Capitol Alert

A National Guard law that isn’t helpful + The VA’s struggle to treat cancer + Capitol updates

By Hannah Wiley

Good Monday morning to you, California. Happy Veterans Day and many thanks from the Capitol bureau to those who’ve sacrificed so much to serve our country.

SO, WHAT’S THE LAW GOOD FOR?

Via Adam Ashton

California National Guard Capt. Steve Sonza thought he found a good deal for his retirement when he learned about a program that would let him buy into CalPERS and secure a state-backed pension for life.

“It’s an awesome retirement benefit. It’s one of the best in the country,” Sonza, 38, said.

But he, like California National Guard members before him, soon discovered the program never provided the benefit lawmakers promised when they wrote a law in 2007 opening the California Public Employees’ Retirement System to part-time soldiers.

His disappointment dates to a law signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that attempted to create a new perk for troops in the California National Guard as an acknowledgment of the increased pace of their deployments since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Lawmakers took care not to create an unfunded promise for the pension fund. They wrote the law in a way that would make it cost-neutral for taxpayers, requiring the military service member to pay the full cost of funding the retirement plan.

That’s different from how state workers and local government employees fund their pensions. They share the cost with their employers, with money coming out of a worker’s paycheck and matched or exceeded by contributions from government agencies.

“This bill is a modest attempt to show support and appreciation” for the California National Guard, the law’s author, Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Los Angeles, wrote at the time.

Thirty-three National Guard members have attempted to enroll in CalPERS through the program since 2008, according to the National Guard, but they’ve been unable to buy into the pension fund.

Flaws in the program have long been apparent. The Legislative Analyst’s Office in 2014 wrote a report recommending that lawmakers repeal the law rather than “mislead” National Guard members about their retirement options.

It found that the program was problematic in part because the state pension plan can’t easily make deduct money from federal paychecks going to National Guard members. That could create a scenario, the report warned, where guard members have to send checks to CalPERS every month or risk late payment penalties.

CalPERS today says it can’t fully enroll applicants because it isn’t getting payroll information about them from the National Guard. That prevents the pension from calculating the applicant’s potential retirement income, and the amount of money the soldier or airman would have to pay now to get the benefit.

“We cannot proceed until we have been given payroll and compensation information. Despite our best efforts, we have yet to receive that information,” CalPERS spokeswoman Amy Morgan said.

Check out our full story here.

VA STRUGGLES

The federal agency that oversees veteran-related issues reported that the department is struggling with a shortage of cancer treatment experts, a reality that’s left veterans with missed or late-stage cancer diagnoses.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said that the agency’s problems largely mirror a nationwide dilemma of limited cancer specialists, according to a Friday McClatchy report.

The article follows another McClatchy investigation into a rising rate of urinary, prostate, liver and blood cancer treatments over the last two decades of war.

“Many veterans or their surviving spouses told McClatchy that when they went to VA health care centers for care, the cancers were missed or only caught when they became late-stage cancers,” reporters Tara Copp and Michael Wilner write.

Between fiscal years 2000 and 2018, the rate of cancer treatments for veterans in the agency’s health care system rose 61 percent. Veterans were treated for urinary cancers, which include bladder, kidney and ureter cancers. Prostate cancer rates also rose by 23 percent, and liver and pancreatic cancer treatments rose 96 percent.

“We are not divorced from many of the issues that impact America writ-large,” Wilkie said at a White House media briefing in advance of Veterans Day. “There’s a shortage in this country, not only of cancer providers, but there’s a shortage in this country of mental health providers. We are trying to be as creative as we can to bring more people in those categories to us.”

IN AND AROUND THE CAPITOL

  • The tree lighting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 5 at the Capitol. The Christmas tree arrived in Sacramento on Thursday, after the original selection was delivered with damages.
  • A former Capitol lawmaker if facing a hefty fine after an audit by the Fair Political Practices Commission found that for years he’d been using campaign finances for personal use, including a trip to Asia.
  • Last year’s devastating and deadly Camp Fire in Paradise prompted a flurry of bills this year in the Capitol. Politics is one thing. How are the survivors? The Sacramento Bee followed up with those who are trying to move forward after the flames took everything.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I care deeply about this damn Valley because I care about this state. I’m so sick and tired of this notion that somehow we’re living in two different worlds in the state, coastal economy and inland economy.” — Gov. Gavin Newsom, during a keynote speech at the California Economic Summit in Fresno on Friday. The governor announced a$10 million investment in Fresno’s education system.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

“One week ago, @gavinnewsom and I really enjoyed dressing up as our favorite characters: Embarrassing Parents. #tbt #Halloween.” — First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom in an Instagram post that showed her and Gavin surrounded by ghouls and goblins at the dinner table.

Best of The Bee:

Get one year of unlimited digital access for $159.99
#ReadLocal

Only 44¢ per day

SUBSCRIBE NOW