Task Force on California Women Veterans Health.

Existing law creates the Department of Veterans Affairs and the California Veterans Board that is required to advise the department and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on policies for operations of the department. Existing law authorizes the board to create advisory committees consisting of veterans to advise the board in specific fields. Existing law requires the department, by July 1, 2015, to develop a transition assistance program for veterans who have been discharged from the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard, designed to assist veterans in successfully transitioning to civilian life, that includes information about California-specific transition assistance, including health care programs and services, mental health resources, and military sexual trauma resources. This bill would, until July 1, 2022, create the Task Force on California Women Veterans Health Care, within the department, comprised of 9 voting members appointed by the Secretary of Veteran Affairs. The bill would require the secretary to designate an employee of the department to serve as a nonvoting representative of the department to the task force and would require the department to provide staff support to the task force. The bill would require the task force to study the health care needs of women veterans in the state, as specified. The bill would also require the task force to submit an annual report, commencing on or before January 1, 2020, and until January 1, 2022, inclusive, to the Governor and the policy committees of the Legislature that have jurisdiction over the department, that includes the task force's findings and recommendations. The bill would require the task force, when conducting its study and preparing its annual report, to consult with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Managed Health Care, and representatives of county veterans service officers.