Honoring Our Commitment to Veterans
In the last four decades we have witnessed the Federal Government defund and privatize our Veterans Affairs, we have witnessed Veterans become on of our largest unhoused populations in the State – giving us the dishonor of having the highest populations in the country, we have witnessed foreclosures from the Bankruptcy King, Steve Mnuchin, steal homes from Veterans and Active Duty Service Members, we have witnessed bureaucratic red tape which delays or denies critical treatment and essential benefits, and we have witnessed an astronomical rise in suicide of our Veterans. This is unacceptable. These last four decades have shown us we cannot wait on our Federal Government to do what is right or just, when it comes to honoring the commitment of Military Service Members.
No more.
As a State, we have a moral obligation to provide the best quality care and services to those who have put their lives on the line. My government and I are ready to lead by example, and expand State support to all Military Service Members in California and ensure every Veteran, and their family members get the benefits that they are entitled to receive on time and without further delay. When #OurCalifornia’s most marginalized are protected and succeed, we all win.
The government of #OurCalifornia will expand and improve Veterans Affairs in the State of California. As your Governor, I intend to End Poverty in California, and this is how I believe Honoring our Commitments to Veterans will help us achieve this:
- Ending Veteran Homelesness through #OurCalifornia’s Universal Housing for All program;
- Working with Veterans Affairs to build dedicated Veterans Housing facilities and solutions to meet the range of needs of our Veterans and/or their families in this State;
- Create anti-discrimination legislation which mandates all property management in the State of California accept VA housing vouchers;
- Creating an Veterans Interagency Services Committee to:
- Audit California’s VA processes and implement State and Locality best practices for VA, Labor, Healthcare & Housing;
- Reduce bureaucratic red tape and paperwork by allowing forms to be shared between agencies – reducing time, stress & work from our Veterans & representatives working on their behalf;
- Expand Veteran employment through the State Jobs Guarantee Program;
- Eager to work with the California Lifting Children and Families out of Poverty Task Force to ensure all recommended strategies can be funded and achieved for #OurCalifornia through public policy, action & the robust social safety nets we deserve in our resilient and sustainable communities;
- Increasing State contributions for necessary expansion of VA services – including but not limited to:
- California State VA Advocates that assist and ensure Veterans are receiving their rightfully earned benefits;
- Expand State research and clinical trials on medical marijuana’s ability to treat PTSD, anxiety disorders, nerve pain, and chronic pain with Veterans;
- As an alternative to habit forming, ineffective, and high risk opioids, expand HB562 health coverage to include medical marijuana prescriptions for Veterans;
- According to VA data, American Indians served in the military pre-Sept 11th at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in this country – yet also have the largest denial of benefits based on VA policy restricting meaningful access:
- Create an interagency initiative which offers California Indian State VA Advocates that provide culturally competent assistance for California Indian veterans and families – regardless of their proximity to VA facilities – to obtain their rightfully earned VA benefits.
- Should these benefits continue to be denied by the Federal Government, create State legislation which extends and adjusts current GI Bill & all other VA benefits to all descendants of California Indian American Veterans who served in WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam or any wars thereafter who were denied meaningful access to their rightfully earned benefits. Such legislation would compensate California Indian Veterans and their families for the withheld benefits to which they and their relatives were legally entitled and were unjustly denied while also formally addressing the racial wealth gap.
- Create an interagency initiative which offers California Indian State VA Advocates that provide culturally competent assistance for California Indian veterans and families – regardless of their proximity to VA facilities – to obtain their rightfully earned VA benefits.
- Call for Federal legislation which extends and adjusts current GI Bill & all other VA benefits to all Veterans, families & descendants of California Indian American Veterans who served in WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam or any wars thereafter that were denied their rightfully earned benefits. Such legislation would compensate California Indian Veterans and their families for the withheld benefits to which they and their relatives were legally entitled and were unjustly denied while also formally addressing the racial wealth gap.
- Creating State legislation which extends and adjusts current GI Bill benefits to all Veterans, families & descendants of millions of Black American Veterans who served in WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam or any war thereafter who were unjustly denied their rightfully earned GI Bill & all other Veterans benefits. Such legislation would compensate Veterans and their families for the withheld benefits to which they and their relatives were legally entitled and were unjustly denied while also formally addressing the racial wealth gap.
- Calling for Federal legislation which extends and adjusts current GI Bill benefits to all descendants of millions of Black American Veterans who served in WWII, the Korean War, or Vietnam who were denied the benefits of GI Bill. Such legislation would compensate Veterans and their families for the withheld benefits to which their relatives were legally entitled and were unjustly denied while also formally addressing the racial wealth gap.
- I look forward to working with Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance, Veterans for Peace, Farmer Veteran Coalition, Brave New Foundation, Coming Home Project, Disability Rights Advocates, Farmer-Veteran Coalition, National Veterans Foundation, Inc. (NVF), Operation Homefront, RAND Corp., Swords to Plowshares, United Through Reading, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Veterans Village of San Diego, Institute for Policy Studies & other grassroots and impactful organizations, pillars in the veterans, labor, health, housing, peace and research communities to ensure the needs of ALL in #OurCalifornia are inclusive and sustainably met;
- In the true spirit of Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California campaign, I will call on fellow Citizens, Socialists, Governors, and fellow Socialist Gubernatorial campaigns across this country to adopt and implement the same.