Riverside County Grants Veterans New Preferential Treatment

To get U.S. military veterans out of the unemployment line, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors today directed county officials to work with a veterans' rights group in finding job opportunities for vets and expanded the county's veteran hiring preference policy.

"We need to ... help our veterans re-establish their lives," said board Chairman John Tavaglione, who introduced the unanimously approved Veterans Assistance Labor Offering Resources -- or VALOR -- Act.

Under VALOR, the county Executive Office and Economic Development Agency will work with Temecula-based Empower America, which provides job training and other assistance to veterans, identifying opportunities in the labor market.

Empower America currently focuses on preparing unemployed or under- employed veterans for careers in the renewable energy field.

"Unemployment amongst our veterans runs approximately 25 percent," said county EDA spokesman Tom Freeman, who completed 10 years active-duty service in the U.S. Air Force enlisted ranks and later retired from the California National Guard as a colonel.

"The VALOR Act is a tremendous opportunity for local veterans," he said.

As part of the motion to approve VALOR, the board amended the county's veterans preference hiring policy, raising it from 3 to 5 percent. The action is geared to veteran-owned businesses.

Beginning today, if a vet-owned enterprise bids for a county contract and it comes in higher than the next most "responsive and responsible" bidder, the county will automatically give the vet-owned business a 5 percent credit in its ranking.

"The result is, that business could still be able to win the bid," Freeman said.

A number of speakers applauded the concept.

"I support this. My eldest son was a veteran," said Carol Baer of Cabazon. "He's now deceased. We all need to chip in and help these men. They went and fought for us."

Supervisor Jeff Stone said the government has an "obligation to ensure that anybody who puts their life on the line for our country receives the appropriate help."

"We should do what we can to ensure we do everything we can (for) those with injuries and adapt them back into society, job-matching and getting them skills to participate in the workforce," Stone said.