california legislature—2021–22 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 1595
Introduced by Assembly Members Quirk-Silva and Choi
January 3, 2022
An act to amend Section 1410 of the Military and Veterans Code, relating to v eterans, and declaring the ur gency thereof, to tak e effect immediately.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 1595, as introduced, Quirk-Silva. Veterans cemetery: County of Orange.
Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to acquire, study, design, de velop, construct, and equip a state-o wned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery in the County of Orange at one of 2 possible sites, as specified. Existing law requires the department to, after completing acquisition studies on both sites, consult with the Department of General Services to determine which site to pursue based on the economic feasibility , benefits to v eterans and City of Irvine residents, and availability of each location. Existing law makes honorably discharged veterans, their spouses, and dependent children eligible for interment in the cemetery, as specified.
This bill w ould delete those site selection requirements and w ould instead require the department to acquire, study , design, de velop, construct, and equip a state-o wned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery in the County of Orange.
This bill w ould declare that it is to tak e effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
99 The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 1410 of the Military and Veterans Code line 2 is amended to read:
line 3 1410. (a) (1) Pursuant to Section 1412, the department, in line 4 voluntary cooperation with local government entities in the County line 5 of Orange, shall acquire, study , design, de velop, construct, and line 6 equip a state-o wned and state-operated Southern California line 7 Veterans Cemetery, which shall be located at either the site of the line 8 former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, on 125 acres known as line 9 the Amended and Restated De velopment Agreement Site in the line 10 Orange County Great P ark in the City of Irvine or at the line 11 approximately 100 acres kno wn as the Golf Course Site in the line 12 Orange County Great Park in the City of Irvine, as described and line 13 adopted by the City Council of the City of Irvine at the July 23, line 14 2019, special joint meeting. The department shall, after completing line 15 acquisition studies on both sites, consult with the Department of line 16 General Services to determine which site to pursue based on the line 17 economic feasibility , benefits to v eterans and City of Irvine line 18 residents, and a vailability of each location. in the County of line 19 Orange.
line 20 (2) The department shall oversee and coordinate the acquisition, line 21 study, design, development, and construction of the cemetery. line 22 (3) For purposes of this chapter, “department” shall mean means line 23 the Department of Veterans Affairs.
line 24 (b) (1) Subject to the eligibility requirements described in line 25 Section 2402 of Title 38 of the United States Code, as it may be line 26 amended, honorably dischar ged veterans and their spouses and line 27 eligible dependent children are eligible for interment in the line 28 cemetery. The department shall establish a fee to be char ged for line 29 interment of veteran spouses and eligible dependent children. The line 30 amount of the fee shall not e xceed the reasonable costs to the line 31 department for interment in the cemetery.
line 32 (2) Subject to Section 1418, for the purposes of this subdivision, line 33 the department shall adopt re gulations to specify the eligibility line 34 requirements for interment in the cemetery.
line 35 (3) All fees received pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deposited line 36 in the Southern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual line 37 Maintenance Fund created pursuant to Section 1412. 99 — 2 — AB 1595
line 1 SEC. 2. This act is an ur gency statute necessary for the line 2 immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within line 3 the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall line 4 go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
line 5 It is necessary that this act tak e effect immediately in order to line 6 commence with the design, development, and construction of the line 7 Southern California Veterans Cemetery at the earliest possible line 8 time.
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