Panel Backs City as Site of Veterans’ Home
A bill that would require the state to build its fourth and final Southern California veterans retirement home in Ventura County won the backing of the state Senate’s Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
“With this kind of support, I am confident that this bill will become law,” said Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara), who introduced the measure after the Governor’s Commission on Southern California Veterans Home in November recommended Ventura as the fourth site.
O’Connell’s bill would give the commission’s recommendation the force of law by dictating the location in California’s Military and Veterans Code.
“I felt that the veterans home commission’s decision needed to be written in stone,” O’Connell said. “That way, it not only reinforces the state’s commitment to Ventura County, but also to our state’s expanding population of older veterans.”
The bill could reach the Senate floor as early as next week, an O’Connell spokesman said.
The Ventura retirement home would be built on 22 acres near Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue and would house about 400 retirees.
The other home sites were selected for Barstow, Chula Vista and Lancaster.
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