans as well as veterans to their final resting place. If you haven't seen a motorcycle procession, it's quite impressive.

The riders have told me that when a body is buried in the Riverside cemetery, it takes between an hour to two hours to make that ride, which is—I think highlights the hardship that our families have. And Gypsum Canyon would alleviate that hardship and also honor the moral obligation that the state has to its veterans. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Cindy Tran. I'm a U.S. navy veteran. My dad is also a veteran who fought in the Vietnamese War along with the American soldier. I'm also a Council Member for Galango City. I'm here to strongly support this project. Please see around the room, you see many of the veterans getting old and they deserve better.

So, thank you so much for having this and I'm respectfully asking you, please move this project forward. No more delay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Chris Hect. I'm a concerned citizen from Tustin. My grandfather, my grandfather, my grandmother, he served in World War II in the army. My uncle was a Vietnam veteran. His name was Thomas Hect. My son is honorably named after him.

My—in 2014, my other grandfather, who served in the Air Force, a very decorated veteran, got the news that, hey, there's going to be a cemetery in Orange County. This is great. That was over 12, 13 years ago. He was buried with honors out in Riverside. That was a disappointment.

But at the time when we had these discussions, it's a no brainer. This is a nonpartisan issue that everyone stands behind. These people in this room, I'm honored and humbled, but they're not getting any younger. My grandfather didn't have the privilege of being buried where he wanted to be buried. It was an amazing ceremony.

Everyone in this room deserves that. Everyone in this room deserves to be buried next to their family. I work in the private sector and we have a saying, time kills all deals. This is now 13 years. This is ridiculous. There is no more time. We don't need to wait till June for another assessment.

We don't need to wait for costs or another emergency to come in and get funding. If we can find money for other things, you guys can find money for this. Let this not be a blemish on the State of California. Thank you.

Stephanie Wade. I'm a Commissioner on the County's Veterans Advisory Council, which has steadfastly supported the urgency of this comment—of this project—for years. And I came here to say that, you know, as a marine veteran, at 58 years old, I hope to be buried in that cemetery. But the urgency isn't me.

It's the people who went to an unpopular war when a lot of Americans punted and came home and were treated like crap. And we all, you know, the country has rightfully moved on and said that was a terrible mistake.

But if we mean it as more than something we say on holidays, then we're going to get this done and done fast.

Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Members, for all your work. My name is Ada Briseno, and I'm here in support of the immediate development of this project and to show my unwavering support and gratitude for the veteran community. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Zeke Hernandez. I'm Vice Chairman of the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation. This was established when we first started to work along with the others.

We named it Memorial Park Foundation because we knew there was going to be a lot of opposition to having a cemetery built in a town, in a city in Orange County. The work continues with valor. We've seen the opposition from locals.

We did not expect the obstacles be put by our friends, our own troops, if you will, in our state. So, I urge you, and you said it, is a shared—it is a shared commitment, if you will. We need that allocation this January as well as future.

Let's work on the phase one, because when you look at the 130,000 veterans we have here today, we will phase in the individuals who will be, you know, bless our souls, okay, they will be in that cemetery. So, I urge you to do what you can.

Work together, but put the pressure on those agencies that need to be on our side. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Assembly Members. My name is Jocelyn Ruby Melendras, Council Aid, and I am here today on behalf of Anaheim City Council Member, Kristen Moss. Council Member Moss is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and the granddaughter of a World War II veteran. She strongly supports the construction of the Orange County Veterans Cemetery.

Our veterans deserve a final resting place close to home, a place where they can be laid to rest with dignity, honor, and the gratitude of the community they served. Orange County is home to 675,000 older adults age 60 or older.

At the same time, Orange County is home to more than 84,000 veterans, the men and women who answered the call to serve.

With so many veterans and older residents, as well as first responders, it is more important now than ever to provide a dedicated space that recognizes their service and offers families a place to grieve, remember, and remember their loved ones.

This cemetery is a commitment to our veterans and a meaningful way for our community to honor those who protected our freedoms. Thank you for your time and for your support for our veterans and their families.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, my name is Kyle Schwartz. I'm here on behalf of State Senator Steven Choi, Chairwoman, honorable Committee Members, and Assemblyman Valencia. Senator Choi obviously represents Anaheim Hills in Gypsum Canyon.

And he wanted me to express his continued support for the Southern California Veterans Cemetery at Gypsum Canyon and to convey his hope that this Committee will bring this project to completion. It is a critical need in the community and long overdue. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for all those that served and thank you for everyone in support of this effort.

Thank you.

Chairwoman Silva, Assemblymember Valencia, and everybody who's here today, thank you very much. My name is Chip Allsweet. I am the District Director for Senator Strickland, who himself is the son of a veteran.

And anytime you've ever heard him speak, and I know several of you guys have had conversations, he'll make sure you know all of the lessons he learned from that. We stand behind you and want to support you and make sure that this happens.

And we commit to doing anything we can to to make sure this cemetery comes to fruition. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'm Dale Cook, a 93-year-old veteran. I drive by that site approximately twice a week and I understand that the state is getting ready to start construction on interfacing the 91 fast track with the 241 fast track.

And I wonder, how is that going to affect the construction of the cemetery? Is it going to affect the accessibility and getting all those utilities in there? I just wanted to bring it up to let—see if somebody's going to know about all that. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Assembly Member, Senato—where'd he go? In regard to what we heard from the last panel that was presented, I came here expecting to be disappointed. And I was not disappointed. We didn't—what a bunch of mush. We do not have a veteran cemetery until the state takes possession of the land.

And regardless of what their plans are, back and forth and up and down and sideways, take possession of the property and give us a veteran cemetery. If you go to the CalVet webpage, you can find a place where you can sign up. There's forms for the pre-qualification to be buried in a state veterans cemetery.

At the bottom, it says you can select your preference where you want to be buried. You do not have the option to be buried in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery because we don't have one, because they won't take possession of land and they won't put it on the website.

This represents friends, colleagues, comrades whose ashes are waiting to be buried in Orange County. Also, those who are possibly to be disinterred from where they're buried now to be buried honorably in the Orange County Southern California Veterans Cemetery. Remember that scene from the Great Lebowski where the ashes were being scattered? There's the ghost of Dr. Richard Ramirez.

Here's the ghost of Peter Katz. Here's the ghost of Larry Larson, and more because a simple thing like taking title to the land gives us a veteran cemetery. And until they do that, and for whatever reason they're saying, and whatever mush and whatever schedules they won't do, we don't have a cemetery. So, give us a cemetery.

Take possession of the land. I attended the dedication of the Central Coast Cemetery, and when they did that, there were empty chairs up on the stage with framed pictures. I'm a Vietnam veteran. I'm already out past expiration date. You're talking about two years for this, three years for that. You know what you're telling us?

You're telling us a Cal Vet does not care about California veterans. You've never reached out to us. We know we don't know who you are. We've been working on this for decades more. We go way back. Take title to the land, give us an official cemetery.

Hello, Assemblymember. My name is Susan Meyer. I'm a 65 year resident of Orange County, currently residing in Newport Beach. My father United States army veteran. My brother-in-law is United States Marines veterans. One of my brother in law's just passed his father's day. Another brother in law is suffering from Agent Orange.

If you remember, during the Vietnam War, Agent Orange was used. Those service members are suffering today. They're suffering debilitating diseases. It is horrible to watch. But they cannot wait. They can no longer wait. We need to have the cemetery now.

I want to thank Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva for all your work on this, for all the time that you have dedicated to this. But again, what I heard today was some more excuses of why there is more delay. Again, these service members who have served us, who are suffering today, who are dying today, can no longer wait.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I don't pay attention to that. My name is Ron Bengosha. In 1947, I was born behind the Kramer Building here in Anaheim. A year and a half after that, they demoed it, so that was the beginning of my legacy.

And for you guys up here, I've worked with you for valor, public utilities, everybody that's in the function right now getting this thing going, I salute you. My hands off to you, because you're not the enemy. But I'm looking at CalVet because this meeting is for you guys, so I don't know who's running this thing up here.

But you know what? Back in the day, you might be subject to friendly fire. When I came home 32 hours after I got on that freedom bird and came home, I landed in LAX and I had the Hare Krishnas out there spitting on me and telling me I was a piece of crap.

I feel like right now I still have some saliva on me because why don't you guys get it together? We got a $300 billion train to nowhere, but you can't make a plot for veterans, the guys that went out there. God bless you guys that are on our side. That's all I can say.

And though for those that say they're on our side, I can't tell you how many times, oh, we love the veterans. Yeah, right on, man. I'm sorry. Has been buried a long time. Where they put my bones, it doesn't matter. But my family and our loved ones. I've had a lot of people die.

And the wives come up to me, why you haven't earned. We're going to put—I don't know what to tell you, but you guys are not at fault. And I want you to understand, you got thousands of people have your backs. God bless you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Jessica Taylor. I live in Brea. Been a resident in Orange County for 26 years. In October of 2021, they announced the new veterans cemetery and thought, finally. I ran to my husband and let him know that this article I read in the Register, we finally, finally have a place where we can be buried.

Three days later, he suffered a fatal heart attack. I went against his wishes of being buried, and I have him at home, waiting for this cemetery to give him the respectful and dignified burial he has deserved and earned as a Captain in the Air Force.

I used to tell my daughter, don't worry, by the time you graduate high school, they'll have broken ground. And now I tell her, don't worry, by the time you graduate college, they will have broken ground. I don't think she's going to see that broken ground by the time she graduates college.

And she was a freshman in high school when her dad died. This is ridiculous. They deserve and have earned so much better, and our families deserve closure.

My name is Bill Shanlin. We formed a veterans cemetery committee about 13 years ago, and that was Bill Cook, myself, and some of the others. There is about maybe 10-15 of US veterans that was trying to decide a place for a veteran cemetery.

And then we did talk the City of Irvine that had given us a plot. And really thank Quirk-Silva a lot because she was the one that actually made us select the site, the artist site. I live in Irvine. I'm well aware of the problems we have there.

I mean, I've gone through a lot more with Larry Agran, some of the other ones than most of you have. But this is a long time ago. This is many years ago. And she's gone through it with me. She's probably gone through a lot more than I have.

But the thing is, it's still a shame that it's taken so long for us to get this thing done. And I kind of understand some of the problems that we've had, especially with the City of Irvine, but there's no excuse for what's going on now. We need the land.

And I just ask if you would go ahead and get this land in our name, get this land for the veterans. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Michelle Dela Cruz. I'm the Chimino National for the 40 and 8 and a longtime resident and a Marine Corps veteran. Been on this cemetery committee for, for a long time, probably from before the selection of the artist site. I want to cut to the chase.

I'd like to reiterate Matt Miller's analogy to setting the pads. Be a good neighbor, DGS and CalVet. Don't expect your neighbor to build your driveway all the way up and the utilities all the way up to that slot.

I would not expect the county to build a driveway up and around, all the way around the side of their property to make it easy for you so you can actually take profit the land because you said it, the utilities need to be at the property line.

Let's have some common sense and be a decent neighbor to the great cemetery district here in Orange County that is willing to work with us. Take possession of the land and work on combining those costs and not make government look like a fool and support our veterans. Please, please. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Scoba Rhodes, currently on the Board of Directors for the California Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America, and I've listened to a whole lot of comments today. We have veterans hospital full of guys in bed just waiting for that final moment and a lot of them get shipped off to Riverside.

And I'd like to be part of the process that gets them buried here at home. So, if there's any type of extra advocacy that we can do on your behalf and partnership, we're throwing our hat in the ring now. So, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Assembly Members—oh, little too close. Assembly Members, good to see you. Thank you for what you're doing. Assemblywoman, I've seen you time and time again go back to Sacramento and push this fight. You may remember me. I used to work for Congressman Correa. I delivered many letters to the City of Irvine when we had the fight there.

It's a lot of frustration right now with some of my fellow brothers and sisters. Understandable. And I think before we knew that we knew who the enemy was. I think now it's time and unfortunately, the red tape that we're seeing.

So, I would just implore you to take that back to make sure that we continue to have those conversations, and I think it's just communication. We just need to get those clear questions back and forth from the state in the county and go back and forth. I think the city's on board. Everybody's on board.

We just need to get this across the finish line. And I'll go to a term that Assemblymember Valencia knows. We just got to get it across the goal line. Right? So, thank you.

Thank you. Looks like our last public speaker here.

Happy day. I just want to start out, I'm not a veteran. My father served 20—89 days—before being decommissioned. The reason why I'm here, though, is we've left a lot of soldiers in Vietnam, and right now it seems like we're still leaving soldiers on a battlefield right here in Orange County.

Every veteran should have a home that they know they can go to, even if that home is a cemetery. I remember over 10 years ago when 10 veterans went to the county board meeting and asked for a cemetery and Andrew Do told them this isn't the right venue, stop wasting my time. Go away.

I was sitting in the back row and two of you know my concerns that I'm already dealing with. I didn't skip a beat. I stood right up and I said, point of order, thank these veterans.

Whether you agree with them or not, they deserve appreciation, they deserve respect, and they deserve to be thanked for speaking and for their service. Happy day.

Thank you.

That is going to close our public comments, and we are going to wind up here. Do we have any final comments, Assemblymember Valencia?

In closing, just want to thank Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva for her tenacity and steadfast leadership on this issue. It's been a grueling process, a tiresome process, but there is light ahead.

And I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every single service woman and man who has bled for this country, who has served this country, who has given the ultimate sacrifice for this country. There's nothing more noble than serving one's nation.

And for that, you deserve this project and so much more. You have my continued support in this endeavor, and let's get this done. Thank you.

Thank you, Assemblymember Valencia. Finally finalizing my comments. First, I want to thank all of the state workers who have worked on putting this hearing together, including our consultant, Bernie Orozco, my state and local team, and of course, the state's team that is televising this. I think some of them were here at 6 in the morning.

We appreciate it. To the veterans who are here, to those who are watching, and to those who have came and now left, we know that this is a project near and dear to all of your hearts. I've had a lot of thanks, but I defer those thanks not to me, but to the veterans.

It was their initial committee, the Memorial Committee, that met, I believe, almost 15 years ago to plant a seed that, in essence, has moved forward. I understand the sincere frustration and fatigue on delays. I will add, though, that some of the delays were in fact, not brought on by CalVet.

Today, CalVet is getting some of the anger, but there were several years of delays, as all of you know, from the moving the sites and the studies that all started with Irvine and in essence, changing sites almost three times before the veterans finally said that was enough and then moved forward with Gypsum Canyon.

So, to be fair, and I'm not trying to make anybody's arguments here, but there was quite a bit of time that was spent on looking at Irvine and studying Irvine, from the Irvine site to believe the strawberry site to then potential golf course.

But now, we're here at Gypsum Canyon with a site that I think many feel very positive about and we have had trips up to Gypsum Canyon, and in the end, when this is developed, it will be a very beautiful tribute to veterans.

But I think what the concern raised today is about a very specific timeline and steps that we need to attain to finally get this property transitioned to the state.

What is the exact steps that must be taken by the legislative body, by the state, to correspond to actually make this a cemetery, not only by name, but by transitioning the property to CalVet.

So, I think that is my question leaving this, is what are the next steps that must happen in this next year, and what do we have to achieve as a legislative body to get there? What has to be achieved by the county and the Cemetery District and of course, Cal Veterans, to make those next steps?

I think the clarity in that will alleviate some of the frustration, some of the fatigue, and some of the loss of hope. Certainly did not bring this hearing today to leave on a note of despair or of frustration, but I think if we can get very clear next steps, that could make a very big difference.

With that, I want to thank everybody who has played a role in this. We'll have to continue to play a role together as a team in order to see this come to fruition.

But again, thank you to all of our veterans and everybody here, including CalVet, the Cemetery District, the County of Orange, the City of Anaheim, the State of California, and the Federal Government for putting us on a conforming list. Thank you so much for attending.