WASHINGTON -- California lawmakers are leading a panel known as the Bipartisan Women’s Veterans Task Force, that was just announced Thursday morning. One of the panel's main objectives is to determine why women veterans aren’t getting the resources they need in and outside of the military.  

Representative Julia Brownley, who is leading the task force, said the group will work to build the culture, economy, and visibility around female veterans.

Brown said the task force will drill down on why female veterans are receiving less than men in terms of assistance, resources, and respect, and will look to find ways to get female vets the programs and benefits they deserve.

“They leave the military and they’re invisible,” said Brownley. “And that’s a culture that just absolutely has to change; whether it be access to benefits, I mean there is a whole host of issues in which we really do need to focus on.”

Right now, female veterans are the fastest growing demographic in California, according to the state’s VA.

"Well it's already affecting my district... but this is a growing population across the country... and so it's something that we absolutely need to work on," said Brownley.

Representative Brownley hopes to also foster safe environments when it comes to sexual harassment in the military and in the VA by looking into cultural issues during and after someone’s time in service.

Fellow California representative Mark Takano is also on the task force and he thanked Brownley during the press conference for taking the lead.

They panel has bipartisan support in the House as well as a counterpart in the Senate. Brownley, Takano and the rest of the panel are eager for Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a notable veteran congresswomen from Illinois, to lead a similar bill in the Senate.

The panel was announced the same day the Pentagon released a report highlighting a nearly 38 percent spike in sexual assaults reported by service members in 2018 over the number reported in 2016.

The spike amounted to more than 20,000 instances of unwanted sexual contact with a gender split that broke down to about 13,000 women and 7,500 men.