Veterans
Thompson introduces bill to help ensure vets receive benefits, assistance during government shutdown
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson on Friday introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure that Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and American Legion can continue to work alongside Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at VA Regional Offices during the shutdown.
This week, the VA announced that 7,800 support staff members are being furloughed at Regional Offices around the country.
“Sending home 8,000 VA workers will only further delay benefits and services to our nation’s veterans,” said Thompson. “As a veteran myself, I understand the importance of VA services. By allowing VSOs to continue working during the shutdown, we can help make sure our veterans get the benefits they’ve earned and services they need.”
VSOs provide valuable volunteer assistance to veterans and their families, helping veterans maneuver the VA system and navigate the complex claims application process.
VSO representatives often work in VA regional offices, acting as liaisons between veterans and VA employees and providing guidance and expertise to claims processors.
The government shutdown has prevented VSOs from providing their expert volunteer service at VA Regional Offices, despite the fact that these are completely volunteer organizations, operating at no expense to the federal government.
The halt in funding for the VA has already led to claims processing delays for 1,400 veterans per day.
Before the shutdown, employees who process benefits claims had been working overtime to help reduce the backlog, but the government shutdown has led to an elimination of overtime.
Without action, the already large backlog of disability claims stands to increase dramatically.
The Veterans Services Support Act is cosponsored by Rep. Walter Jones, Rep. Corrine Brown, Rep. Jerry McNerney and Rep. Rush Holt.
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SAN DIEGO – Taking action to help California veterans find decent housing, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. joined local veterans, lawmakers and community leaders in San Diego on Thursday to sign legislation to expand housing opportunities for veterans.
“After veterans serve our country, it’s our duty to serve them,” said Gov. Brown. “This new reformed housing program will make life better for veterans for years to come."
The legislation (AB 639), authored by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles), will ask voters to repurpose $600 million of existing veterans’ housing bond funds to use for multifamily, transitional and supportive housing. The bond will go before the voters on the June 2014 primary ballot. The governor signed the bill at Veterans Village of San Diego.
“I am proud of the actions that the governor and the Legislature have taken this year to tackle veterans’ homelessness in our state,” said Speaker Pérez. “Veterans have devoted their lives to the protection of our country and it is absolutely unacceptable when they cannot afford a place for them and their families to sleep. As citizens, it is our basic obligation to stand up for these men and women who have served our nation, and I look forward to seeing California voters approve this measure.”
In addition to AB 639, the governor announced that he has signed the following bills today to help California veterans:
AB 143 by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) – Until Jan. 1, 2019, exempts from the use tax property purchased by a qualified active duty or reserve member of the armed forces or National Guard, or his or her spouse or registered domestic partner, outside the state and prior to the report date on official orders transferring the qualified service member to the state. Does not affect state law guiding use taxes on vehicles.
AB 150 by Assemblymember Kristin M. Olsen (R-Modesto) – Authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to offer a reduced fee or free day use of any unit of the state park, as specified, to veterans and active duty military personnel of the United States Armed Forces or the National Guard, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
AB 151 by Assemblymember Kristin M. Olsen (R-Modesto) – Authorizes the governing board of a county to grant financial assistance, relief, and support to a disabled veteran, as defined.
AB 244 by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) – Requires the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) to sponsor a veterans' special interest license plate and requires the California Department of Motor Vehicles to issue the veterans' plate if CalVet meets the current statutory requirements.
AB 556 by Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) – Adds "military and veteran status," as defined, to the list of categories protected from employment discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. The bill also provides an exemption for an inquiry by an employer regarding military or veteran status for the purpose of awarding a veteran's preference as permitted by law.
AB 717 by Assemblymember Rocky Chávez (R-Oceanside) – Changes the role and composition of the California Veterans Board, requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to the Board as specified.
AB 1057 by Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) – Requires each board and bureau, commencing January 1, 2015, to inquire in every application for licensure if the individual applying for licensure is serving in, or has previously served in, the military, ensuring a more streamlined and efficient process for licensing military veterans in professional careers.
SB 232 by Sen. William W. Monning (D-Carmel) – Repeals a budget allocation for a loan to the Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord, appropriates $1 million to the Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Endowment Fund (Fund) for construction of the Cemetery, and amends current statutory requirements of regarding the use of interest on a principal in the Fund. This bill also requires that any money transferred as part of the budget action granting a loan to the Fund be returned to the General Fund.
SB 272 by Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-Hayward) – Prohibits implying any military veteran or military veteran service organization connection, approval or endorsement of any financial product, goods or services unless there is an expressed connection to that military veteran entity.
SB 290 by Sen. Stephen T. Knight (R-Palmdale) – Extends, to a California State University undergraduate student, provisions exempting a California Community College student- who was a member of the Armed Forces stationed in this state on active duty for more than one year immediately prior to receiving an honorable discharge- from paying nonresident tuition for up to one year while providing the student up to two years following discharge to use this exemption, if the student files an affidavit stating their intent to establish California residency as soon as possible. Requests the University of California to also adopt the above policy.
SB 725 by Sen. Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) – Expands the types of local governments that cannot revoke the dedication of a specified veterans' facility to include a city, or city and county.
SB 759 by Sen. Jim W. Nielsen (R-Gerber) – Updates current law which authorizes donation of firearms or other weaponry to the California National Guard military museum to instead refer to the California State Military Museum and Resource Center located in Sacramento, and authorizes donations to occur at branch museums located at California National Guard facilities, as specified.
For full text of the bills, visit: http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html .
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Veterans nationwide are being called to report for duty again. But this time, the theater of operations is their own communities as members of community service platoons led by The Mission Continues, a national nonprofit organization that helps veterans successfully transition to post-military lives through volunteerism.
Led by post-9/11 veterans who have completed The Mission Continues six month service fellowship program, each platoon adopts a community-focused mission and mobilizes around monthly volunteer opportunities.
Veterans of all generations are invited to enlist in the 30 service platoons launching nationwide over the next year where they’ll work in partnership with community organizations, local companies and area volunteers to have a positive, lasting impact on challenging issues facing their city.
“Service platoons focus the energies of dozens, or even hundreds of veterans and mobilize supporters to solve pressing challenges,” said Spencer Kympton, U.S. Army veteran and president of The Mission Continues. “Platoons are the next step in our work to empower veterans to serve their country in new ways. They become the veteran’s new units here at home and platoons provide the tools for veterans to make a difference.”
An enduring spirit of service
Five pilot platoons have already deployed, adopting missions and recruiting volunteers in Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego and Washington, D.C. Each platoon’s mission is specific to the community it serves, including addressing hunger, homelessness and mentoring at-risk youth.
The Los Angeles platoon is led by U.S. Navy veteran Robert Contreras. After nearly 10 years in the U.S. Navy, The Mission Continues awarded Contreras a fellowship volunteering for six months at the Santa Monica College Veterans Service Center, where he connected more than 700 new veterans on campus with resources to help them become better students and more capable job seekers.
Since completing his fellowship earlier this year, Contreras has enrolled as a full-time student pursuing his bachelor’s in anthropology.
“My fellowship with The Mission Continues helped me reconnect to my community and navigate the next steps in my post-military career,” said Contreras. “As a platoon leader I have an opportunity not only to continue serving my community, but also to help other veterans find a new path forward through service and volunteerism.”
Later this year, platoons will begin forming in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Houston; New York; Norfolk, Va. and St. Louis, with an additional 20 platoons to come in 2014.
To sign up for a platoon or pledge your support visit: www.missioncontinues.org/platoons .
The Mission Continues is a national nonprofit organization that empowers veterans to serve their country in new ways through two innovative and action-oriented programs.
The first, The Mission Continues Fellowship harnesses veterans’ strengths, skills and compassion and empowers them to serve in their community on a daily basis over the course of six months.
The second, The Mission Continues Service Platoons brings together teams of veterans with local community organizations and volunteers to build stronger communities.
The Mission Continues has helped thousands of post-9/11 veterans focus their talents and energy to tackle challenges facing us right here at home.
Through a unique model that provides reciprocal benefit for the veteran and the local community, veterans volunteer to help others and, through their service, build new skills that help them launch their civilian career.
To learn more, visit: www.missioncontinues.org or follow them on Twitter, @missioncontinue .
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SACRAMENTO – In recent days, CalVet has received a number of calls from concerned veterans regarding the impact of the federal government shut down on the CalVet Home Loan program.
The CalVet Home Loans program is not being impacted by the U.S. federal government shutdown.
The department is open for business originating and closing loans for California veterans.
“CalVet Home Loans is actually thriving due to its competitive rates and swift loan processing times,” said Peter J. Gravett, CalVet Secretary. “Loans are closing within 30 days, and the program’s 3.9 percent fixed rate is helping qualified California veterans become homeowners by taking advantage of the state’s recovering real estate market.”
CalVet Home Loans has streamlined the initial qualification process so inquiring veterans and real estate professionals are experiencing service levels that are exceeding the standards of the industry.
For more information regarding CalVet Home Loans, veterans and real estate professionals can call 866-653-2510 or visit our website at www.calvet.ca.gov/homeloans .
CalVet Home Loans started making loans for farms and homes in 1921 and has provided loans to more than 421,500 California veterans.
The program offers loans on houses, condominiums, duplexes, farms, mobile homes in rental parks and manufactured homes on land to which the home is permanently affixed.
CalVet Home Loans also offers construction, rehabilitation and home improvement loans. CalVet Home Loans is a full-service lender, funding and servicing the loan over the life of the loan term.
CalVet Home Loans is funded by tax-exempt bonds approved by voters and repaid by the mortgage payments of veteran customers.
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An agreement signed by the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will help California veterans and their families receive their benefits more quickly and help reduce the backlog of claims that have kept some veterans waiting for nearly two years.
The memorandum of understanding, along with $3 million and 36 limited-term positions authorized by the Governor’s 2013-14 budget, allows CalVet to hire teams of 12 veterans claims representatives for VA’s regional offices in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego.
Claims representatives will review claims pending for 125 days or longer and work to make them fully developed and ready for VA rating.
Once a claim has been adjudicated and a disability rating has been assigned, compensation or pension payments can be properly calculated and sent out to the veteran.
“This agreement, along with greater access to veterans’ records and the dedication of our veteran claims representatives, will go a long way easing the backlog of California benefits claims,” said CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett. “By reviewing claims that have been pending the longest and working forward, we will reduce the waiting time veterans have had to face.”
CalVet has begun hiring veterans claims representatives and, to date, has 14 of the 36 positions filled.
To view the veterans claims representative job bulletins for openings in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego, go to http://www.calvet.ca.gov/AboutUs/Jobs/JobAnnouncements.aspx .
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SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on Friday announced a settlement in People v. Help Hospitalized Veterans, et al that forces all Help Hospitalized Veterans officers and directors named as defendants to resign and requires payment of $2.5 million in restitution.
In August 2012, Attorney General Harris sued the charity’s executive officers and directors for improperly diverting funds intended to support programs serving veterans and active-duty military, including providing arts and craft kits to hospitalized veterans. Executives used these funds to pay for fundraising and excessive compensation.
“Veterans face many challenges when they return home – it’s unconscionable that Help Hospitalized Veterans officials misused charitable money intended for those who served and have sacrificed for our country,” said Attorney General Harris. “I am pleased this settlement forces these officials to resign, in addition to paying restitution.”
The lawsuit alleged that the directors and officers of Help Hospitalized Veterans breached their fiduciary duty by wasting its charitable assets on such things as golf memberships and a condominium for use by executives to fundraise, and authorized excessive compensation for the group’s former president, Roger Chapin, and its current president, Michael Lynch.
Under the settlement, Help Hospitalized Veterans will receive $2 million from the Chapin Trust. Chapin passed away in August. Lynch will retire from his position as president of Help Hospitalized Veterans and resign from the board.
After a transition period, he and the four directors named in the suit – Thomas Arnold, Robert Beckley, Gorham L. Black III, and Leonard Rogers – will be permanently barred from acting as an officer, director, fiduciary or trustee of any California charity.
The directors will resign on a rolling basis, to facilitate an orderly transition to new management. New board members will be subject to the approval of the Attorney General’s Office.
In addition, the charity’s director and officer liability insurance policy will pay $450,000 to Help Hospitalized Veterans in restitution, on behalf of the defendant officers and directors.
Controversy around the performance of veteran’s charities like Help Hospitalized Veterans was brought to the public’s attention in 2007 by Rep. Henry A. Waxman who, as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Hearings, held hearings into their fundraising practices and overhead.
A copy of the settlement document is avaiable at www.oag.ca.gov .
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The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) will honor three women who have been selected to receive the annual CalVet Woman Veteran Leader of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Volunteer awards.
Each winner has demonstrated exemplary commitment and passion in serving California veterans.
CalVet is honored to announce the following 2013 Awardees:
- Kate Weber – Woman Veteran of the Year Award.
- Victoria Hudson – Woman Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Mary Ellen Salzano – California Outstanding Volunteer Award.
The awards are part of the CalVet 2013 Women Veterans Leadership Conference being held at the Mission Valley Marriott Hotel in San Diego September 25-27, 2013 and will be presented at the conference evening reception on September 25.
To view the accomplishments of these inspirational women, go to www.calvet.ca.gov/women/Conference.aspx .
The 2013 Women Veterans Leadership Conference will provide information and resources that will encourage and empower women veterans to become self-sufficient, active members of their communities through a series of “How To” workshops.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn about their veteran benefits, file disability claims and speak with veteran service organizations and service providers at more than 40 information tables.
Attendees will also have direct access to over one dozen employers and employment and education resources on the second and third days of the conference.
The conference is made possible by private donations made through VetFund Foundation, a 501(c)(3) corporation that promotes the interests and raises money in support of California veterans and active duty service members throughout California.
This year’s conference sponsors include Walmart, Wells Fargo, PG&E, Kaiser Permanente, The California State University, AMVETS, Ashford University, and VetFund Foundation.
For more information about the conference, contact
To register, go to www.calvet.ca.gov/women/Conference.aspx .
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SACRAMENTO – Assembly Bill 557, authored by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday.
This legislation revises requirements for quarterly financial statements provided to members of California’s six veterans homes to ensure that the information provided in these statements is consistent with existing state law.
“AB 557 requires that the quarterly statements sent to residents are printed in a font that is 14-point or larger to assist residents in understanding the information necessary for residents to make informed financial decisions,” Yamada said. “It is a companion bill to AB 1823, legislation I authored and which was signed into law last year, requiring veterans home residents to be provided adequate information about their obligations to pay for unreimbursed costs of care.”
Both AB 557 and AB 1823 were proposed by the Allied Council at the California Veterans Homes at Yountville, an organization that advocates on behalf of the residents.
Two years ago, the widow of a former resident received notice from the state and had been largely unaware of existing law allowing for the recovery of unreimbursed costs of care.
AB 557 also provides technical changes to quarterly statements sent to veterans home members so they are clearly informed of CalVet’s ability to recover their finances and personal property held outside the premises of the veterans home in addition to assets held by the Home.
California’s six veterans homes provide essential care to disabled and elderly veterans. The homes charge veterans for the care provided according to the veteran’s ability to pay.
When an immediate family member survives the veteran, or the deceased veteran leaves an estate, the state may seek reimbursement from the heirs for the difference between the actual cost of the veteran’s care and the amount already paid.
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WASHINGTON – In response to President Obama’s Executive Order, the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) highlighted the establishment of two joint research consortia, at a combined investment of $107 million to research the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) over a five-year period.
“VA is proud to join with its partners in the federal government and the academic community to support the president’s vision and invest in research that could lead to innovative, new treatments for TBI and PTSD,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We must do all we can to deliver the high-quality care our service members and veterans have earned and deserve.”
The Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (CAP), a collaborative effort between the University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio, San Antonio Military Medical Center, and the Boston VA Medical Center will attempt to develop the most effective diagnostic, prognostic, novel treatment, and rehabilitative strategies to treat acute PTSD and prevent chronic PTSD.
The Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC), a collaborative effort between Virginia Commonwealth University, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the Richmond VA Medical Center will examine the factors which influence the chronic effects of mTBI and common comorbidities in order to improve diagnostic and treatment options.
A key point will be to further the understanding of the relationship between mTBI and neurodegenerative disease.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 2.5 million American service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Military service exposes service members to a variety of stressors, including risk to life, exposure to death, injury, sustained threat of injury, and the day-to-day family stress inherent in all phases of the military life cycle.
To improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health conditions, the President released an Executive Order directing the Federal agencies to develop a coordinated National Research Action Plan.
The Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Education (ED) came forward with a wide-reaching plan to improve scientific understanding, effective treatment, and reduce occurrences of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, co-occurring conditions and suicide.
The Administration’s new fact sheet on the National Research Action Plan for Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families can be seen here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/nrap_fact_sheet_082013.pdf .
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