Veterans cemetery.

(1) Existing law created the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Endowment Fund in the State Treasury and requires those moneys to be allocated for the annual administrative and oversight costs of the veterans cemetery, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs, in voluntary cooperation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey, the City of Seaside, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and local agencies to design, develop, and construct the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs to appoint an Advisory Committee to advise the department when considering significant changes to the cemetery, as provided. This bill would require additional revenues identified for the administration and oversight of the cemetery to be deposited in the Endowment Fund, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the department to develop and submit a Veterans Cemetery Grant Program application to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for the establishment of a veterans cemetery, as provided. Existing law requires the Controller to transfer moneys from the Endowment Fund to the Operations Fund in the amount equal to the costs of developing and submitting the State Veterans Cemetery Grant Program application, as provided. This bill would require the Controller, upon the appropriation of the Legislature, to transfer funds from the Endowment Fund to the Operations Fund in the amount at least equal to the estimated costs to complete preliminary plans and working drawings. This bill would authorize the department, upon the transfer of those funds, to proceed with all activities necessary to support the submission of the grant application, and, upon the United States Department of Veterans Affairs certification of the grant award to begin construction and equipping the veterans cemetery. This bill would define "phases" to mean the usual phases of a capital outlay project, as specified. (3) Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations for eligibility requirements, as provided, and authorizes the burial of honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and children in the veterans cemetery. This bill would require regulations to apply to all state-operated veterans cemeteries, as specified, and would limit burial of the children of honorably discharged veterans in the veterans cemetery to only dependent children.