Departmental Administration

Departmental Administration general operating expenses For necessary operating expenses of the Department of Veterans Affairs, not otherwise provided for, including uniforms or allowances therefor; not to exceed $25,000 for official reception and representation expenses; hire of passenger motor vehicles; and reimbursement of the General Services Administration for security guard services, and the Department of Defense for the cost of 111 STAT. 1348overseas employee mail; $786,135,000: Provided, That funds under this heading shall be available to administer the Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act: Provided further, That none of the funds made available under this heading may be used for the relocation of the loan guaranty divisions of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida to the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia. national cemetery system For necessary expenses for the maintenance and operation of the National Cemetery System, not otherwise provided for, including uniforms or allowances therefor; cemeterial expenses as authorized by law; purchase of three passenger motor vehicles for use in cemeterial operations; and hire of passenger motor vehicles, $84,183,000. office of inspector general For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General in carrying out the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, $31,013,000. construction, major projects For constructing, altering, extending and improving any of the facilities under the jurisdiction or for the use of the Department of Veterans Affairs, or for any of the purposes set forth in sections 316, 2404, 2406, 8102, 8103, 8106, 8108, 8109, 8110, and 8122 of title 38, United States Code, including planning, architectural and engineering services, maintenance or guarantee period services costs associated with equipment guarantees provided under the project, services of claims analysts, offsite utility and storm drainage system construction costs, and site acquisition, where the estimated cost of a project is $4,000,000 or more or where funds for a project were made available in a previous major project appropriation, $177,900,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That the $32,100,000 provided under this heading in Public Law 104204 for the replacement hospital at Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California, shall not be obligated for that purpose but shall be available for any project approved by the Congress in the budgetary process: Provided further, That except for advance planning of projects funded through the advance planning fund and the design of projects funded through the design fund, none of these funds shall be used for any project which has not been considered and approved by the Congress in the budgetary process: Provided further, That funds provided in this appropriation for fiscal year 1998, for each approved project shall be obligated: (1) by the awarding of a construction documents contract by September 30, 1998; and (2) by the awarding of a construction contract by September 30, 1999: Provided further, That the Secretary shall promptly report in writing to the Committees on Appropriations any approved major construction project in which obligations are not incurred within the time limitations established above: Provided further, That no funds from any other account except the “Parking revolving fund”, may be obligated for constructing, altering, extending, or improving a project which was approved in the budget process and funded 111 STAT. 1349in this account until one year after substantial completion and beneficial occupancy by the Department of Veterans Affairs of the project or any part thereof with respect to that part only. construction, minor projects For constructing, altering, extending, and improving any of the facilities under the jurisdiction or for the use of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including planning, architectural and engineering services, maintenance or guarantee period services costs associated with equipment guarantees provided under the project, services of claims analysts, offsite utility and storm drainage system construction costs, and site acquisition, or for any of the purposes set forth in sections 316, 2404, 2406, 8102, 8103, 8106, 8108, 8109, 8110, and 8122 of title 38, United States Code, where the estimated cost of a project is less than $4,000,000; $175,000,000, to remain available until expended, along with unobligated balances of previous “Construction, minor projects” appropriations which are hereby made available for any project where the estimated cost is less than $4,000,000: Provided, That funds in this account shall be available for: (1) repairs to any of the nonmedical facilities under the jurisdiction or for the use of the Department which are necessary because of loss or damage caused by any natural disaster or catastrophe; and (2) temporary measures necessary to prevent or to minimize further loss by such causes. parking revolving fund For the parking revolving fund as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 8109, income from fees collected, to remain available until expended, which shall be available for all authorized expenses except operations and maintenance costs, which will be funded from “Medical care”. grants for construction of state extended care facilities For grants to assist States to acquire or construct State nursing home and domiciliary facilities and to remodel, modify or alter existing hospital, nursing home and domiciliary facilities in State homes, for furnishing care to veterans as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 8131–8137, $80,000,000, to remain available until expended. grants for the construction of state veteran cemeteries For grants to aid States in establishing, expanding, or improving State veteran cemeteries as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 2408, $10,000,000, to remain available until expended. administrative provisions (including transfer of funds) Sec. 101. Any appropriation for fiscal year 1998 for “Compensation and pensions”, “Readjustment benefits”, and “Veterans insurance and indemnities” may be transferred to any other of the mentioned appropriations. Sec. 102. Appropriations available to the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1998 for salaries and expenses shall be available for services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109.111 STAT. 1350 Sec. 103. No appropriations in this Act for the Department of Veterans Affairs (except the appropriations for “Construction, major projects”, “Construction, minor projects”, and the “Parking revolving fund”) shall be available for the purchase of any site for or toward the construction of any new hospital or home. Sec. 104. No appropriations in this Act for the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be available for hospitalization or examination of any persons (except beneficiaries entitled under the laws bestowing such benefits to veterans, and persons receiving such treatment under 5 U.S.C. 7901–7904 or 42 U.S.C. 5141–5204), unless reimbursement of cost is made to the “Medical care” account at such rates as may be fixed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Sec. 105. Appropriations available to the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1998 for “Compensation and pensions”, “Readjustment benefits”, and “Veterans insurance and indemnities” shall be available for payment of prior year accrued obligations required to be recorded by law against the corresponding prior year accounts within the last quarter of fiscal year 1997. Sec. 106. Appropriations accounts available to the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1998 shall be available to pay prior year obligations of corresponding prior year appropriations accounts resulting from title X of the Competitive Equality Banking Act, Public Law 100–86, except that if such obligations are from trust fund accounts they shall be payable from “Compensation and pensions”. Sec. 107. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during fiscal year 1998, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, from the National Service Life Insurance Fund (38 U.S.C. 1920), the Veterans’ Special Life Insurance Fund (38 U.S.C. 1923), and the United States Government Life Insurance Fund (38 U.S.C. 1955), reimburse the “General operating expenses” account for the cost of administration of the insurance programs financed through those accounts: Provided, That reimbursement shall be made only from the surplus earnings accumulated in an insurance program in fiscal year 1998, that are available for dividends in that program after claims have been paid and actuarially determined reserves have been set aside: Provided further, That if the cost of administration of an insurance program exceeds the amount of surplus earnings accumulated in that program, reimbursement shall be made only to the extent of such surplus earnings: Provided further, That the Secretary shall determine the cost of administration for fiscal year 1998, which is properly allocable to the provision of each insurance program and to the provision of any total disability income insurance included in such insurance program. Sec. 108. Section 214(l)(1)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(l)(1)(D)) (as added by section 220 of the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 and redesignated as subsection (l) by section 671(a)(3)(A) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996) is amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: “, except that, in the case of a request by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the alien shall not be required to practice medicine in a geographic area designated by the Secretary”. Sec. 109. In accordance with section 1557 of title 31, United States Code, the following obligated balance shall be exempt from subchapter IV of chapter 15 of such title and shall remain available for expenditure without fiscal year limitation: Funds obligated by 111 STAT. 1351the Department of Veterans Affairs for lease number 757–084B–001–91 from funds made available in the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (Public Law 102–389) under the heading “Medical care”.