• Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) joined bipartisan coalitions of her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to demand swift action to ensure that California National Guard members will not be forced to pay back re-enlistment bonuses and student loan repayment awards that were improperly authorized between 2006 and 2008, through no fault of the servicemembers. These improper payments were the result of paperwork errors and in some cases criminal behavior by members of California National Guard.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Oct. 22 that nearly 10,000 servicemembers have been affected by this issue, though the precise number of servicemembers being asked to repay the bonuses has yet to be determined. In response, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the Department of Defense would suspend all efforts to collect reimbursement from affected California National Guard members until the process has been streamlined and expedited to ensure fair treatment, with a deadline for full resolution of the issue to be reached no later than June 30, 2017. While there are concerns that servicemembers in other states also may have been affected, to date California is the only state to have undergone a full audit to identify the problem.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2016.
