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 overseas employee mail, $912,594,000: Provided, That of the funds made available under this heading, not to exceed $45,600,000 shall be available until September 30, 2001: Provided further, That funds under this heading shall be available to administer the Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act. national cemetery administration (including transfer of funds) For necessary expenses for the maintenance and operation of the National Cemetery Administration, not otherwise provided for, including uniforms or allowances therefor; cemeterial expenses as authorized by law; purchase of two passenger motor vehicles for use in cemeterial operations; and hire of passenger motor vehicles, $97,256,000: Provided, That of the amount made available under this heading, not to exceed $117,000 may be transferred to and merged with the appropriation for “General operating expenses”. office of inspector general (including transfer of funds) For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General in carrying out the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, $43,200,000: Provided, That of the amount made available under this heading, not to exceed $30,000 may be transferred to and merged with the appropriation for “General operating expenses”. 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 113 STAT. 1052of 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, $65,140,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That except for advance planning of projects (including market-based assessments of health care needs which may or may not lead to capital investments) 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 2000, for each approved project shall be obligated: (1) by the awarding of a construction documents contract by September 30, 2000; and (2) by the awarding of a construction contract by September 30, 2001: 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 in this account until 1 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, $160,000,000, 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 farther 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, 113 STAT. 1053which 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, $90,000,000, to remain available until expended. grants for the construction of state veterans cemeteries For grants to aid States in establishing, expanding, or improving State veteran cemeteries as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 2408, $25,000,000, to remain available until expended. administrative provisions (including transfer of funds) Sec. 101. Any appropriation for fiscal year 2000 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 2000 for salaries and expenses shall be available for services authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109. 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 2000 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 1999. Sec. 106. Appropriations accounts available to the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2000 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 2000, 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 113 STAT. 1054the “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 2000, 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 2000, 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. (a) In General.—The Congress supports efforts to implement improvements in health care services for veterans in rural areas. (b) Report Required.—(1) Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the impact of the allocation of funds under the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) funding formula on the rural subregions of the health care system administered by the Veterans Health Administration. (2) The report shall include the following: (A) An assessment of impact of the allocation of funds under the VERA formula on— (i) travel times to veterans health care in rural areas; (ii) waiting periods for appointments for veterans health care in rural areas; (iii) the cost associated with additional communitybased outpatient clinics; (iv) transportation costs; and (v) the unique challenges that Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in rural, low-population subregions face in attempting to increase efficiency without large economies of scale. (B) The recommendations of the Secretary, if any, on how rural veterans’ access to health care services might be enhanced. Sec. 109. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may carry out a major medical facility project to renovate and construct facilities at the Olin E. Teague Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Temple, Texas, for a joint venture Cardiovascular Institute, in an amount not to exceed $11,500,000. In order to carry out that project, the amount of $11,500,000 appropriated for fiscal year 1998 and programmed for the renovation of Building 9 at the Waco, Texas, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is hereby made available for that project. Sec. 110. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act for the Medical Care appropriation of the Department of Veterans Affairs may be obligated for the realignment of the health care delivery system in VISN 12 until 60 days after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs certifies that the department has: (1) consulted with veterans organizations, medical school affiliates, employee representatives, State veterans and health associations, 113 STAT. 1055and other interested parties with respect to the realignment plan to be implemented; and (2) made available to the Congress and the public information from the consultations regarding possible impacts on the accessibility of veterans health care services to affected veterans.