Assembly committee advances bill to clear CEQA hurdle for Anaheim veterans cemetery

Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silva’s AB 571, which aims to streamline permitting for a planned Southern California Veterans Cemetery at Gibson Canyon in Anaheim, was advanced on an 8-0 vote and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

The bill would provide a narrow California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption and an urgency clause intended to speed planning and construction after more than a decade of local work on the project. Supporters said the exemption is targeted and needed to prevent further legal delays that could jeopardize funding and the site’s development schedule.

AB 571’s author, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silva, told the committee, “Today we are closer than ever to delivering on the promise of a final resting place for Orange County's Veterans, a place of honor, dignity, and peace.” She described the measure as the culmination of more than a decade of work and said the project “will be much less impact than what initially would be allowed by the EIR in 02/2005.”

Steve Spriggs, a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran and board member of the Veterans Alliance of Orange County, said Orange County—home to more than 100,000 veterans—remains the largest California county without a dedicated veterans cemetery. “Veterans should not have to wait any longer. We deserve what has been promised, a solemn, honorable place to be laid to rest close to our families,” Spriggs said.

Amy Jenkins, testifying for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said the county deeded 200 acres to the project and “have invested $20,000,000 towards this effort.” Quirk Silva and witnesses told the committee there is roughly $50,000,000 in combined state and local funding available for early construction phases; supporters said the site already underwent environmental review under a 2005 environmental impact report with an Anaheim City Council addendum in 2024.

Supporters told the committee the bill would allow the California Department of Veterans Affairs, the County of Orange and the Orange County Cemetery District to coordinate infrastructure, share costs and move the project forward without further delay. No members of the public registered opposition during the hearing.

The committee recorded an 8-0 vote to pass AB 571 and refer it to the Appropriations Committee. The bill’s next procedural stop is that committee.