Honor the National Guard

As Governor, Phil Angelides will honor the California National Guard by providing the education, health and family benefits they deserve.

California and America are asking more of the National Guard - its members and their families - than ever before. The war in Iraq and the war on terrorism at home and abroad, have revealed how much the country depends on the National Guard to protect the nation's security. 

The war has also exposed the gap between the risks we ask the members of the California National Guard to take and the support we provide for their service. Today, California ranks at or near the bottom among the states in the support it gives to National Guard members and their families.

As Governor, Phil Angelides will seek legislation to ensure that the twenty thousand California National Guard members and their families receive support worthy of their service to the state and sacrifice for the nation. State governors serve as commander-in-chief of their state National Guard when it is not on federal active duty. As Governor, Phil Angelides will work to guarantee the National Guard stands prepared and supplied to accomplish its many responsibilities, and he will accord Guard members their due recognition and support.

The California National Guard serves with honor and distinction but is largely without the support they deserve from their state government.

More men and women of the California National Guard are serving on the front lines to defend America than at any time in the last fifty years.  Many National Guard members have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan for extended and repeated tours of active duty. As of spring 2006, twenty-one California Guard members had been killed in Iraq.  Other California National Guard units have been serving America with distinction in Kosovo and Bosnia.  At home, National Guard members have been called to defend against terrorist threats to our bridges, have patrolled the skies against airborne threats and recently have been called upon by President Bush to secure the border. 

In addition to these responsibilities, the California National Guard continues to perform its traditional duty to respond to natural disasters in California or anywhere in the U.S. The California National Guard quickly provided personnel and equipment to Gulf Coast states to assist in Hurricane Katrina relief.  Today, the National Guard stands ready to be deployed on a moment's notice to respond to earthquakes, fires, and floods here in California.

But Governor Schwarzenegger has neglected the National Guard in a difficult time. The heavy demands on the National Guard have caused members to leave at alarming rates, and recruiting has been falling short of targets. The California National Guard has dropped four thousand soldiers below its authorized strength, and many units do not have enough troops to be classified as ready for action. President Bush’s budget calls for funding the National Guard below the authorized levels. Yet Governor Schwarzenegger has taken no action to preserve the Guard’s readiness. "I am not concerned about that," he recently said on Meet the Press.

The heavy demands on the National Guard have caused members to leave at alarming rates, and recruiting has fallen short of targets. The California National Guard has dropped five thousand soldiers below its authorized strength, and some units do not have enough troops to be classified as ready for action.

Given the critical role that the National Guard plays in the security of the nation and the well-being of the state, California has both a moral and practical responsibility to ensure that these citizen soldiers and their families are offered adequate support.  Around the country, states typically offer a variety of benefits to honor and support the citizen soldiers who serve and protect them. Today, however, the members of the California National Guard and their families are offered less support than the National Guard in other states. 

As Governor, Phil Angelides will honor the men and women of the California National Guard by providing support that recognizes their dedication, service, and sacrifice. The Angelides plan will:

1. Waive fees at public colleges and universities for National Guard members.

Educational benefits are considered the most attractive incentive in the recruitment of young men and women to serve in the National Guard, yet California is the only state that does not provide any college education support to its National Guard members.  Current law authorizes the state to assume some of the college loans of National Guard members, but the program has never been funded. As Governor, Phil Angelides will fund the loan assumption program and propose legislation to waive tuition and fees at public colleges and universities, as many other states do, for men and women who serve in the California National Guard.  This benefit will make service more attractive at a time when the armed services are having trouble meeting their recruitment goals.

2. Ensure that all National Guard families have health insurance.

National Guard members receive health insurance from the federal military health system for themselves and their families while they serve on active duty.  However, nationally, one in five members of the National Guard – and 40 percent of the junior enlisted men and women - have no health insurance when they are not activated.  Not surprisingly, untreated medical issues have resulted in seven percent of recently activated members of the National Guard being declared medically unfit. Proportionally, this number would represent two entire divisions of the regular army being declared unfit for service due to easily treatable medical issues.

To remedy this disgraceful situation, Congress recently approved legislation allowing National Guard members to buy into TRICARE, the military health care system, on a cost-sharing basis.  To ensure that all National Guard members can afford to take advantage of this opportunity to be covered, Phil Angelides will propose legislation to reimburse members of the California National Guard for their share of the TRICARE health insurance premiums they pay to cover themselves and their families when they are in the National Guard but not on active duty.  In addition, Phil Angelides will ask the Legislature to fully reimburse activated members of the California National Guard for the maximum $400,000 of life insurance coverage available to them under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program. Families of Guard members killed in action currently receive a $100,000 death benefit from the Department of Defense and a $10,000 death benefit from the State of California.

3. Provide family leave for spouses of activated National Guard members. 

Child and elder care is often a delicate balance for families to maintain even under the best of circumstances.  National Guard families frequently have to make difficult adjustments in the care for children or aging parents when National Guard members are called suddenly to active duty, leaving one spouse to cope with the duties formerly shared by two people.  The extended absence of a family caregiver can strain the very fabric of family life.  To support California National Guard families coping with the challenges of long activation, Phil Angelides proposes to make the spouse of an activated National Guard member eligible to take unpaid leave from work for up to 12 weeks under California's Family and Medical Leave Act when National Guard units are activated for six months or longer.

4. Increase access to the California Military Family Relief Fund.

The California Military Family Relief Fund was established to aid California National Guard families facing financial crisis and was funded in its first year by nearly $300,000 from a voluntary state income tax check-off.  Forty percent of National Guard households reported lower incomes when activated, some by over $30,000 annually, and many families report lower income even after deactivation.  Despite the pressing needs of many National Guard families, only a small portion of available funds have been distributed.  As Governor, Phil Angelides would make the fund available to more middle- and lower-income National Guard families by proposing that the fund's eligibility requirement of a 30% loss of income be lowered to 10%.

5. Offer matching tax credits of up to $2,500 to small businesses that continue to pay their California National Guard employees while on active duty.

Members of the National Guard serve the state and the country out of a sense of duty, national pride, and community service.  When called to active duty, National Guardsmen and women leave behind loved ones, jobs, and all too often, a hole in the family budget.  The wages National Guard members are paid while on active duty are often substantially less than what they make in their civilian careers.  The State of California and some large companies like Home Depot and Boeing make up the difference between the civilian paycheck and the military paycheck when their employees are called to active duty.  Other large companies should be encouraged to follow this example and offer to pay the difference between their employees' regular and National Guard pay.

However, a majority of Guardsmen and women work for small businesses that cannot afford to absorb the full cost of continuing to pay an activated employee.  As Governor, Phil Angelides will press to create a matching tax credit of up to $2,500 per Guard member for small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) that provide income differential protection for activated members of the California National Guard. By sharing part of the cost with employers, the state will help keep National Guard families from suffering an economic setback when members are activated and will make service more appealing.

Download the plan in PDF form here.