Veterans & Military Legislation - 2011-12 Session Summary

[boardman]

Veterans & Military Legislation
Legislation Session Summary – 2011/12

This has been a very busy but rewarding 2-year legislative session (2011/12) for California’s military and veterans.

As has been mentioned before, my workload doubled this past session over previous sessions. A very time consuming analysis has shed new insights on how much has been accomplished for all veterans and the military, not just my clients.

To recap, in this session 165 bills and resolutions were introduced which dealt with veterans or military issues. Some of these bills were changed into other subjects or were duplicative of other bills on the same subject and others did not make it through the Legislature because of costs involved to the state during this fiscal crisis.

Of the 165 bills and resolutions that were introduced, 78 were became law. The most interesting fact was that veterans bills signed into law were not just in the Military and Veterans Code, but were in over 13 different California Codes ranging from the Business and Professions Code to the Vehicle Code.

I have attached a list of the 78 bills and resolutions as well as a list of which bills were in which code section for your use.

For the bills and resolutions supported by my veterans’ clients, this usually required my office testifying in no less than 4 different committees and in some cases as many as six different committees. There was one day in which my office testified on 18 bills in 6 different committees.

Each year the workload has increased in this area and is likely to continue to do so for the next five years at least.

I want to thank all my veterans’ service organization clients for allowing me to represent you at the state Capitol. Together we are all making a tremendous difference for all of California’s nearly 2 million veterans and we will continue to do so as long as I have your support.

Because of the imminent arrival of the new Legislature on December 3 and the small size of my firm, I am unable to answer questions about specific legislation on this list. To access this legislation and all of the associated documents (committee analyses, votes, etc), please go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html and make sure to select the 2011/12 session.

Pete Conaty
Pete Conaty & Associates
1107 9th Street, Suite 530
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-492-0550
916-492-8957 fax
916-768-8940-cell
http://www.peteconaty.com