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California adjutant general says readiness, youth programs and counter‑drug work at risk under federal cuts
Summary
Major General Matthew Beavers told the Assembly committee that proposed federal defense and VA budget reductions could reduce readiness, training, flying hours and youth and community programs run by the California Military Department; he also summarized rapid deployment during the recent Los Angeles fire emergency.
Major General Matthew Beavers, California's Adjutant General, testified to the Assembly Committee on Military and Veteran Affairs that federal budget reductions and Department of Defense efficiency efforts could affect the California Military Department's readiness, equipment recapitalization and community programs.
Beavers said the department fields about 18,500 personnel across the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, the State Guard (volunteer), and youth and community programs. He said the department runs three residential charter schools, STARBASE STEM/STEAM outreach to Title I schools and a State Guard of unpaid volunteers who support legal, medical and dental functions.
"My job, my sole responsibility is to make their lives better for having served," Beavers said, and he warned that cuts to training dollars, flying hours and equipment replacement would make the department less ready and undermine its ability to respond rapidly to state emergencies. He described the department's LA fire response: within 12 hours it placed 200 service members on city streets, another 200 within 24 hours, and at peak about 3,500 personnel worked with LAPD, the LA County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol.
On federal defense cuts, Beavers said early expectations that reserve components would absorb most reductions had shifted; the speed and mechanism of cuts could produce impacts across components depending on how DoD executes reductions. He noted counterdrug and work-for-warriors programs that have strong community value and federal match: a counterdrug task force that he said is fully federally funded at about $50 million with high return-on-investment, and a Work for Warriors employment program that places part-time guardsmen into full-time jobs.
Beavers also said he expects the department could be called to the border for missions in the future, though he did not present firm timing for any deployment.
Ending: Beavers urged committee members to coordinate with the congressional delegation on equipment recapitalization and federal priorities and to support efforts that protect readiness and community programs the National Guard operates in California.
