Military — 2026-08-12 (partial)

So with that, Major General Beavers, the floor is yours, and you may begin. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. we are grateful to be able to tell the committee all the great work that the 19,700 soldiers and airmen in my organization do every day for state and nation. So I want to start off by a brief opening pitch here, just to kind of walk through the committee, what we do just today, and then be more than happy to take whatever questions the committee might have. To get you a sense of what we're doing today, I'll start off with this. We have 232 soldiers in airmen deployed at CENTCOM Area Responsibility, supporting Operation Spartan Shield, Operation Inherit Resolve, and Operation Epic Fury. 399 soldiers are currently deployed across the state of California in the counter-narcotics fight. We're supporting 133 different law enforcement agencies and allied task forces. A hundred of those soldiers and airmen are deployed, four are 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 Center supporting CAL FIRE and the U.S. 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, the 146th Air Wing, which we call the Hollywood Guard, Their modular airborne firefighting system equipped C-130Js, both MAPS 4 and 6, have flown every day for the last month. And we've flown, I think, 77 sorties and about 1.7 million gallons of retardant dropped. And that's across California, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. We're also heavily invested in the state's really fight to ensure that we have a stable cyber security apparatus. We have about 60 service members that are arrayed across state government doing that work. We embedded in the California the CALCIC which is out of OES We embedded in the Department of Technology Security Operations Center And we also maintain what we call the Computer Network Defense Team And that a team of about 20 folks and they 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 that other constitutional offices. And I will also take an opportunity really today 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 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 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 legislature in this matter, I think we're going to be well-positioned going forward to do just that. And finally, I want to talk a little bit about our recruiting and retention. You brought that up, Mr. Sherr, earlier. In every measure, recruiting and retention in the department is exceptional. Our retention rate is the highest it's been in 13 years. We are number two in the nation behind it, number two 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 it sits is about 98.9% of our authorized. so we're just short of 100%. I think we're going to get there before the end of the federal fiscal year. So that'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 we cannot do that without the legislature and your leadership, sir, and we appreciate that. It is an absolute team effort and we thank you for this opportunity to talk about the great things that my soldiers and airmen do every day, so thank you.

Sure. What is California doing right? Yeah, I think we'll talk about recruiting first. So I think probably four years ago, we took a look at how we were recruiting, and I believe that we were not going to where the propensity population was. So we kind of 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'll also mention relative 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 spent an inordinate amount of time doing that to try to ensure that while this work that we do is exceptionally hard there no excuse for not treating our people with dignity and respect. And frankly, you know, being an empathetic leader, you have to be able 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 do they have, where are they at, where do they work, are they underemployed, are they unemployed, you know, and try to make sure that we can make their lives better for having served. And ultimately, that's kind of the mantra that we have. And I think the pressure that we put on the organization to make sure that that happens has just shown dividends. So we're very proud of being able to retain the great sons and daughters of California that elected to serve.

Yeah, so in a couple of fronts. First off, we have, given the graciousness of the state, we offer about 300 full-ride scholarships to UC, CSU every year, the equivalent, 300 full-ride equivalents. And that's on top of what we get from the GI Bill, so for just having served. So we spend an inordinate 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 kind of left it open to everybody, and what we found was a lot of senior officers, majors, lieutenant colonels, were using that to secure postgraduate degrees, some folks going on to getting PhDs. And I said, well, you know, 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, complete a community college degree, to get into CSU or UC, and crown jewels of our state, right? So 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 can figure out how to get that degree yourself.

Will do, sir. Cheers.

Good afternoon, Senator. Thank you, Chairman Archuleta and members of the committee. I'm Captain Brian Bungai, 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 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 increased 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 warfighters 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 ensures that 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 and to housing. This past March, we declared victory on No Sailor 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 30 to 45 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 will represent the single biggest quality of service improvement for Naval Base San Diego in generations and significantly reduced 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 11 identifying the Vesta Street Bridge as a top priority. We now wait for consideration of San Deg's $51 million grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In support of our families, we need to provide adequate child care options that meet our sailors and their spouses' financial and professional realities. If you're not right at home, you're not going to be right at work. Navy Region Southwest offers a variety of child care options for military families, including the family child care 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 child care homes and limits our ability to meet the needs of our families outside the fence lines By exempting in child care providers certified by the military from state licensure requirements California can help increase available child care 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 of 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.

55,000 people come through my gates every day.

Yes, sir. Sure. So on the recruitment side, even though not necessarily directly involved, I can 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. You know, sir, if you had to live and work here at the same time, 24 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 where they work. And I think that's a huge recruiting tool, huge retention tool for many of our junior sailors. And I think it working because you know the Navy fully investing in the unaccompanied housing the barracks It not your grandfather barracks anymore If you come down to San Diego and take a look at Pacific Beacon or any of our renovated unaccompanied housing towers I can tell you It's market style. It's like they're renting 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 the services we want to flood the zone with mental health resources and we've got to reduce the stigma I think we're doing a pretty good job of that reducing the stigma of just reaching out and getting help because times are tough right now pay, advancement opportunities love seeing all the increases that the federal government, and I think Admiral Boone here is going to talk about keeping veterans in California. I think all those are all recruiting tools and retention tools.

Good afternoon. Senator and members of the committee who may be watching, as you say to sir, thank you very much. I'm Colonel Chuck Dudek, Deputy Commander at Marine Corps Installation 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. I think it's a great initiative by with 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 long. The readiness impacts are ripe for discussion in every metric. Roughly 40 percent 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. An 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 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 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 may potentially be before us We have made real progress collectively for sure participating in Caltrans 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 Semper Duris. Building on that foundation would welcome the legislature's support in 2027 for measures that would help state and local law enforcement respond to unauthorized drone activity, for example, that threatens our installations and 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&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 a sentinel landscape have supported their program and statute and would again welcome the opportunity to work with the legislature or for legislative support in 2027 for similar activity to sustain and expand this success in California. And working towards the closing here, sir, two additional priorities, Mayor, 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. 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.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Yes, sir. So it's worth noting that in the broader perspective that 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... and 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 Marines 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 are 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 the 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 warfighting 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 hip.

Yes, sir. The demonstration of combat operations and downrage 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 they ought to be timed now in 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 authorities and 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 the 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 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.

And members of the committee. As the Executive Director of Travis Air Force Base in Salona 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 child care and ensuring our access to affordable quality housing. The lack of available child care is no longer just a quality of life issue. It is a direct threat to military readiness. Sustained demand for installation child care 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 lists 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 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 costs 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. Sir, 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 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's sustained partnership with Travis Air Force Base, the Air Force, and our sister services. I look forward to your questions.

So, I mean, at Travis and really throughout the services, I'll say it, 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 are what it going to take to keep our airmen in the seats keep the aircraft flying keep them maintained keep them supported keep our medics, everything it's going to 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 going to 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.

Thanks, Senator.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, we will hear from our next panelist, Ms. Kelly 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.

Yeah, Ms. Douglas, you're mentioning the child care, and it seems that every branch, everyone who's been up here, talked about child care and the cost of child care. And I share in that because when my son was serving, I think, 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 operational readiness it related to family And of course childcare is one the issues We going to be looking into that and I glad you brought it up But when we talking about a second income and you talking about spouses tell us a little bit more about that and how that affects that young trooper.

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 coming to California and they were teaching school there. Now they come to California and they like to keep teaching So tell us about that and the obstacle we overcome and we had to overcome Yes sir So I love that topic because I was a teacher and I taught in seven different

Well, let's keep working together for that.

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 and 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 Eladora, and Chief Veteran and Community Engagement at CalVETS, and please correct me on that pronunciation, and Jim Zinner, 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?

Oh, try it again.

Okay, Ida-rola. All right, so please begin. Michael.

Well, thank you, Mr. Adelora. 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 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 veterans' homes. Would you just speak a little bit again? You had mentioned there was eight homes.

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 into the home? And I say, please apply. It's a great place to be. They offer everything from dormitory style living, where 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 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?

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.

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

Thank you. Well, let's go ahead and switch over to Jim Zinner. Jim Zinner is once again from Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, L.A. County, which has 10 million 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 child care, whatever it might be under that umbrella by the County of Los Angeles. Tell us a little bit about the program.

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 L.A. for 24 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 L.A. County, San Diego, Sacramento, you name a county, we've got a county veteran service officer 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 success story that just, you know, it's right there, so focused that it changed the life of that veteran. You've got one for us?

And before you go, Jim, 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 L.A. 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 going to think about demolishing the building, but I want to give a shout-out to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that poured in millions upon millions of dollars, I believe about $40 million to rehab the building, and now it's their modern service for all our veterans in L.A. 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 vital place to begin their careers 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, housed to work, to live, and we've got some adjustments to make, no doubt. So with us today, right now, we have Rear Admiral Veteran David Boone. And Admiral Boone, thank you for coming. and a U.S. Navy retired and who's now a proud veteran, representing the San Diego Military Advisory Council and the California Defense Communities Alliance. And with him, he has Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lewis, Director of Work for Warriors, working with our veterans, and Mark Cole, Director of Enduring Programs Portfolio for U-2 and E-3 at Lockheed Martin, skunk works and Air Force veteran himself. So let's begin with you, Admiral Boone. You've got the floor.

In FY24, the direct and indirect federal VA expenditures into California totaled nearly $26 billion. 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 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 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 questions, sir, I'm happy to answer your questions.

It's a great question, and I think there are, 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 you're a family of three or four kids 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 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.

No, sir.

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 kind of coming out of a really bad recession. It was having an effect on readiness. If you don't have a job and you don't have financial stability, those insecurities don't stop when you show up to drill in uniform. So with that, we did manage to significantly reduce our unemployment rate to well below about 6% within about two years as a result of our program. What makes the program really work is we have a small team of about 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 are 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-7s, E-6s, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and a 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 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 whether you're 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 take care of anybody who comes to us. So how it works is it's a one-on-one service. We help them build and improve their resumes. We prepare them for interviews. 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 they're, you know, how it is when you're lower enlisted. you see a lieutenant colonel and you think that 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. It's 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. And 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 and 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 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've got to 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'll take that resume. It's not the end. At that point, we will take that resume and modify it per the job you're in every single time that you're applying for. So where are these jobs coming from? Well, 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 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're veterans looking for mid-tier management or lower-tier management. That's most of our customers, which brings me to what I've been hearing here since we started, and that is, especially from Mr. 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, 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 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 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 want to say about the program 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.

That's right.

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 people stretching from northern California all the way to the south. Hence the workforce warriors.

Workforwarriors.org.

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

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 the California Manufacturers and Technology Association for asking Lockheed Martin to represent the manufacturing industry today. As said, as an Air Force veteran and a professional with 40 years of experience 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 manufacturing industry today. And both of my sons now work for Lockheed Martin and have 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 the challenges and opportunities for 45,000 manufacturers in the state. The manufacturing sector currently employs 1.2 million 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 veterans, surpassing 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 military spouse. And we strive to hire, develop, and 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. In 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 across all the services, as well as military spouses and other family members, and I'm happy to entertain any questions you might have, sir.

and I've got one comment.

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 10 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 succession plan, and that is the same in California. There's 250,000 veteran-owned businesses in California, many of them owned 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 Reservists to purchase many of these businesses, and it's a great opportunity we should not pass up. 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 going to 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 got to 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 got to take a good look at that. We've got to design benefits for 100% disabled, those who are property owners, homeowners, and those who want to 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 a veteran who was an artillery officer or a 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 had the opportunity to visit them. And I know the transition from trooper to student to graduate. it. 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's part of retainment. But more importantly, we thank you all for your service. And I'm honored to be the chair of the military and veterans service. And I love saying this. I am your center Thank you, everyone. Meeting adjourned.