Pending Legislation

AB 298

(Mathis R)   State Capitol: Monument to blind veterans.

Summary: Would authorize a nonprofit organization that represents blind veterans, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan, construct, and maintain a braille American flag to serve as a monument to the blind veterans of California and the United States in the State Capitol Building. The bill would specify duties for the Department of General Services in connection with the planning, construction, and maintenance of the monument. The bill would prohibit the construction of the monument until the Joint Rules Committee of the California Legislature approves and adopts a plan for the monument and the committee and the Department of Finance determine that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the monument.

AB 308

(Alanis R)   State parks: free entry and access: Gold Star Family Members.

Summary: Would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to grant free entry and access to any unit of the state park system to a Gold Star Family Member, as provided.

AB 322

(Mathis R)   Veteran and California National Guard Supplemental Orientation Act of 2023.

Summary: Would commencing no later than the 2025–26 academic year, require the California State University and the California Community Colleges, and if the Regents of the University of California adopt a resolution to make it applicable, the University of California to develop and include within first-year student orientation a supplemental module of services and resources available for students who are veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States and members of the California National Guard, as provided.

AB 444

(Addis D)   California Defense Community Infrastructure Program.

Summary: Would establish the California Defense Community Infrastructure Program, which would require the Office of Planning and Research, to grant funds to local agencies to assist with matching fund requirements in applications for funds from the federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, in consultation with the Governor’s Military Council, to develop guidelines for the program that, where possible, align with the guidelines of the federal program. This bill contains other related provisions.

AB 531

(Irwin D)   Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2024.

Summary: Would enact the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2024 to authorize the issuance of bonds in an amount not to exceed $600,000,000 to provide additional funding for the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014 (VHHPA). The bill would provide for the handling and disposition of the funds in the same manner as the 2014 bond act.

AB 569

(Garcia D)   Veterans: cybersecurity apprenticeship program.

Summary: Would require the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Technology, the California Community Colleges, and the California State University to develop a cybersecurity apprenticeship program for veterans at California community colleges and the California State University to receive training in and be able to enter the cybersecurity field. The bill would require those entities to make determinations by January 1, 2025, related to program eligibility criteria, length, and curriculum, program certification, whether participants shall receive salaries, stipends, or benefits, and program funding. The bill would require the developed program to be implemented on or before January 1, 2027.

AB 632

(Gipson D)   Health care coverage: prostate cancer screening.

Summary: Current law requires an individual and group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to provide coverage for the screening and diagnosis of prostate cancer when medically necessary and consistent with good professional practice. Under existing law, the application of a deductible or copayment for those services is not prohibited. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or a health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2024, from applying a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance to coverage for prostate cancer screening services for an enrollee or insured who is 55 years of age or older or who is 40 years of age or older and is high risk, as determined by the attending or treating health care provider.

AB 683

(Flora R)   Veterans’ organizations.

Summary: Current law generally prohibits the sale, representation, and manufacture of a poppy, badge, or label represented as being sponsored, endorsed, or offered by a veterans’ organization when the poppy, badge, or label is not sponsored, endorsed, or offered by a veterans’ organization. Current law makes it unlawful for a person to represent, directly or indirectly, that an act of solicitation is sponsored, endorsed, or made by or at the request of a veterans’ organization when it is not sponsored, endorsed, or made by or at the request of a veterans’ organization. Under current law, a person who violates these prohibitions is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

AB 684

(Ta R)   County veterans service officers: additional resources.

Summary: Current law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to counties that comply with certain conditions This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, provide a stipend to counties that host an active United States military base for the purposes of maintaining a county veterans service officer, at least part time, at each active United States military base in the county, subject to base approval.

AB 708

(Flora R)   Prisons: veterans service advocates.

Summary: Current law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop guidance policies relative to the release of veterans who are inmates. Current law authorizes a veterans service organization to volunteer to serve as a veterans service advocate at a facility that is under the jurisdiction of the department. For each inmate who is a veteran, existing law authorizes an advocate to develop a veterans economic recidivism plan during the 180-day period preceding the inmate’s release date. Current law requires the veterans economic recidivism prevention plan to include specified information, including a plan for how the inmate will access earned veterans’ benefits that the inmate may be eligible for upon the inmate’s release. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

AB 718

(Ta R)   Veterans: mental health.

Summary: Would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a program to fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an academic study of mental health among women veterans in California, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit a report summarizing the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature no later than July 31, 2025. This bill contains other related provisions.

AB 988

(Mathis R)   Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act: veteran and military data reporting.

Summary: The Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act, creates the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund and requires the fees to be deposited along with other specified moneys into the fund. Current law provides that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the funds be used for specified purposes and in accordance with specified priorities. Current law requires the Office of Emergency Services to require an entity seeking moneys available through the fund to annually file an expenditure and outcomes report containing specified information, including, among other things, the number of individuals served and the outcomes for individuals served, if known. This bill would require an entity seeking moneys from the fund to also include the number of individuals who used the service and identified as veterans or active military personnel in its annual expenditure and outcomes report.

AB 1143

(Chen R)   Military: lending protections.

Summary: Federal law provides various protections regarding credit extended to members of the Armed Forces called to active duty, including, among others, limitations on the interest charged and mandatory disclosures. Current law makes a security interest in personal property, other than specified modes of transportation, void if it would cause a loan procured by a covered member in the course of purchasing the personal property to be exempt from the federal protections. Current law also makes a security interest in a motor vehicle void if it would cause a loan procured by a covered member to be exempt from the federal protections and that loan also funds the purchase of a credit insurance product or credit-related ancillary product. This bill would exempt from those provisions loans that comply with specified provisions of those federal protections.

AB 1198

(Grayson D)   GO-Biz: Equity in energy task force.

Summary: Would establish, within GO-Biz, the Equity in Energy Task Force with members as defined. The bill would require the task force to develop a comprehensive strategy aimed at addressing equity in the energy industry and increasing the participation rate of women, minorities, disabled individuals, and veteran-owned businesses, as well as individuals from disadvantaged communities. The bill would require the task force to meet 12 times between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, and to submit a report to the Legislature, no later than December 31, 2024, providing recommendations to address barriers to access to the energy industry and how to increase the participation rate for underrepresented communities. The bill would require the task force to work with designated agencies to identify workforce development programs specific to the energy industry and to gather data on specified communities, as well as how education and outreach is conducted in these communities. The bill would also require the task force to meet annually, commencing January 1, 2025, to review progress in increasing the participation levels in the specified communities. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2030.

AB 1234

(Davies R)   Veteran home use: reporting.

Summary: Current law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to review the use of each home no later than 5 years before the expiration of the use restriction imposed on the home by federal law to determine the best continued, unrestricted use of the home. Current law also requires the department to conduct the same review 5 years after the date of the expiration of the use restriction imposed by federal law on a home and to update that review every 5 years. Current law requires the department to review the homes on a specified schedule and to update the report every 5 years and requires the reports and updates to be submitted to the Legislature and posted on the department’s internet website in an accessible and searchable format. This bill would require the department to continue to make previously posted reports available on the department’s internet website in an accessible and searchable format.

AB 1350

(Soria D)   Veterans: memorials.

Summary: Would create the Capitol Park Veterans Memorial Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the fund to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing memorials in the State Capitol. The bill would make the department responsible for administering the fund, including the prioritization of work, management of projects, and coordination with state and private bodies. The bill would require the department to prioritize memorials that do not have formal support from another body for their maintenance, including, but not limited to, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

AB 1361

(Hoover R)   Property taxation: veteran’s exemption: preliminary application.

Summary: Current property law, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, provides a veteran’s and disabled veteran’s tax exemption on specified property, as described. Current law sets forth procedures to claim property tax exemptions. This bill would authorize any person to file a written preliminary application with the county assessor, in the form and manner required by the county assessor, for purposes of determining whether a property the person intends to purchase is eligible for a veteran’s exemption. The bill would require the preliminary application to be filed only after the person has entered into a real estate purchase agreement for the property, but before the person takes ownership of the property. The bill would require the preliminary application to contain all information necessary to evaluate the property’s eligibility for the applicable veteran’s exemption.

AB 1386

(Gabriel D)   Veterans housing.

Summary: Te Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014 requires the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (referred to collectively as “the departments”) to establish and implement programs that focus on veterans at risk for homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness, as specified. This bill would authorize an entity tasked with making referrals of units targeted to extremely low income households to match prospective tenants with incomes at 60% of the area median income, as defined, in the event that an eligible tenant is unable to be matched to and accept placement in an available unit. The bill would require an entity tasked with making referrals to these units to make a good faith effort to match a tenant with an extremely low income, document these good faith efforts, and make this documentation available to the departments upon request.

AB 1452

(Mathis R)   State Capitol:Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Memorial monument.

Summary: Existing law provides for various memorials and monuments on the grounds of the State Capitol. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to maintain state buildings and grounds. This bill would authorize a nonprofit organization representing veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan, construct, and maintain a monument to the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the grounds of the State Capitol. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to submit a plan for the monument to the Joint Rules Committee for its review and approval. The bill would require the monument to be funded exclusively from private sources.

AB 1462

(Patterson, Jim R)   Veteran overdose deaths.

Summary: This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to access data within the electronic death registration system to compile a report on veteran drug overdose deaths in California and require the department to annually provide that report to the Legislature and the Department of Veteran Affairs on or before March 15 each year. The bill would require the report to include a cross-tabulation of the specified data and compare it to the data from the previous year. The bill would also require the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard to reflect overdose deaths by veterans. This bill contains other existing laws.

AB 1566

(Soria D)   Department of Veterans Affairs: veterans’ services.

Summary: Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to a county that complies with certain conditions. This bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2025, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers, and would require moneys to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in accordance with that formula, as specified. The bill would require the department to annually report to the Legislature the efficacy, return on investment, work volume, and regional impact of the subvention funds on each county that receives those funds, as specified.

AB 1605

(Gallagher R)   High schools: military services access: United States Space Force.

Summary: Existing law prohibits each school district offering instruction in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, that provides on-campus access to employers, from prohibiting access to the military services. Existing law defines “military services” for these purposes to include the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Coast Guard, or any reserve component of those federal forces, the National Guard, the State Guard, and the active militia. This bill would expressly include the United States Space Force in that definition.

AB 1647

(Soria D)   Veterans’ aid: dependents.

Summary: Under existing law, a dependent of a veteran may apply for aid for certain benefits, including tuition and fees and a monthly payment for books, supplies, and living expenses while in school. Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs, if it determines the educational needs of the applicant can be satisfactorily met in an educational institution in this state or elsewhere, to assume state wardship over the education of the applicant, as specified. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

AB 1665

(Soria D)   Veterans homes.

Summary: Under existing law, veterans homes are for aged or disabled persons who served in the Armed Forces of the United States, who were discharged or released from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable, who are eligible for health care benefits, hospitalization, or domiciliary care in a veterans facility, and who are bona fide residents of this state at the time of application, and for the spouses or domestic partners of those persons, if certain conditions are met. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

AB 1745

(Soria D)   Public postsecondary education: veterans: waiver of mandatory systemwide tuition and fees.

Summary: The Donahoe Higher Education Act prohibits campuses of the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state from charging mandatory systemwide tuition or fees to specified students who apply for a waiver, including a child of any veteran of the United States military who has a service-connected disability, has been killed in service, or has died of a service-connected disability, where the annual income of the child, including the value of any support received from a parent, does not exceed the national poverty level. This bill would instead require that the annual income of the child not exceed the state poverty level, as defined. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to provisions relating to this waiver of mandatory systemwide tuition and fees. To the extent these provisions would add additional duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

SB 73

(Seyarto R)   Employment policy: voluntary veterans’ preference.

Summary: Would enact the Voluntary Veterans’ Preference Employment Policy Act to authorize a private employer to establish and maintain a written veterans’ preference employment policy, to be applied uniformly to hiring decisions, to give a voluntary preference for hiring a veteran over another qualified applicant. The bill would require a private employer with a veterans’ preference employment policy to annually report to the Civil Rights Department the number of veterans hired under the preference policy and any demographic information about those veterans that the employer obtained in response to the department’s reporting requirements. Under the bill, failure to submit that report would render any preference granted by the employer ineligible for the protections provided by this bill.

SB 82

(Seyarto R)   Property taxation: disabled veterans’ exemption: eligibility letters.

Summary: Current property tax law provides, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, a disabled veteran’s property tax exemption for the principal place of residence of a veteran or a veteran’s spouse, including an unmarried surviving spouse, if the veteran, because of an injury incurred in military service, is blind in both eyes, has lost the use of 2 or more limbs, or is totally disabled, as those terms are defined, or if the veteran has, as a result of a service-connected injury or disease, died while on active duty in military service. This bill would require a county assessor to accept both original and electronically generated letters of service-connected disability, as defined, for purposes of verifying eligibility for the above-described exemption.

SB 87

(Nguyen R)   Mental health.

Summary: Current law generally provides for mental health services, including the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, which contains provisions governing the organization and financing of community mental health services for persons with mental disorders in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs, and the Mental Health Services Act, an initiative statute enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election that establishes the continuously appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to mental health.

SB 228

(Roth D)   Civilian youth opportunities program.

Summary: Current law authorizes the Adjutant General to conduct a civilian youth opportunities program, known as the “National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program,” consisting of a residential program and post-residential mentoring to serve at-risk teens in areas of the state, including, but not limited to, the San Joaquin Valley and northern California, as specified. This bill would require the Adjutant General to additionally conduct that program in western Riverside County.

SB 358

(Nguyen R)   Professional licenses: military service.

Summary: Current law provides for the regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs and for the licensure or registration of individuals in this context. Current law requires these professional and vocational boards, except as specified, to waive renewal fees, continuing education requirements, and other renewal requirements as may be determined applicable by the board, of any licensee or registrant who is called to active duty as a member of the United States Armed Forces or the California National Guard if certain requirements are met. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change in the above-described provisions relating to licensees and registrants who are called to active duty, as specified.

SB 492

(Eggman D)   Pretrial diversion for veterans.

Summary: Current law provides for the diversion of specified criminal offenders in alternate sentencing and treatment programs. Current law provides for a pretrial diversion program for a defendant who was, or currently is, a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, who may be suffering from sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or mental health problems as a result of the defendant’s military service. Current law authorizes the court, with the consent of the defendant and a waiver of the defendant’s speedy trial right, to postpone prosecution, either temporarily or permanently, of a criminal offense and place the defendant in a pretrial diversion program. This bill would add felony offenses, as specified, to the pretrial diversion program for a defendant who was, or currently is, a member of the Armed Forces of the Unites States.

SB 679

(Grove R)   Veterans: assistance.

Summary: Existing law requires a state and local public agency to provide assistance to veterans on the same basis as it provides to any other eligible person.This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

SB 726

(Archuleta D)   Property taxation: exemption: disabled veteran homeowners.

Summary: The California Constitution and existing property tax law provide various exemptions from property taxation, including, among others, a disabled veterans’ exemption and a veterans’ organization exemption. This bill would exempt from taxation, on that part of the full value of the residence that does not exceed $863,790, as provided, property owned by, and that constitutes the principal place of residence of, a veteran, the veteran’s spouse, or the veteran and the veteran’s spouse jointly, if the veteran is 100% disabled. The bill would provide an unmarried surviving spouse a property exemption in the same amount that they would have been entitled to if the veteran was alive and if certain conditions are met. The bill would require certain documentation to be provided to the county assessor to receive the exemption and would prohibit any other real property tax exemption from being granted to the claimant if receiving the exemption provided by the provisions of this bill. The bill would make these exemptions applicable for property tax lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2024, but occurring before January 1, 2034.

SB 783

(Archuleta D)   Veterans: suicide.

Summary: Current law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers various programs that provide benefits to veterans, including educational assistance and farm and home purchase assistance. Existing law authorizes each county to appoint a veterans service officer. Existing law requires that these officers administer aid to veterans, investigate veterans claims and requests relating to veterans aid, and to perform any other veteran-related services as requested by the county board of supervisors.This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to establish a Veteran Suicide Prevention Training Pilot Program, with the purpose of offering each county and city veterans service officer specialized training and certification in the prevention of veteran suicide.

SB 811

(Jones R)   Teacher credentialing: Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact.

Summary: Current law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Under existing law, California is a party to The Interstate Agreement on Qualification of Educational Personnel, a compact designed to support the movement of teachers and other professional educational personnel among the states party to it, and to authorize specific interstate educational personnel contracts to achieve that end.This bill would ratify the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, the purpose of which is to facilitate the mobility of teachers across the member states, with the goal of supporting teachers through a new pathway to licensure. The compact would, among other things, require member states, in their sole discretion, to make certain determinations about teacher licensure for teachers from other member states, as provided, and create and establish a joint public agency known as the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact Commission. This compact would only become effective if the compact statute is enacted into law in ten member states, as provided.

SB 855

(Archuleta D)   Fair Employment and Housing Act: veterans.

Summary: Current law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee on account of certain characteristics, including a person’s veteran or military status. The act prescribes various unlawful employment practices and requires the Civil Rights Department to, among other things, receive, investigate, and prosecute complaints alleging violations of those unlawful practices.This bill would make it an unlawful employment practice to require an employee who is a veteran, as defined, to work on November 11, known as Veterans Day, if specified conditions are met.

SB 873

(Bradford D)   Prescription drugs: cost sharing.

Summary: This bill, commencing no later than January 1, 2025, would require an enrollee’s or insured’s defined cost sharing for each prescription drug to be calculated at the point of sale based on a price that is reduced by an amount equal to 90% of all rebates received, or to be received, in connection with the dispensing or administration of the drug. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to, among other things, pass through to each enrollee or insured at the point of sale a good faith estimate of the enrollee’s or insured’s decrease in cost sharing. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to calculate an enrollee’s or insured’s defined cost sharing and provide that information to the dispensing pharmacy, as specified. The bill would require the department and the commissioner to submit an annual report on the impact of these provisions to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, as specified. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2027. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.