Getting out, military retirement, military to civilian transition - Military Times

U.S. Military (Ret.): Calif. retired pay bill put on hold for ’09

For the many readers who have contacted me recently about the legislative initiative in California to exempt military retired pay from state and local taxes there, I have a little discouraging news:

Assembly Bill 1077 was not approved by members of the state legislature’s Revenue and Taxation Committee, which ultimately voted to put the bill on hold for this year.

I’ve been keeping in touch with retired Army Col. Warren Enos, president of the California Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America, which represents 39,000 members and 45 MOAA chapters, and has been rallying retirees around that bill.

“Many of the people who had worked on this bill now feel frustrated by its unsuccessful passage,” Enos said. “However, they are still stoked, still highly motivated, ready to consider strategies for next time around, and prepared to give it another shot. This time they will be well-prepared for any challenges.”

Certainly, the many states struggling with budget troubles will find it tough to swallow the idea of giving up revenue that is hard cash in the bank.

But I still believe strongly in the intent of the now-shelved legislation, which is to attract military retirees who will bring income, job skills and talents to the state — engineers, doctors, lawyers, educators, tradesmen, information technology specialists and so many more — people who can do very positive things for a state.

Now the goal should be to turn toward planning strategy for a similar bill, with renewed motivation from the military retirement community.

One lesson learned is that supporters of this bill say they simply didn’t have time to pull together all the necessary data to convincingly make their case in the legislature, which would include determining the numbers of retirees in California, total compensation received by those retirees and reasonably accurate projections about retiree contributions to the state economy.

Improvements in coordination among the many other military-related associations that might also have a stake in this issue can likely be done.

More than 42 states provide some form of tax relief to those receiving military retired pay, so California is hardly a lost cause. For our many California retirees, now is the time to contact your assemblyperson and provide your thoughts — and perhaps contact a military or veterans association to ask how you might be able to help spread the word.

Many thanks to Assemblyman Joel Anderson, who sponsored AB 1077; his legislative director, David Yow; and Enos and the MOAA chapters in California for providing me with updates and for their willingness to keep fighting on this issue.

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Retired Command Master Chief Alex Keenan served 28 years in the Coast Guard. E-mail him at retired@atpco.com.