CALIFORNIA ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 5, 2004 |
CONTACT Pam Chueh, API Legislative Caucus (916) 319-3686 Vik Malhotra, Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality |
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Assembly Panel Rejects Governor's Proposal To Eliminate Filipino WWII Veterans Program |
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| SACRAMENTO - An Assembly panel rejected Governor Schwarzenegger's budget proposal to eliminate the California Veterans Cash Benefit (CVCB) program this afternoon. The Assembly Budget Sub-Committee NO. 1 rejected the proposal with a 4-0 bi-partisan vote. Key legislators had joined Filipino WWII veterans, community advocates, and others earlier in the day to announce their opposition to the Governor's proposal. Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), author of the legislation which created this cash assistance program for elderly and disabled Filipino veterans of World War II, and members of the State Legislature's Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, including Assemblymember George Nakano (D-Torrance) and Assemblymember Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), stood together with veterans in advance of the State Assembly's afternoon hearing on the budget proposal. Also joining them was Assemblymember Alan Nakanishi (R- Lodi).
In 2000, the State Legislature enacted AB 1978 (Cedillo), which established the CVCB program to honor Filipino veterans who risked their lives and suffered injuries to fight side-by-side with U.S. soldiers in World War II. "Filipinos, as bona fide members of the United States Armed Forces of World War II, gave 100 percent to defend our democracy and our nation," stated Senator Cedillo. "For 55 years, they have received neither recognition nor benefits for their efforts. AB 1978 is a mere token appreciation from the state for their heroic contributions. It hardly approaches what these veterans truly deserve from our federal government, which is 100 percent recognition and 100 percent full veterans' benefits." Over 100,000 Filipino soldiers were commissioned by the United States to join the U.S. Army during World War II. Many perished in the Bataan Death March and were imprisoned in Japanese P.O.W. camps during the war. Today, the approximately 1700 surviving veterans eligible for the CVCB program average about 75 years old, and many are frail. In order to qualify for the program, they had to be California residents and eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and State Supplemental Program (SSP) benefits as of December 1999. The CVCB program has restored equity to these veterans by ensuring that they continue their ability to collect SSP-equivalent benefits (approximately $225 per month) even as they choose to relocate to the Philippines to live out their twilight years. The CVCB program has permitted the veterans to avoid the desperation of cramped and isolated living conditions at poverty levels in California so that they can return to the Philippines to live with their families and not risk losing the SSP benefits they need to survive. "It is simply unconscionable to eliminate the state's assistance for this aging veteran population less than four years after California made its commitment to establish the program," said Assembly Member Judy Chu, Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. "The CVCB program is a measure of California's dignity and compassion for true war heroes." The panel is also expected to reject the Governor's proposal to cap enrollment and block grant funding for immigrant safety net programs. |
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| Capitol: State Capitol -- P.O. Box 942849 -- Sacramento, CA 94249-0049 | |