Today's Law As Amended


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AB-2085 Military and veterans: legal aid.(2015-2016)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(a) Attorneys in California are needed to assist active duty servicemembers and reservists with legal matters. Military personnel are often presented with legal challenges due to the requirements of their service, such as frequent relocation, interrupted employment, financial need, and strain on family life, among others.
(b) While some legal services are provided to servicemembers through their respective service’s Judge Advocates General (JAG), there is a gap in service for a variety of legal issues, particularly in civil law, because JAGs are prohibited from representing servicemembers in civilian court in almost all cases. The primary legal areas with which servicemembers require assistance include the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, family law, consumer fraud, property and landlord issues, naturalization and immigration, creditor and debtor issues, and predatory lending.

SEC. 2.

 Section 59.5 is added to the Military and Veterans Code, to read:

59.5.
 (a) The Office of Military Legal Assistance is hereby created in the Military Department. The office shall assist current servicemembers in the state who require legal assistance by providing access to educational and informational resources as well as providing referral services to available legal assistance programs, including reduced fee services, pro bono services, and self-help services.
(b) Subject to subdivision (a), the office may provide assistance in legal areas, including, but not limited to, the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, consumer protection, and landlord-tenant issues.
(c) This section shall become effective only upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for the purposes described in this section.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2022, and, as of January 1, 2023, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2023, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.