Senate Standing Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs

Well, ladies and gentlemen, once again, I'm Senator Bob Archuleta. I'm Chair of the military and veterans committee here in in our state capital in California. And we are coming to you from our state capital, and I'm honored to have so many veterans and those who love our great country and our state of California. So for the members, they'll be coming in and out because there's committee meetings all day long.

So we may receive one or two, and we may not receive any because of the pressure that we are at the last part of this session.

We've got every we've got a lot of work to do before the end of the next week or so. So once again, good afternoon and welcome to today's joint informational hearing on California's military readiness and veterans affairs. That is our theme. I wanna thank our panelists, our military leaders, state and local officials, veteran service professionals, workforce partners, employers, members of the public for joining us today to honor our veterans and those who are serving today.

California plays a major role in our national defense and economy through its military installations, the California National Guard, veterans, military families, and defense workforce, all working together so California can be ranked as one of the best in the nation.

Military veteran military readiness is closely tied to a quality of life. Childcare, spouse employment, infrastructure, and a strong state of local partnerships all affecting our retention and recruitment, our readiness, and the ability of service members and their families to thrive in California. Our responsibility continues when service members leave the military. Veterans need clear access to the benefits, health care, service, and employment opportunities they have earned, as well as the pathways that translate and transfer into, the military civilian experience, one from the other.

And hopefully, we'll find a career here in California in a civilian opportunity.

Today's hearing will examine these issues from readiness through transition and employment, identify its working forces and what we're doing right in California and what we need to improve on, where gaps remain, and where the state can strengthen existing programs and partnerships. Our goal is to establish a clear record and identify practical opportunities for legislative or interagency action. So I encourage an open fact based discussion focused on measurable outcomes and specific recommendations.

With that, I would like to thank everyone once again for being here, and we look forward to working with you in the future. And we'll begin our panel and with our first panelist, our California from our California military department.

The committee, by the way, welcomes one of our outstanding leaders and I have a personal knowledge of the general and friendship, his family and mine, and certainly I admire his service. But general, thank you for being here. Major General Beavers, who serves as the adjutant general of the California military department overseeing the California army and Air National Guard and our state's military forces. So with that, major general Beavers, the floor is yours and you may begin.

Thank you, Mister Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. We are grateful to be able to tell the committee on the great work that the 19,700 soldiers in our organization do every day, for state and nation. So I wanna start off by in brief learning, pitch here. Just kinda walk through the committee what we do just today, and then be more than happy to take whatever questions the committee might have.

To give you a sense of what we're doing today, I'll start off with this. We have 232 soldiers that are deployed at CENTCOM area of responsibility, supporting operations for shield, operation hair resolve, and operation epic fury. 03/1999 soldiers are currently deployed across the state of California in the counter narcotics fight. We're supporting a 133 different law enforcement agencies and allied task forces.

A 100 of those soldiers and airmen a 100 of those soldiers and airmen are, deployed for deployed at our four ports of entry along our southern border with Mexico, where we're seeing extraordinarily positive results on interdicting fentanyl as it comes north into our country, but also interdicting guns and money as it heads south into Mexico.

We have 368 soldiers assigned to our task force rattlesnake. And what that is, it's an organization that supports CAL FIRE. And what we do there is we do fuels mitigation and wildland firefighting operations in support of CAL FIRE. We have 24 service members, soldiers and airmen, that operate a high end satellite constellation, which enables us to determine wildland fires when they are as small as an acre. And that information is transitioned down to the geographic coordination centers supporting CAL FIRE and the US Forest Service.

And we're able to put firemen on those fires before they get out of hand. And to date, during this fire season, about 348 fires that we've detected. Down in Channel Islands at, the one forty sixth air wing, wing, which we call the Hollywood Guard, they're a modular airborne firefighting system equipped c one thirty j's, both MAVs four and six, have flown every day, for the last month.

And we've flown, I think, 77 sorties and about 1,700,000 gallons retardant dropped, and that's across California, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. We've also we're also heavily invested in, in the state's really fight to ensure that we have a stable cybersecurity apparatus.

We have about 60 service members that are arrayed across state government doing that work. We're embedded in the California, the CalSIC, which is out of OES. We're embedded in the Department of Technology's Security Operations Center. And we also maintain what we call the computer network defense team. And that's a team of, about 20 folks, and they've done so far this year 56 independent security assessments of various state government networks.

So that's both constitutional within, the governor's purview and also outside the other constitutional offices. And I want also to take take an opportunity really today to to to tell the committee that we are excited to be able to be a part of the governor's latest initiative to really take a look at it and you know, how do we defense against AI enabled cyber attacks across our state networks.

And we're looking very forward very much forward to working with Cal OES, the highway patrol, and the department of technology as we step off on this. I think in times like this, we we don't need to be at the cutting edge of this. We need to be out in front of the bleeding edge of this.

And I think with the governor's leadership and the leadership of the of the legislature in this matter, I think we're gonna be well positioned going forward to do just that. And finally, I wanna talk a little bit about our recruiting and retention. You brought that up, Mister Sherr, earlier. In in every measure, recruiting and retention in the department is exceptional. Our retention rate is the highest it's been in thirteen years.

We are number 2 in the nation behind it and number 2 in enlistments, only behind New York. We've seen a 7% growth in, strength year over year. And we have one month left in the federal fiscal year, and we are at 95% of our recruiting mission. We're still a little over a month left to go. And our strength right now as sits is about 98.9% of our authorized.

So we're just just short of a 100%, and I think we're gonna get there before the end of the federal fiscal year. So it's kind of a sense of what we're doing every day for state and nation and a sense of where we're at relative to recruiting and retention, I'd offer that the department is in extraordinarily good shape. And and we cannot do that without the legislature and leader your leadership, sir, and we appreciate that. It is an absolute team effort.

And and we thank you for this opportunity to talk about the great things that my soldiers and airmen do every day.

So thank you.

Well, thank you, general. And for the the audience that the facts and data you just heard, it is amazing what the California National Guard is doing. But general, would you would you comment on how you've been able to obtain those numbers on retention and recruitment, 95% recruitment and number 2 in the nation in retention. Sure. What is California doing right?

Yeah. I think we'll talk about recruiting first. So I think we probably four years ago, we took a look at how we were recruiting and I I believe that we were not going to where the propensity population was. So we kinda changed up how we did it. We spent a lot more time online, a lot more time engaging in those platforms that the folks in our demographic operate on every day.

And then we changed our messaging. We made the messaging, I think, more palatable and more understandable to that demographic. We spent a lot of time in high school sports to try to articulate that message. So if you'll see local football teams coming up in this football season, they'll be wearing California National Guard uniforms on the field. We believe that those techniques will help dramatically.

And I also mentioned relative to to retention, we spent a lot of time making sure that my junior officers, that are echelons below me, treat each soldier and airman with dignity and respect. And I think we've spent an inordinate amount of time doing that to try to ensure that that while this work that we do is exceptionally hard, there's no excuse for not treating our people with dignity and respect.

And and frankly, you know, being an empathetic leader, you have to be able to to empathize where these kids come from, what their needs are, what their expectations are. And we've also spent a ton of time making sure that our junior officers, first sergeants, non commissioned officers understand everything that they can about the soldiers that they lead, what their wives' names are, how many kids did they have, where are they at, where do they work, are they underemployed, are they unemployed, you know.

And and try to to make sure that we can we can make their lives better for having served.

And ultimately, that's kind of the mantra that we have. And I think the the pressure that we put on the organization to make sure that that happens has just shown dividends. So we're we're very proud of of of being able to retain, the great, sons and daughters of California that elected to serve.

Well, general, my last question would be education. Because now we're finding that the military is looking to educate our soldiers, men and women, more than ever. And how are we emphasizing that in the National Guard?

Yeah. So in in a couple of fronts, first off, we have, given the the the the graciousness of the state, we offer about 300 full ride scholarships to, UC, CSU, every year. The equivalent 300 full wide equivalents. And that's on top of of the what we get from the GI bill. So for just having served.

So we spent an enormous amount of time making sure that folks have the opportunity to complete their degrees. And we changed the metrics on how we go about offering those scholarships. Years ago, we kinda left it open to everybody, and what we found was with a lot of senior officers, majors, lieutenant colonels were using that to secure post graduate degrees. Some folks going on to, you know, getting PhDs. And I said, well, you know, that's that's not the intent.

The intent here is to lift up our young service members, our young soldiers and airmen to get them over the hump. You know, it's completed community college degree. To get into to CSU or UC. Crown jewels of our state. Right?

So we've we've we've adjusted how we do that to more focus on improving the lives of soldiers and airmen. And if you're a major lieutenant colonel, you know, you could figure out how to get that degree yourself.

So Well, thank you, general. Okay. I wanna on behalf of the governor and and the the Senate and all the colleagues that I work with in the Assembly here, we can't thank you enough for what you do.

Our citizen soldiers, the backbone of California, and the men and women that are out there fighting the fires, assisting, and but more importantly, I guess, making sure that we all remember that you are part of our communities and you have the ability to be called at any moment, and we appreciate that. So general, thank you very much and give my regards to your leadership and your troops.

Will do, sir. Cheers. Thank you. And now, ladies and gentlemen, for our next panelist, we'll hear from some of our California military installations leadership to include captain Brian Bunge, commanding officer, Naval Base San Diego, along with Colonel Chuck Nudick, deputy commander, Marine Corps, Insulation West, and Eric Fierro, executive director, Travis Air Force Base, representing United States Air Force. So they will discuss the installation readiness, infrastructure, and the needs in coordination with the community, the state, and federal partners.

So we'll begin with captain Brian Bunge. You may begin, captain.

Hey. Good afternoon, Senator. Thank you, chairman Archuleta and members of the committee. I'm captain Brian Boongei, commanding officer of Naval Base San Diego, the largest West Coast warfighting platform and principal home port of the Pacific Fleet. Naval Base San Diego supports more than 250 commands, tenant commands, nearly 60 ships, more than 26,000 active duty sailors, 6,000 reservists, and thousands of civilian employees and family members.

55,000 people come through my gates every day. The Navy Shore Enterprise is committed to delivering the highest standard of support that enhances the resilience, operational readiness, and well-being of our fleet, fighters, and families, knowing that everything we do to increase readiness ashore directly translates to increase readiness at sea. In support of the fleet, we're doubling down on installation resilience and our mutual energy goals while being good stewards of the environment.

Waterfront war fighters rely on resilient, reliable energy and water infrastructure to support their mission, whether in the shipyard, during the training cycle, or in preparation for deployment. In support of our fighters, we are working to ease the challenges that add to the already stressful demands of reporting to work each day.

Half the battle of a sailor's day starts before they even report to work. Access to available housing, infrastructure roadblocks, and challenges to walkable installations add stress to an already hectic lifestyle. We are making good progress though. Case in point, the no sailor lives afloat initiative ensure the sailors assigned to ships have safe, clean, and comfortable housing while their ships are in port, effectively making it so no sailor must live and work in the same place while ashore.

Since the program's launch in September 2025, Naval Base San Diego, Coronado, and Point Loma have housed nearly 12,000 junior enlisted sailors from their ship or submarine into housing.

This past March, we declared victory on No Sail That Lives Afloat by reaching a zero wait list for our housing our junior unaccompanied sailors and have maintained a zero wait list since. However, too many of our sailors must live an hour away from their duty station because it's the only option that works for their families, their budgets, and their lifestyle. We've got to do better by our sailors.

At Naval Base San Diego alone, my military family housing is routinely at 98% capacity with a wait list of 500 to 600 families. In addition to living far from their assigned installations, the lack of infrastructure to reduce congestion means that the last quarter mile of a sailor's commute could take up to thirty to forty five minutes.

The Navy continues to coordinate with SANDAG and Caltrans on the Vesta Street Bridge project to connect the two major parts of naval base San Diego. This bridge represent the single biggest quality of service improvement for naval base San Diego in generations, and significantly reduce barriers for sailor movement between the bases. We greatly appreciate the continued support we've received from all levers of the California state government, including Caltrans district eleven, identifying the Vesta Street Bridge as a top priority.

We now wait for consideration of SANDAG's $51,000,000 grant proposal to the US Department of Transportation. In support of our families, we need to provide adequate childcare options that meet our sailors and their spouses' financial and professional realities.

If you're not right at home, you're not gonna be right at work. Navy Region Southwest offers a variety of childcare options for military families, including the family childcare programming through a home based care model. Currently in California, FCC providers who live off base must be licensed by both the state and military. This process disincentivizes providers from establishing childcare homes and limits our ability to meet the needs of our families outside the fence line outside the fence lines.

By exempting in home childcare providers certified by the military from state licensure requirements, California can help increase available childcare options for our military families in California.

Additionally, among the many challenges to military life are frequent moves, as your sons probably will know. By allowing sailors who are moving to California to pre enroll their dependents in schools, we can ease the emotional, financial, and logistic difficulty of transitioning into the state. In closing, on behalf of Naval Base San Diego and Navy Region Southwest, alongside the tens of thousands sailors, civilians, and family members we represent, thank you for your support.

We are committed to continuing our collaboration on mission readiness, installation resilience, and the quality of life of our service members and their families. Thank you for your enduring commitment to those who serve.

Well, thank you, captain. You know, for any of us that have been in San Diego and you noticed the naval base, it's enormous, enormous. The naval base, Oklahoma, the submarine base, to see the aircraft carriers out there. But as we drive by, we have to think of the civilian employment that that San Diego provides through the military bases. When you mentioned is it 500,000 people or 55,000 people per day go in and out of the base?

55,000 people come through my gates every day.

Every day. 55. Multiply that out for in a year, you can imagine. But, of course, the reason that you're here so we can hear about some of the issues, and you mentioned Caltrans. We gotta keep those roads open.

We gotta make sure that the men and women who are on the base transition to civilian life the minute they cross the base. They become they're yours when you're on the base, but they belong to California when they come off. But there's one umbrella that we have to make sure that we all understand. The educational requirements in the base schools have got to maintain. The hospitals on the base, all under the standards of California.

And I and I thank you for doing that. I've had the honor to be there several times, visiting with the marines and and everyone else there. And I will tell you this, the pride and joy, of course, of San Diego is our, I think our our submarine base because the fact that those submariners, you know, they eat well, they train well, and some of the best of the best.

So shout out to them because I've had the opportunity to go down below with on the USS Harabedian. And I witnessed firsthand, you know, being a paratrooper when the captain said dive, dive, I'm looking for a parachute.

So, you know, you gotta get mentally straight. But I'd love to get you down on Naval Base San Diego and tour one of the many one of the 60 ships that we've got down there, and and show you how, you know, Naval Base San Diego beats Naval Base Point Loma any day.

Oh, beats beats. Besides the movie Top Gun, tell me about the recruitment and retainment because I know your numbers are high.

Yeah. Yes, sir. So on the recruitment side, even though not not necessarily directly involved, I could say a lot of the programs that big navy is implementing, I'm directly involved with, recruitment wise, housing, like I talked about. Sailors having to live and work in the same place, and, you know, if sir, if you had to live and work here at the same time twenty four seven, I think you might go a little crazy.

So what we've been able to do is move sailors off ship when the ships are in port and give them a place separate from from where they work.

And I think that's a huge recruiting tool, huge retention tool for our many of our junior sailors. And I think it's working. Because we, you know, the Navy's fully investing in the unaccompanied housing, the barracks. It's not your grandfather's barracks anymore. If you come down to San Diego and take a look at Pacific Beacon or any of our our renovated unaccompanied housing towers, I can tell you.

It's market style. It's like they they're running an apartment, you know, in Downtown San Diego. The huge resources we're putting in mental health, because that's a huge problem right now in this in the services. Now we we we wanna flood the zone with mental health resources, and we gotta reduce the stigma. I think we're doing a pretty good job of that reducing the stigma of sales reaching out and getting help because times are tough right now.

Pay advancement opportunities, you know, love, you know, seeing all the increases that, you know, that the Federal Government, and that yeah. I think, admiral Boone here is gonna talk about, you know, keeping veterans in California. I think all those are all recruiting tools and retention tools.

Good. Thank you. And, of course, I'll get a hold of admiral Boone. It'll set up a trip, and we'll invite some of the other senators. So put that on your calendar, Admiral Boone.

I know you there there you are. So we'll talk about that later. So let's go ahead and talk thank you. And let's talk about the Marine Corps now and with us, Chuck Duderick, deputy commander of Marine Corps Installation West. Tell us about what's happening in the Marine Corps there in San Diego.

Good afternoon, Senator and members of the committee who may be watching. As you said to sir, thank you very much. I'm Colonel Chuck Doodick, Deputy Commander of Marine Corps installations, West Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, there in Oceanside, California. I appreciate the opportunity to join this panel today and discuss California military readiness alongside all the colleagues. Which to assemble the full team.

I will quickly offer that General Brown sends his regards and gratitude as well for this opportunity. California is essential to the mission of the Marine Corps, period dot. The history is law. Readiness impacts are ripe for discussion in every metric. Roughly 40% of the entire Marine Corps is stationed here in the Southwest Portion of The United States with the vast majority of that being in California.

And even more important fact is that 90 of Marine Corps units train in this state before deploying overseas. It's worth noting that even right now, there's five combatant commands, geographic combatant commands that are supported by Marines from the state of California, as well as two functional combatant commands. So that contribution is noteworthy. About one third of the entire Marine Corps passes through California installations every single year by virtue of access to great training ranges, the impeccable weather, and all the value proposition that it portends.

This training cannot be replicated anywhere else, and sustaining it depends on a strong ongoing partnership between the Marine Corps and the state for which which we're exceptionally grateful.

Simply put, we cannot execute our national security mission without the state of California. I'd like to focus my remarks today on two priorities, collaborating with the state to encounter or excuse me, to counter emerging threats to California and sustaining our access to sea, air, and land space that our training requires.

On the first priority, sir, the Marine Corps and the state are confronting new and evolving threat environments, including the potential for foreign adversaries to contest military operations within the Continental United States through cyber and physical security means, as well as even the mobilization efforts that that that all deployers have to go through. The enemy undoubtedly sees those as opportunities with which to disrupt our deployment of combat power.

Real world operations from our California installations may increasingly occur in the contested environment, which requires new levels of coordination with the state and local first responders established well ahead of the crisis, that that may potentially be before us.

We have made real progress collectively for sure, participating in Caltrans led review of state critical infrastructure, being just one example, coordinating regularly with the governor's office of emergency services, and the California National Guard, and for the first time this year, integrating, state participation in our annual emergency response exercise known as SemperDurus. Building on that foundation, we'd welcome the legislature support in 2027 for measures that would help state and local law enforcement respond to unauthorized drone activity, for example, that threatens our installations in our critical infrastructure.

We appreciate and know that there's been effort on that already, and we hope to partner for continued efforts on that front. On the second priority, sustaining access to training space is an urgent and growing challenge.

We're actively engaged on several fronts, working with SDG and E as it considers routes for a major new transmission line out towards Imperial, County, monitoring geothermal development proposed near the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, and pursuing permanent training airspace at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center to support realistic modern training.

At the same time, we've achieved real success through the Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape, the state's first such designation, which is already helping align military, conservation, and agricultural land use goals across the region. Most states with the sentinel landscape excuse me, landscape have supported their program in statute and would again welcome the opportunity to work with the legislature or for legislative support in 2027 for similar activity to sustain sustain and expand this success in California.

At the same time, we've achieved real success through the Mojave Desert Sentinel Landscape, the state's first such designation, which is already helping align military, conservation, and agricultural land use goals across the region. Most states with the sentinel landscape excuse me, landscape have supported their program in statute and would again welcome the opportunity to work with the legislature or for legislative support in 2027 for similar activity to sustain sustain and expand this success in California.

And working towards the closing here, sir, two additional priorities merit brief mention. On infrastructure resiliency, the Marine Corps and the state are partnering on a landmark long duration energy storage project at Camp Pendleton, supported by, California Energy Commission award, and we welcome continued collaboration on grid resilience and emergency energy technologies.

And working towards the closing here, sir, two additional priorities merit brief mention. On infrastructure resiliency, the Marine Corps and the state are partnering on a landmark long duration energy storage project at Camp Pendleton, supported by, California Energy Commission award, and we welcome continued collaboration on grid resilience and emergency energy technologies.

On support for military families, several measures before the legislature this year, addressing interpersonal violence response, family leave, JRTC access, and school enrollment would meaningfully improve quality of life for military families in California, and we appreciate the legislature's continued attention on these issues very gratefully.

On support for military families, several measures before the legislature this year, addressing interpersonal violence response, family leave, JRTC access, and school enrollment would meaningfully improve quality of life for military families in California, and we appreciate the legislature's continued attention on these issues very gratefully.

And thank you again, Sir, for the opportunity to testify today and for the state's sustained partnership with the Marine Corps. Look forward to any questions you might have, Sir.

Yeah. Thank you. Well my regards to General Brown, and I've been lucky to be there with him at graduation and witness what takes place there at UC MRD. What is it? The admission?

MCRD?

Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Yep. And the families. It if you've not been to a Marine Corps graduation, ladies and gentlemen, those who are listening, you've got to attend one.

It's open to the public and it brings pride to California, brings pride to our military, especially the marines. But if the marines have something that we're all envious of, it's the time and effort you put into every marine personally. But also, that also transcends to the families because you take care of the families. You take in the marine, you take care of his family. And I witnessed that, and I appreciate that.

So tell me about the marine reserves that we have here in California in conjunction with their active duty because, obviously, they augment one another and how active are they and what are they up to?

Yes, Sir. So it's worth noting that in the broader perspective that retention, recruiting and retention are strong. And as has been mentioned previously, the rationale for that and the value proposition for that essentially roots back in taking care of the marines as you stated, Sir. But also in ready opportunities to transition to the reserve component therein. The success of our direct affiliation program candidly has been unmatched in recent history.

The volume of range who seek for continued service via that direct transition to the reserve component is strong. We continue to meet retention goals specifically within the formation that I work with no ambiguity and and or full steam ahead. The first marine expeditionary force and the entire marine corps for that matter takes great pride in integrating and incorporating the reserve component into all operations.

In some instances, those are via specialized skill sets that are not replicated on the active component. In others, they're an augmentation and redundant force.

But the value proposition, again, rests primarily in the ethos that every marine is once and forever, always a marine that the shared core values and emphasis on war fighting readiness are that which is the linking component. And then when it comes to pre deployment training cycles, there is no delta, there is no ambiguity between the active component and the reserve. It is tied at the end.

And would you talk to you mentioned a little bit about the energy and technology on the base because obviously, we're talking about drones and that technology that's out there. And it's affecting the navy, it's affecting the air force, everyone else. So what are we doing with that when it comes to the technical side of it all and combating that and then taking it to the next level and energy because that's important with the number of people you have on the base and everything else.

Yes, Sir. The demonstration of combat operations downrange right now undoubtedly gives keen insight into the proliferation of unmanned aircraft systems and counter technologies, so on and so forth. Admittedly, many of our resources are rightfully being positioned at the leading edge of the fight as as they ought to be time now and consideration of all that is.

In our CONUS based installations, we are the recipients of and the benefactors of that improving technology, no doubt. And many of our installations or multiple of our installations throughout the region are in fact in receipt of certain technologies that we expect to improve our posture throughout.

One thing I'd like to emphasize though, as it relates specifically to the collaboration, that we see as keenly necessary, relates to the federal aspect of it in conjunction with the local and the state law enforcement representatives to be able to mutually work to combat this problem.

And whether that means modification of that, which is labeled as a critical piece of infrastructure in a military installation or otherwise, but the collaboration in effort to respond directly to that, we think is something that we undoubtedly need to be working with all equity holders going forward.

As it relates to the technology piece, grid infrastructure, grid resiliency, and reliability is undoubtedly in all of our interests. And so we're we're very happy with the partnerships that we've been able to develop thus far, some of the initiatives that are in place, and we look forward to continue to collaborate on those going forward.

Well, thank you, Colonel. And ladies and gentlemen, there was a time where the military units were separate way back when, but now they melt together, the Marines and the Navy working together with the Air Force. You cannot conduct an operation without everybody working out.

So that brings my next, and I thank you, Colonel. But my next panelist, of course, is representing the United States Air Force. So Eric Fierro, Executive Director at Travis Air Force Base, which was one of our busiest bases here in California.

So bring us up to date on what's happening there with our men in blue.

Good afternoon, Chair.

And women in blue.

And members of the committee, as the Executive Director at Travis Air Force based in Solona County, a veteran and lifelong California resident and having grown up in the San Fernando Valley, a product of our California public education system, I am both humbled and proud to be able to represent the men and women of Travis Air Force Base.

I'd like to start by thanking you for inviting me to testify today, and for providing this forum to address the critical subject of military readiness in California alongside my fellow service representatives. California is essential to the Air Force's global mobility mission. Travis Air Force Base, known as the gateway to the Pacific and with the largest aerial port, on the West Coast, has quickly emerged as a gateway to the world.

With project, we project American power and humanitarian reach across the globe and this high tempo, continuous operation cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Sustaining it depends on the resilience of our airmen and strong ongoing partnership with the state. Simply put, we cannot execute our national security mission without California, and we cannot execute it without fully supporting the service members and their families who make it happen.

My remarks today will focus on two critical military readiness priorities facing military families at Travis Air Force Base, addressing accessible childcare and ensuring our access to affordable quality housing. The lack of available childcare is no longer just a quality of life issue. It is a direct threat to military readiness.

Sustained demand for installation childcare continues to exceed current capacity. When the airmen cannot secure reliable and affordable care for their children, it impacts their ability to deploy, attend training, or fulfill their daily duty requirements. While we are recently awarded a MILCON project to construct a new child development center, staffing this facility will continue to present challenges.

While we are extending our physical footprint, we must rely heavily on the local community to bridge the gap. At Travis Air Force Base, we are confronting significant wait list at our CDCs. Very few state run programs have taken the steps to become affiliated with our installation and our installations throughout the state.

Additionally, access to affordable housing is an urgent challenge which directly impacts our operational readiness. The high cost of living in Northern California combined with full on base housing occupancy and long wait lists forces many of our personnel to endure long commutes or settle for living conditions which do not necessarily meet their needs.

While we continuously advocate for appropriate base allowance for housing rates at the federal level, the local market often outpaces basic allowance for housing and these adjustments. We are actively engaging with local municipalities to encourage military friendly housing policies.

However, we would welcome to the legislature's consideration for initiatives designed to incentivize renting or selling to military families, providing tax relief or rent protection for military families in the communities surrounding military installations. An additional challenge worthy of note, our readiness relies heavily on a robust civilian workforce, but we are facing significant hurdles in filling civilian executive positions at our California installations.

While we offer numerous opportunities, recruiting qualified leaders to fill these critical administrative and strategic roles has proven increasingly difficult.

Retiring military leaders and senior enlisted veterans bring invaluable institutional knowledge and an immediate understanding of the military mission required for these top tier positions. However, because California taxes military pensions and has a high overall cost of living, many highly qualified transitioning senior service members prefer to seek executive employment in other states.

Consequently, this cost military installations and other employers access to a large demographic with the skills, work ethic, character, and resilience to improve any organization. The loss of this experience at leadership levels require longer onboarding times directly impacting our strategic community and operational efficiency.

We would welcome the legislators consideration of measures to make California a more financially viable option for our veterans. So I can tell you endless stories of having hired executives to certain positions at Travis Air Force Base.

They accept the position, and then they call us back a few days later, having after having done the California math, and then basically saying, I can't afford to go out there, and we go back to the drawing board to try and make it work again. It's often taken three, four, five panels to hire one individual after they go back and crunch the numbers.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for the state sustained partnership with Travis Air Force Base, the Air Force, and our sister services. I look forward to your questions.

Well, Mister Fierro, thank you for being so blunt, I might say and it's welcomed, to be quite honest with you, because what affects the Air Force affects the Navy and the Marine Corps and our National Guard across the board. And I know that, Admiral Boone has been advocating for things that you just said, and we'll hear later from him. But it's absolutely true.

We, the legislators here in the State of California, have got a rally behind our military because we know that childcare is one of the biggest things that affects all our men and women in uniform and that's important. So we're gonna have to step that up.

No doubt. But we also have to realize that if we can have affordable housing for some of our college students, we should be able to look toward affordable housing for some of our military off base, nearby. So that policy there was the purpose of this meeting so you can open it up because not everything is wine and roses. We've got to take care of our men and women in uniform who are serving this country actively and reserves.

And one of the issues, of course, is Housing, Health Care and Childcare.

So that we know, and that's the purpose of this meeting. So we can convey that message because the general population in California has gotta know that if we're gonna support our military and support our veterans, we have to step up at the ballot box to support some of the issues that we're all trying to put across. And we have several bills on the table right now that hopefully will move that pendulum towards us and who have served.

So I appreciate your candace and I appreciate it. So let's go head back and talk about the retention that you are receiving because some of the reserves that go into the National Guard, Air Reserves, they have the technical skills.

And but I think that a joint venture with EDD, this you know, hit the airwaves. So our employment department will start thinking about hiring more veterans in our military bases. That's important.

So, I mean, at Travis and really throughout the services, I'll say Air Force related, We are big fans of the policy and the motto that we recruit the airmen, but we retain the family.

So any policy, any programs, any situations we can develop to make life a little bit easier on the families themselves, or what's gonna what's gonna take to keep our airmen in the seats, keep the aircraft flying, keep them maintained, keep them supported, keep our medics, everything it's gonna take to get that mission sustained and keep going.

I think as soon as the spouse or the kids say, mom, dad, I think we're done, that's when we struggle and we're gonna lose that airman or the sailor or the soldier or the marine. So anything we can do to continue to help families will help us retain those service members.

And we will continue to look in that direction. You know, the reserves and active duty personnel that leave the branches of service, they're eligible for education. They're eligible for things in here in California. So we're gonna keep working in that direction. So your message is loud and clear, and I appreciate it.

Thank you, Sir.

So speaking of appreciation, I appreciate every one of you who have testified today and will do this again. And, we will keep knocking on the door to make sure that everyone who believes in all of us, God, country, and our military, will stand up and get to that ballot box to say we're supporting these initiatives, these bonds, whatever it might be. I know we have a big veterans housing bill coming across.

So that's gonna help a lot of our veterans, those who can get the CalVet loans and everything else.

So we're going in that direction. That's been my job since I've gotten here and God willing, we'll keep knocking on those doors for years to come and we'll make headway together. So gentlemen, thank you for coming before us.

Thanks, Senator.

Thank you, Sir.

And now ladies and gentlemen, we will hear from our next panelist, Miss Kelli May Douglas, who represents the Pacific Southwest Region for the Defense State Liaison Office within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Military Community and Family Policy. And miss Kelli has been an advocate for veterans for years upon years at the number of years that I've known her and speaking for the Department of Defense, also speaking for California.

And as our liaison, we appreciate you becoming the bridge for California and the Department of Defense. So, Kelli Douglas, you've got the floor.

Senator. Good afternoon, Chair Archuleta and members of the committee. My name is Kelli May Douglas representing the Defense State Liaison Office. I work to establish and leverage mutually beneficial relationships with state and local leaders across the Pacific Southwest, including approximate and representing approximately 460,000 service members, spouses, and children living in California.

Our office works to address some of the most pressing issues that have been identified by the military components, by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and, local community leaders within the military that have identified these issues that have significant impact on military family quality of life and, resulting in concerns about the ability to retain, as you've heard earlier, our force, if we don't take care of these family issues.

Close collaboration with state policy makers, military leadership, and community stakeholders is essential to all of our success. I appreciate the opportunity to provide information and context on how we can further partner on advancing meaningful policy changes that directly address these unique challenges that our families face. And I'll speak about two key areas in addition to childcare, which has been reiterated and foot stomped by my service colleagues.

And I can share more if, if you have questions about our plans for the future in terms of policy solutions in that area. But one area I wanted to talk about was easing employment barriers for military spouses.

First, one of the most significant strains on military families is the economic and security caused by barriers to military spouse employment. When a military family relocates to California, a spouse who is licensed, who is a licensed professional can lose months of income while navigating state specific licensing requirements.

This loss of a second income combined with the high cost of living that we've already discussed creates immediate and severe financial pressure for military families.

California has demonstrated a long standing commitment to reducing these licensure and employment barriers for military service members and their spouses. Most recently, enacting two landmark bills in 2023, SB 114 and SB 143, which substantially advanced temporary licensing and credentialing pathways for military spouses.

To facilitate an even smoother transition for relocating service members and spouses and improve their economic stability, the state can build upon this momentum by adopting occupational licensure compacts, expanding state hiring preferences to military spouses, and enhancing and updating existing licensure statutes to align with revised federal law and identified model policies.

This is not just a family issue. It is an operational readiness issue. Secondly, California I would like to talk about, how California can further support, military child education while they transition from state to state, particularly as they move into California's, school districts and and out of school districts and out of school districts following their families with orders.

For over two decades, California has enacted a host of beneficial policies supporting military children's education. However, we consistently hear from military families that information about these and other policies is not easily attainable at the local level, and the implementation of these policies can be uneven across school districts.

We believe the next step in this area is ensuring local school districts implement these existing policies that California has enacted with consistency and fidelity. By embedding stronger requirements within existing state statutes, the state can assist in improving family awareness, district implementation, and overall success of transitions for military connected children in California schools.

And with that, I thank you for your time, your leadership, and your continued dedication to those who serve. I look forward to working together to build on this strong foundation and I welcome any questions you may have.

Yeah. And Miss Douglas, your mention of the childcare and it seems that every branch, everyone who's been up here talked about childcare and the cost of childcare. And I share in that because when my son was serving, I think at at either Fort Bragg or one of the bases, he has two small sons and they were paying $3,000 a month. $3,000 a month until they got onto base childcare, then it was reduced to $1,500.

But for any soldier, any airman, anyone in uniform paying that kind of money, it's really, really difficult.

So when you talk about the the operational readiness, it's related to family and of course childcare is one of the issues. We're gonna be looking into that and I'm glad you brought it up, but when we're talking about a second income and you're talking about spouses, tell us a little bit more about that and how that affects that young trooper.

Yes. So first, you know, we wanna recognize that military families are experienced a lot of what our challenges are challenges that everyone in our community experiences as well. We just, I feel like, the way to describe it is that because are, we have piled on burdens and barriers to employment and being integrated within the community because we move so much.

And so, although we understand that our peers out in the civilian community are also struggling, and I think we are a part of that larger community. We do appreciate any efforts that the state can make to help ease these barriers for the military community, which are a result of service to the country, and directly related to high transition mobility.

So that high mobility piece is really the the crux of what we're trying to mitigate for military spouses. And again, as I think everyone would acknowledge in this concurrent economy, most families need to have two incomes. And so military families are no different than anyone else in this community.

And so military spouses are having a huge breadth of experience that they that has come over the years of not only being career minded as every as other spouses are, but also by having that global perspective, having moved so many times into many different communities and being able to integrate and learn from that experience.

So, what we're trying to do is just really ease that that barrier of that comes with when a military spouse moves with their family to California, we have found that they can, it can take up to a year to obtain employment for a variety of reasons.

One of those reasons we have identified is that 34% of military spouses are in licensed occupations. So that is a key piece of for us that we have tried to work with states to help reduce the barriers around varying state to state requirements as they move to multiple states.

Another piece that we think can really help is looking at California's existing employment preference that is provided to veterans.

They're not only are veterans eligible for this hiring preference in public employment, but so are spouses of 100% disabled veterans. What we would really like to see is being able to add military, active duty serving military spouses to the existing veteran preference. We understand that there are some challenges with the way that system is set up.

Wanna make sure that we are not displacing the veterans that are currently on that preference. However, adding another tier of preference where military spouses could possibly come in after that. So happy to work with you, Sir, on that in the in the coming year.

Well, that's a message we'll take forward. And before we sign off, you know, we have spouses who could be stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and come into California, and they were teaching school there. Now they come to California, and they'd like to keep teaching. So tell us about that and the obstacle we've overcome and we had to overcome.

Yes, Sir. So, I love that topic because I was a teacher and I've taught in seven different states, including California and overseas. So I actually experienced it, exactly what you just described, came from North Carolina to California and had to figure out how to you know, get a job as quickly as possible as a teacher. We've come a long way since then.

That was 25 years ago, and I'm really proud to share that California and and I mentioned this this Bill, I believe it was SB 114 or 143, either one of those two, which was enacted in 2023, which implemented a recent federal legislation that was required by the state to honor the licenses of all teachers as they come military spouse teachers that are coming in from another state.

So California was one of the first states to implement that piece. We do have some improvements that we are asked some enhancements that we're asking for in 2027, and I'd be happy to work the legislature on that as well.

Well, let's keep working together for that.

Yes. Thank you, sir.

There's a lot of common ground. You know, the Department of Military and Veterans Committee and of course, the Department of Military Affairs here in California, CalVets, we're all trying to find that happy medium that will kick open a door to service our men and women uniform. So we thank you for that.

So with that, thank you again. I'd like to go ahead now bring up our next panelist and this pertains to our veterans transition and the benefits and service.

So this panel will focus on transition from military to civilian life, access earned benefits, the role of County Veteran Service Officers, and the coordination of state, federal, county, and Community Service Officers. And so with that, we have a number of experts here.

First off, we have Michael Iadarola, and the Chief Veteran and community engagement at CalVets. And please correct me on that pronunciation.

And, Jim Zenner, Director of Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans and County Veterans Service Officers. And we'll begin with you, Michael. Would you pronounce that last name for me?

It's pronounced Iadarola

Oh, try it again.

It's pronounced Iadarola.

Okay. Iadarola

Alright. So please begin. Michael

Good afternoon, Chair Archuleta, members of the committee. My name is Michael Iadarola. I am the Chief Veteran and Community Engagement, Veteran Services Division, California Department of Veteran Affairs. I'm a veteran myself with 20 years of active duty service in the United States Air Force. I am honored to be here today.

Thank you for taking your time to allow me to share a little bit about CalVet and our outreach programs and how we support veterans and their families through their transition from the military and through the various moments that matter during their lives, from education, employment, home purchase, all the way to burial and memorialization.

At CalVet, our mission is to serve and honor all California veterans by connecting them and their families with their earned benefits through education, advocacy, and direct services.

For emphasis, CalVet serves and honors all who wore the uniform and served this nation. California is home to over 1,400,000 veterans. Our veterans have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War in the 1990s, the Balkans, and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The largest veteran population is from the Vietnam era, which represents approximately 30% of the overall veteran, California veteran population. And the second largest population is from the Middle East conflicts from 2001 to the present day, which represents approximately 27% of the overall California veteran population.

The Golden State is home to over 155,000 women veterans. California's veterans are diverse and exemplify the diverse nature of California's overall population, with over 40% of the veterans being from minority or non white demographics. Approximately 64% of California's veterans are aged 55 or older.

CalVet has several outreach, connection, and engagement efforts to educate and advocate for our veterans. The California Transition Assistance Program or CalTAP is designed to inform and connect veterans of all areas to their earned federal and state benefits, as well as provide continued support and assistance as their needs change over time.

CalTAP provides information on federal benefits, California specific benefits, higher education, entrepreneurship, employment, housing, legal aid, and citizenship.

The program assists veterans to successfully transition from the military to civilian life in California and to complement the transition assistance program offered by the United States Department of Defense. The US Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program, or TAP, is a mandatory program that helps separating or retiring service members prepare for civilian life, higher education, or new careers.

The CalTAP presentations provide reinforcing information on federal benefits, specific information on California benefits, and expound on the infrastructure of support provided through the California community based systems of care. In other words, CalTAP provides the how to many veteran benefits, how to file a VA claim, how to apply for utilize, and maximize their GI Bill benefits.

To expand on the GI Bill example, during the TAP class, a service member will learn specific information about their earned education benefits. In the CalTAP presentation, our team offers vital information for veterans in California to maximize their education benefits.

For example, the optimal enrollment in credit units to achieve their degree and have that GI bill cover all expenses, the California promise at California Community Colleges to help mitigate education costs, guaranteed transfer pathways from California Community Colleges to California State Universities or Universities of California, work study programs to help with income, advising better veterans to submit their military training transcripts to earn credit for prior learning from their military service to hasten the attainment of their degree.

The wonderful veteran resource centers available at California campuses that offer vital support through a veteran's education journey. CalTAP is not the sole mechanism for outreach, connection, and engagement at CalVet. CalVet has eight local interagency network coordinators or links that are responsible for serving veterans in eight distinct geographic areas in California.

The links play a dynamic role within local communities, serving as both informational conduits to the community and feedback resources to CalVet. I mentioned a few of the outreach teams at CalVet, CalTAP and the links, but allow me to expand on what benefits are available to veterans.

This is a highlight of some of the most utilized and sought after benefits. First, from the Federal Government, VA disability compensation or VA Claim, VA Health Care, Education, GI Bill, Employment, Education, and training through school or vocational training, VA Home Loan Guarantee, Veteran Pension, Burial and Memorial in a VA Cemetery or allowance.

Next, from the State of California, college tuition fee waiver for veteran dependence, Military Retirement Income Tax Exclusion, Property Tax Exemption, three state Veteran Cemeteries, eight state Veterans Homes, Veteran Home Loan Program, Calvet Home Loan Division is the largest mortgage lender in the state, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise increased opportunities for public contracts for veteran owned businesses.

To assist veterans or family members that may have a question regarding a benefit or to request assistance in some way, CalVet operates a public phone line during business hours and maintains an online library of materials on the CalVet website available for veterans to access 24 a day, seven days a week. The outreach connection and engagement to California's veterans is vitally important.

Cal Vet is successful because the community based systems of care and the relationships we have cultivated with our community partners. Cal Vet accomplishes our mission by, with, and through our community partners. There is one partnership that distinguishes itself from the others, the relationship between CalVet and the County Veteran Service Officers or CVSOs.

CVSOs are the closest, most personal support veterans and their families receive. CVSOs meet veterans at important and sometimes challenging moments in their lives and help them navigate a system that can be unclear and overwhelming.

We know that for many veterans, the CVSO Office is their first stop when looking for help or simply trying to understand what support is available. The shared purpose and commitment with our partners are what make CalVet effective and successful in accomplishing our missions.

I'd like to share a few highlights. For 2025, CVSOs had over 460,000 interactions with veterans and family members. For fiscal year '24-'25, CVSOs filed more than 316,000 claims and secured over $680,000,000 in new or increased federal benefits for veterans and their families.

The CVSOs and CalVet processed over 27,000 college tuition fee waivers last year for veterans dependents, resulting in over $200,000,000 in higher education cost savings. Since CalTAP's inception in 2017, the program has conducted over 1,200 events, informing and connecting over 40,000 veterans and family members to their earned benefits.

Since 2017, the Links have conducted over 3,300 events, connecting with 56,000 veterans providing information, services, and resource referrals. CalVet headquarters receives, on average, over 700 phone calls per month from veterans and family members. That averages out to about 8,500 phone calls a year.

The three state veteran cemeteries preserve and honor the memory of over 21,000 veterans and eligible dependents. For fiscal year '25-'26, CalVet awarded $1,270,000 to 14 counties through the Behavioral Health Services Act Grant, which resulted in over 7,000 veterans and family members receiving services, 600 student veterans receiving services, 1,100 homeless veterans receiving services, over 500 justice involved veterans receiving assistance, over 400 veterans and family members receiving legal aid, and finally, over 1,800 senior veterans receiving support and assistance.

Since 2019, the state has awarded over $4,000,000,000 in contracts to disabled veteran business enterprises or DVBEs. CalVet outreach connection and engagement is a team effort with collaboration of partners, both internally across our divisions and externally with CBSOs, veteran service organizations, nonprofits, and federal partners.

We strive to support veteran families through their transition from the military and through the various moments that matter during their lives and respond to the ever evolving state of veteran services.

With the continued support from the administration and legislature, CalVet has been able to reach, connect, and engage veterans across California and ensure we adapt and stay vigilant, reflect compassion, and acceptance of all those who wore our nation's uniform. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Well, thank you, Mister Iadarola. I'd like to just point out that your presentation on CalVet is enlightening. I don't think that many veterans understand the work that CalVet does and throughout California. So I'd like to highlight a couple of things that I'd like you to join with me on, and that is the the veterans homes. Would you just speak a little bit again?

You had mentioned there was eight homes.

Yes. Thank you, Senator. We have eight veterans homes. One in Redding, one in Yountville, which is the largest and oldest veteran home in the nation. One in Fresno, Lancaster.

West LA?

Yep.

Chula Vista, and there's one more missing. Barstow. Piece. Thank you. It's quite a list.

Right. Those veteran homes offer a very unique and a fantastic experience. I have family members who are senior veterans that are since I became employed at CalVet are saying, Mike, can you get me in?

I said, at home, and I say, please apply. It's a great place to be. They offer everything from dormitory style living where it's the veteran is free to come and go, all the way to skilled nursing facilities to memory care. It is a wonderful place to live and be communal with other veterans who have served. They are fantastic facilities.

They are operated in conjunction with, the Fed VA on certain aspects, but they are wonderful, great facilities for our veterans.

So it's like it look it sounds like they're full service homes, not necessarily to senior veterans, but to any veteran that would qualify that would need that care. But I understand their spouse can also live with them at the facility. Correct?

Veterans

That's the other thing. So let's also talk for just a minute about VA home loans and what is the down payment on that and the availability of funding.

So there's two VA home loan programs. There's the federal VA side, which is actually not alone at all. It is a guarantee. The Cal Vet home loan program is true truly a home loan, and the CalVet home loan program is specific for veterans. And our home loan program, we are not a typical bank or monetary financial source that you would find for any borrower to take from CalVet.

Home loans receives its funding through the state legislature through our bond program, and so we can offer extremely competitive rates. Our home loan division can work with specific veterans to buy and finance the home they desire. And coupled with the home loan is insurance. So home insurance has been, I think, a highlighted topic in the state. And if you choose to go with a home loan through CalVet and you're a veteran, you can bundle your home insurance through CalVet when you purchase your home.

And also and also the veterans are eligible to refinance their homes if they didn't purchase under the VA or Cal Vet prior. Correct? That is correct. Yeah. Good.

And last thing is, of course, the educational side of it all. Does veteran need to be at a 30% or higher disability rating for benefits? Or explain that to me.

So for the traditional veteran benefits coming out of the military, the GI Bill, there is a certain service requirement to earn that benefit. I don't have the specific numbers in front of me, but, a veteran does not need to be rated at all to utilize that benefit. It is earned through the successful completion of, their first tour, typically four years. And that benefit, they can use at any state school, any private institution.

It is simply worked it is simply requested through the VA and executed through the school.

It covers multiple aspects of an educational journey. Veterans also receive a housing allowance with that GI bill benefit.

Good. Thank you. Well, let's go ahead and and switch over to Jim Zenner. Jim Zenner is once again from Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, LA County, which has 10,000,000 residents and a good number of veterans. And I know, Jim, your staff works with veterans in all sorts of aspects, whether it be mental health, housing, even childcare, whatever it might be under that umbrella by the county of Los Angeles.

Tell us a little bit about the program.

Thank you, Senator Archuleta and members of the committee that are joined virtually. I am Jim Zenner, director of LA County Department of Military Veteran Affairs and county veteran service officer for that county. I also serve as a legislative Chair for the California Association of County VSOs, as well as the national policy director for the National Association of County VSOs. Successful military transition depends on two things, working together, strong county veteran service officers and trusted peer support. Los Angeles County has built a model that works.

Today, I urge this committee to scale it statewide. Our recommendations are straightforward. First, create a statewide task force led by CalVet to create a framework for California veteran peer access network, including appropriate state departments, federal partners, CACVSO, CAVSA, Onward Ops, and other relevant agencies and associations. The task force should convene and examine other state peer models to inform the framework that should serve as an action plan for implementation in the state of California.

Second, provide targeted state investment, perhaps through Behavioral Health Service Act Dollars with a carve out specific for veterans, to launch the statewide California veteran peer access network.

Third, direct CalVet to coordinate with Cal Mesa to develop a veteran specific peer certification that would include training on all CalVet services. Fourth, create a separate workload, and this is very important, that recognizes, incentivizes Us County Veteran service officers to outreach to transitioning service members and their family members, reservists, national guard members. This is key to getting upstream, preventing homelessness, Justice Involvement, and unemployment or underemployment later. These are practical yet very achievable steps. California is home to nearly 1,430,000 veterans.

Close to about 200,000 live in Los Angeles County. Transition is not a single briefing. It's a year long process of rebuilding identity, purpose, and stability after the structure of military life is no longer present. It is critical to have a relationship with a trusted guide in your community when transitioning out of the military. Current state and federal programs provide a great starting point, but veterans reintegrate into communities, not into VA hospitals or state homes, and need more than a briefing.

That is why state and local government matter. County veteran service officers are the front line. We sit at the table. We open the door to benefits and connect veterans to real community resources. We already partner with installations in CalTEP, yet state funding has not kept pace with the workload.

AB 2219 is a positive step on accreditation and accountability for county veteran service officers. Sustained investment in CVSOs will continue to deliver strong returns for veterans and for California's economy. In Los Angeles County, we built the veteran peer access network, the first community driven peer led network of its kind funded locally. Trained veteran peers working through community based organizations meet veterans where they are.

They reduce stigma, navigate systems, and walk alongside peep walk alongside veterans and their families through housing, employment, crisis, and other needs.

Peers and CVSOs work as a team. Combined with partners like the VA one team, we housed more than 2,100 veterans in Greater Los Angeles last year alone. Veterans tell us net the network gave them purpose and a path forward. What works is in the largest and most complex county in the nation can work across California. Peer support integrated with professional accredited VSO capacity creates a true no wrong door system.

I urge this committee to champion the creation of a California veteran peer access network, continue strengthening CVSOs, scale proven peer models, get upstream with transitioning service members. When we do, we honor service, reduce long term costs, and keep veterans from falling through the cracks. Thank you, and I'm ready to answer any questions, and to work with you on these priorities.

Well, thank you, Jim. I've had the honor to work with Jim, in the County Of Los Angeles. I've been the Commissioner of Military and Veterans affairs for the County of LA for twenty four years. So I know your work, your workload, and the progress you've made over the years.

And our county veteran service officers, ladies and gentlemen, are across the state of California, not just in LA County, San Diego, Sacramento, you name a county, we've got a county veteran service offer there to serve and represent these veterans.

And they're able to touch on housing, on benefits, and everything else. Jim, can you give us a a success story that just just, you know, it's right there so focused that it changed the life of that veteran. You've got one for us?

Yeah. Yeah. Probably probably the biggest one. I created a peer program through philanthropy back in 2014, and one of the young marines, she was lost. She was doing work study work study programs through local veteran resource centers that were mentioned earlier.

Didn't really know what she was gonna do. Recruited her to be one of the leaders in the initial Battle Buddy Bridge program. And, she told me, early on in the program, she said, you know what? I this really kinda helped me figure out what I wanna do. I have the support of my fellow veterans providing and being of service to other veterans.

So it's kind of, you know, it's an opportunity to transition and be around other veterans and Kinda learn from them. And so, just a little bit later, she told me, you know, I'm gonna go back and get my degree in hospital management, and I'm gonna run the v a run a VA. Last I heard, she's worked on the 6th Floor at West LA VA, in the Leadership suite, working towards that goal.

By giving us opportunities as peers in networking and working alongside each other, it helps us it not only is it is it providing a service to the community, it's also helping veterans figure out what their next step is, which is critical to the transition.

And before you go, Jim, I'd I'd just like to point out that in Los Angeles, we have Patriotic Hall, where Jim and his staff are, and a good number of counselors and veteran service officers, but service for people in LA County. That building is now called Bob Hope Patriotic Hall. And, it was built back in 1917, I believe it was, and it's been the home to veterans all these years.

There was a point in time they were gonna think about demolishing the building, but I wanna give a shout out to to the LA County Board of Supervisors that poured in millions upon millions of dollars. I believe about $40,000,000,000 to rehab the building, and now it's their modern service for all our veterans in LA County.

So what we've heard today is that all of us coming together to help our veterans, and I'm just so proud of every one of you, the work you do. So gentlemen, thank you for coming before us. I appreciate that. And now let's go ahead and finish up with our last panelist. And if I may, this panel will focus on connecting service members, veterans, and military families with civilian careers, translating military skills, meeting employer workforce needs.

Because as we've heard, to have well trained veterans in the workforce is vital to the economy of California, Strengthen conditions and encourage veterans to remain in California. That is a point that we're trying to do today is get veterans to understand that California can be home, can be a a vital place to begin their careers and and the place where we can welcome our veterans.

Because across our nation, California is regarded as one of the best states in the union to house, to work, to live, and we've got some adjustments to make. No doubt. So with us today, right now, we have rear Rear Admiral veteran David Boone, And Admiral Boone, thank you for coming.

And a US Navy retired and who is now a proud veteran representing the San Diego Military Advisory Council and the California Defense Communities Alliance. And with him, he adds Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lewis, director of work for Warriors that working with our veterans. And Mark Cole, director of enduring programs portfolio for u two and e three at Lockheed Martin, Skunk Works and Air Force veteran himself. So let's begin with you, Admiral Boone. You've got the floor.

Thank you, Chair Archuleta. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. You know, we've heard from our active duty counterparts. I really appreciate them being here articulating their stories from their respective services. And what we asked of our service men and women are is eye watering, what we, the country and the state, ask of our service members.

And we could talk about a lot of things. There's a common, common issues between both active and veterans, affordability, childcare, cost of housing, etcetera. What I'd like to focus in on is taxation on military retirement pay. And why is that important? We are losing veterans to other states.

And there's a number of data statistics I could cite from different demographics, both the retiree population, the overall veteran population, but I'll just cite one, and that is veterans in the workforce over the last twenty years has declined in California by 53%, and they've moved to other states. And so it's really important to figure out why is this happening and how do we stem the tide of this movement. And it's not just their second career tax revenues that we're missing out on.

In FY '24, the direct and indirect federal VA expenditures into California totaled nearly $26,000,000,000 And so for every veteran that leaves, we lose a piece of that. And so it's really important that we figure this out.

Now until Governor Newsom included a partial tax exemption in the 2025 budget, which was approved by the legislature, California was the only state in the union that fully taxed military retirement pay. Now, the resulting exception exemption of $20,000 was a welcome start, but 20,000 is less than two thirds of the average pension of roughly $34,000 received by our retirees in California in 2023 and is a modest incentive to keep them here. 38 other states in the union provide a full tax exemption on military retirement pay.

And just to be clear, we are targeting not the officer community, but the senior enlisted community, E6 through E9, which make up the bulk of the numbers of eligible retirees. So this is a challenge that we're dealing with.

In addition, capping the exemption to include single filers at 125,000 and joint filers of 250,000 dismisses those higher earners who arguably are most likely to bring in even greater second career incomes and tax revenues to the state. Now, sir, you're the author of Senate Bill 1407, and we're it's an opportunity to elevate the current tax situation and we welcome that opportunity. We in California have an economy that enables our veterans to integrate seamlessly if they have the opportunity to operate in a profitable way.

We have technologies, we have a skilled workforce that the military community would fit seamlessly in. So subject to your question, sir, I'm happy to answer your questions.

Well, as I said earlier this afternoon when the air force had the floor, I said thank you for being so blunt and I thank you also admiral, for being blunt to advocate for our veterans who have obtained a career of knowledge and skill that could be used here in California. No doubt. We talked about, you know, I talked about the submariners who have that technical skill that no one else has. The technology in hydrogen, energy, nuclear science, you name it.

These engineers, these E6 to E9, right, they're ready and they're ready to go somewhere.

And to keep them here in California is vital, no doubt. But when you talk about $26,000,000,000 overall on VA benefits and we lose a portion of that, a large portion of that. So you're right. Senate bill 1407, is addressing that, and we're hoping that the veterans community and everyone here in California understand that through the ballot box, we are gonna change and honor our veterans.

But I'd like to ask you, admiral, with the tax on the retirement pay, it is imperative that we send a message that those who are serving right now, the transition, don't give up on California.

Give us an opportunity to make some changes. We've got to do that. Wasn't it's not gonna happen overnight, but in the interim, they could be educated, they could find the work, they could go ahead and develop, home base. So with with that, the question is, how do we keep them here in the interim?

It's a great question and and I think there and and we just heard from the last panel all the benefits that CalVet provides. I don't think we do a good enough job of communicating all of those benefits, so they understand the balance sheet. If if you're a family of three or four kids, and and many people I talk to don't realize that they could send those kids to California universities for free.

We have got to communicate the broad range of of opportunities here that would mitigate the cost of taxation, so the balance sheet looks more equitable when they are trying to make a decision on where to live.

Well, not only do we have to point the finger at what we're doing wrong, we also have to point the finger, the three remaining back at ourselves because if we don't promote, how are we going to retain? So for those who are here and that and employers and so on, you know, we're we've gotta get CalVet and I'm gonna talk to the secretary to make sure that we, push that wheel just a little bit further along because CalVet, you're right, admiral.

With all the benefits that are here for Californians, if we can keep them here for a couple two, three years until each cycle goes through and we move those numbers up from 20 to 40 to 60 and work our work our way up to have no retirement for no retirement tax for our veterans, I think that's what we're gonna do. So, I appreciate what you've done and the drive.

And again, I look forward to meeting with you and bringing, the number of Assembly members and senators over to Home Base San Diego and and, deal with our navy and our marine corps and our airmen, because it made a difference.

Because since I've been here, we've never had a session like this. Do you ever remember one? No, sir. We made a difference.

Yes.

We've we went from zero to 20. Now we're gonna keep moving. So we're gonna keep working together. We've gotta support our veterans and that tax relief is so important. So please continue what you're doing and and God love you for it.

So with that, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lewis, you've got the floor. Tell us about your work for warriors program.

Well, first, sir, chairman Nacheleta, thank you very much for having me and also everyone here, and of course, the California National Guard, my boss, General Beavers. I'm Colonel Peter Lewis. I'm actually recently retired. I'm now part of the California State Guard. I'm director of California's Work for Warriors program.

Work for Warriors has been around since 2012. When it was founded or when we created it, unemployment among the California National Guard, army and air was running at about 25%. And as you know, in 2012, we were kinda coming out of a really bad recession. It was having an effect on readiness. If you if you don't have a job and you don't have financial stable stability, those insecurities don't stop when you show up to drill in uniform.

So with that, we did, we did manage to significantly reduce our unemployment rate to well below about 6% within about two years as a result of our program. As a what makes the program really work is we have a small team of about 16 we have 16 people. They're professionals. They're including state active duty guys like myself and veteran staffing consultants located throughout California. These veteran staffing consultants, they're all, everyone to a man, ex NCOs out of all branches of service.

We have a retired marine command sergeant major. We've got an army sergeant major. We've got e sevens, e sixes, Navy, air force, and marines, and and the coast guard as well, all on staff right now that go out and help these veterans, these guardsmen, reservists, and their family members, assist them in getting jobs. So how does it work? Well, we work we work with these with our customers, which are the service member or the veteran.

By the way, we've expanded from just California National Guard members to any veteran, any reservist, doesn't matter if it's whether you're a nave, navy, marines, anything, and any family member of an active duty service member. Heck, we even got an active duty service member a part time job because they wanted one. So we will we will take care of anybody who comes to us. So how it works is it's a one on it's a one on one service. We help them build and improve their resumes.

We prepare them for interviews. I'm I'm actually new to this position. And in the last two months, I've sat in on resume prep. I come in in civilian clothes. I don't want them to be nervous because there's, you know, how it is when you're lower enlisted.

You see a lieutenant colonel and you think that they're, you know, they immediately freeze up. We sit in there and I've just watched excellent work in prepping these service members and veterans for their interview. And I mean, we'll do two, three sessions with them that important to coach them on beginning, middle, end, focus on what the employers are looking for, the skills, and how you bring those skills to the employment. It's written that the resume work has been fantastic.

Translating those military skills into, English for a civilian is so important.

So if you have an artilleryman and he's an E4, just got out of the army, marines, whatever, we can put that down in a res we can help them translate that into skills, working in a high pressure team, inspecting equipment, intense environment, meeting tight deadlines. These are the kind of things that we can say or change their resume or help them draft it. The only thing we ask is is that that person has to put some skin in the game.

We want them to draft something. It could be on a napkin, but you gotta give us the information, everything you have, and what that shows is that you are motivated to get a job, and we will take that and turn it into a beautiful resume and update it for every job that you apply to.

So we will we'll we'll take that resume. It's not the end. At that point, we will take that resume and modify it for the job you're in every single time that you're applying for. So who are the where are these jobs coming from? We have roughly 2,700 partners across the state.

They range from security guard companies to, mechanic and tire shops. We have also placed less less so, but we've also placed attorneys and some higher level positions as well. Most of our customers are entry level. They're coming right out of the military or they are, they're veterans looking for for mid tier management or lower tier management. That's our most of our customers, which brings me to what I've been hearing here since I we started.

And that is, especially for Mister Fierro, is that they're having a hard time bringing civilian GS employees, out to the state. Well, our customers are rooted in California. They came back to California because their families live here. They grew up here. So it might I'm sure that we can help some of our partners, our brothers and sisters back here that have been struggling with finding the right people.

I'm sure we can find them some some qualified applicants. We have many people that have active security clearances, that have skills that relate to some of these civilian jobs. I don't know about it at the strategic level, maybe one or two, but definitely entry to mid level management. Hey. If they're looking for the people, we're not the end and all to their problem, but I am certain that we can significantly help them find some of these people.

So, again, what I wanna say about the program is is that we're open to all we started out just guard, but now we are open to all veterans, all family members, all reservists, and heck if an active duty service member is looking for a part time job, we'll help them too. So with that said, I'm open to your question, sir.

Well, thank you, Colonel. I appreciate your passion. I think you're in conjunction with Ed Mahboon in in a different light, but it's so important that we have to educate, and this is what we learned from CalVet, but we have to employ them when we can. Now, this is the California Guard program?

That's right.

Out of Los Alamitos?

No. It's actually well, it's based in Sacramento, but we have reps in San Diego. That's actually where our former command sergeant major marine is. Los Angeles, Riverside, we have 16 we have 16 people stretching from Northern California all the way to the South.

And hence the workforce warriors. Got it. Okay. Do you have a website you can recite?

Workforcewarriors.org.

Thank you. I appreciate that because it's those E4s and E3s that, possibly fives that come out, but asking for their DD 214 and, helping with that resume, that'll help. And the MOS, in conjunction with civilian job, partnering those things are important.

So good luck with that and please keep us informed. And I think we should get some EDD people over to you so you can work with in conjunction with EDD as well.

They're great they're great partners and we have worked with them in the past. They're fantastic.

Good. Thank you. And Peter Lewis, again, thank you. So now, Mark Cole, director of the enduring program portfolio for U2 and E3 at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and an air force veteran himself. Welcome home and God bless you for your service.

Thank you, chairman Archuleta, and thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today. I'd also like to thank California Manufacturers and Technology Association for asking Lockheed Martin to represent the manufacturing industry today. I said, as an Air Force veteran and a professional with 40 years of experience in the in the public and private sector and as the father of two veterans, a marine and a soldier, I'm honored to speak about the the manufacturing industry today.

And both of my sons now work for for Lockheed Martin and made that transition. The California Manufacturing and Technology Association has been a pivotal organization since its founding in 1918.

It represents a diverse community of manufacturer processing and technology based companies here in California. And over the years, it's evolved to address changing landscape of the manufacturing industry, adapting to challenges and opportunities for 45,000 manufacturers in the state. Manufacturing center our sector currently employs 1,200,000 people in the state. And the aerospace industry makes up one third of that. Nationally, the manufacturing industry has 980,000 veterans, employs 980,000 veterans, and the largest private sector employer of veterans, suppressing all other private industries.

The same year, the California Manufacturers Technology Association was formed, Lockheed Martin was also formed in 1918 as a California company as well. And today out of 123,000 employees, one in five is a veteran, a reservist or a military spouse. And we strive to hire, develop and train retain the top talent in the nation.

And earlier today I had the opportunity to visit my team up at Beale Air Force Base just here North of Sacramento and see many of our team members that are former veterans, including recent transitions from active duty to veteran status. 2025, we welcomed nearly 10,800 new employees to Lockheed Martin, including 1,500 college hires.

And beyond those full time hires, we also created internship opportunities for additional 2,000 students. As a hiring manager at Lockheed Martin, I have had the opportunity and the pleasure to interview and hire many veterans, from the service, from across all the services, as well as many military spouses and other family members. And I'm happy to entertain any questions you might have, sir.

Well, thank you so much. I didn't realize that you had such a large workforce under 23,000, but I would love to see that one in five being veterans and two in five, three in five. But if admiral Boone has it his way, we can do that. And if you can train them, colonel, we'll have that and they can switch over and get that entry level.

And then we can get CalVet to get them to school and their families and get the county veteran service officers, get them to medical care.

You can see how this web all comes together because God and country is in the center, our veterans, our recognition, our beautiful flag. And, we should not honor our veterans, only only on Veterans Day, but every day through what we've just learned today. And it it's so very important. But I thank you for your participation, and I'd like to thank all the panelists that were here today. And and today's discussion underscores a few things.

And, some of them were pretty tough, some were right to the shoulder, and some of them we learned a little bit about what's happening in our military bases. But we learned one thing, that if we don't back our veterans, they're not gonna stay in California. That's essential. If we don't give them the benefits, they're not going to stay in California. And when over a 100 and what was it?

$26,000,000,000 of benefits, we gotta grab some of that because that's amazing what we can do with that. So California is the fourth largest economy in the world. Well, let's go ahead and make that part of our veterans world as well. So today's discussion, as I mentioned, underscores military readiness, veterans transition, economic opportunity, and these are all closely connected as we found out. But state policies affecting the infrastructure, the transition, and the life benefits, for these veterans is essential.

So CalVet, you got work to do, but we've gotta support you. Our Assembly, our Senate, our governor, across the board, we've gotta be there for you. We've learned that today. And for our veterans and who need the childcare, we have to take a good look at that. For education and, those young men and women that are being trained and taught inside the military bases, we gotta make sure they receive every opportunity there so they can transition into our community colleges and onto our universities.

So your testimony today, each and every one of you, has been essential. The leadership you've given us over the years has impressed us all because when you're able to communicate to us the needs of the military, the needs of our veteran, then we're doing something. So let's work together to get some measurable results because the future of California is on the shoulders of our veterans, and we take on that mission. Veterans will take on any mission that will help one another.

And so today, I would just like to again publicly thank each and every one of you.

God bless you. Welcome home. And I'm honored to be your Senator. And I've got one comment. What is it?

Oh, yes. I'm sorry. We have to maintain protocol. This will give you an opportunity to say a few words. So for our public comments, the floor is open.

The microphone is there, and I'll give you each a minute to go ahead or so to acknowledge or present an idea, your case, or what you might have heard today that's inspired you to get at that microphone. So state your name and organization and what's on your mind.

Yeah. My name is Steve Spriggs. I'm with the National Veterans Transition Services Inc out of San Diego. We've been helping veterans transition from military attack to civilian life for over ten years. A few years ago we established what is called the California Veterans Chamber of Commerce because as the most recent articles have come out calling a silver tsunami, It says nearly half of

U.S. Small business owners are 55 or older, yet just 54% have a cessation plan, and that is the same in California. There's 250,000 veteran owned businesses in California, many of them by Vietnam veterans like myself. Another 130,000 of those businesses are 50% owned. So it's a great opportunity to have transitioning military and national guard reservice to purchase many of these businesses, and it's a great opportunity we should not pass up.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Senator. My name is Deborah Johnson. I'm the state quartermaster for the veterans of foreign wars. On behalf of the 80,000 members of the VFW and our auxiliary, it's my honor to say a few words today. The VFW is uniquely positioned to provide a statewide perspective on the challenges veterans face after leaving military service.

Through our network of posts and members across California, we hear directly from veterans of all generations, backgrounds, and service areas. Their experiences provide valuable insight into what works, what does not, and what California can do to remain a destination where veterans choose to build their lives and futures. The VFW also sees growing needs among older veterans and those living with service connected disabilities, Access to health care, transportation, long term care services, caregiver support, and assistance navigating benefit systems becomes increasingly important as veterans age.

Ensuring that these veterans can remain active, independent, and connected to their communities should remain a statewide priority. The VFW stands ready to partner with state leaders, local governments, and community organizations to identify solutions that improve the lives of veterans and to strengthen California's Veterans community

by addressing these challenges and investing in veteran success, California can continue to honor the service of those who have worn the nation's uniform and remain a state where veterans not only choose to serve, but to stay. Thank you.

Thank you. If there isn't anyone else, let me go ahead and make my closing comments. I'd like to again acknowledge our VFW members, American Legion members, specific organizations that belong to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and of course, Coast Guard, and never forgetting our Space Force, our new brothers and sisters in the family. But I will tell you this, ladies and gentlemen, if we don't do this, if we don't get the word out, where are we gonna be?

CalVet, I think you now know your marching orders.

Get the word out. Public relations has got to be a key element to the success of so many veterans that are out there that don't know what's going on. Our county veteran service officers throughout the state of California, they await you. They await you because they will sit with you, counsel you, and get you into the VA system, henceforth, the benefits.

And then, of course, we as senators and Assembly members along with the governor, we've gotta look at some of the bills that we have today and in the future to go ahead and retain our California veterans in California.

We've gotta take a good look at that. We've gotta design benefits for a 100% disabled, those who are property owners, homeowners, and those who wanna be a homeowner through the CalVet system or even the VA. And to the employers like Lockheed and others, thank you for opening your doors to veterans because a veteran who was a sniper or veteran who was an artillery officer or veteran who was a medic, they are vital to your organizations and to our universities across California. We open your doors.

Please open the doors for veterans.

We provide funding. Let's provide the resources for them as well. The veteran service centers at the community colleges, we should have them at every community college across California, and we do, a lot of them. I've had the opportunity to visit them, and I know the transition from from trooper to student to graduate. It's there.

The opportunities are there. So I'd like to thank our educational level. And to the men and women who are thinking about reenlistment, hey, we'll take that too. That part of re retainment. But more importantly, we thank you all for your service, and I'm honored to be the Chair of the Military Veteran Service.

And I love saying this. I am your Senator, Bob Archuleta. Thank you, everyone. Meeting adjourned. I learned that from general