[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2034 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2034
                       One Hundred Third Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
  the fifth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-three


                                 An Act

  
 
  To authorize major medical facility construction projects for the 
Department of

     Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1994, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CONSTRUCTION 
PROJECTS.
    (a) Authorized Projects.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may 
carry out the major medical facility leases for the Department of 
Veterans Affairs for which funds are requested in the budget of the 
President for fiscal year 1994 and may carry out (or, in the case of the 
project specified in paragraph (1), participate in) the following major 
medical facility projects in the amounts specified:
        (1) Construction in accordance with an agreement between the 
    Secretary of the Air Force and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of 
    a medical facility at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska, 
    to be shared by the Air Force and the Department of Veterans 
    Affairs, $11,500,000.
        (2) Construction of a psychiatric building at the Department of 
    Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lyons, New Jersey, $41,700,000.
        (3) Modernization and seismic corrections at the Department of 
    Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, $10,700,000.
        (4) Construction of a replacement bed building at the Department 
    of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma, 
    $33,200,000.
        (5) Construction of an outpatient care addition and parking 
    garage at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San 
    Juan, Puerto Rico, $46,000,000.
        (6) Construction, or expansion and modernization, of a 120-bed 
    nursing home facility in the area (referred to as the ``Chesapeake 
    network'') served by the Department of Veterans Affairs medical 
    centers in Baltimore, Maryland; Fort Howard, Maryland; Martinsburg, 
    West Virginia; Perry Point, Maryland; and Washington, District of 
    Columbia, the site for which shall be selected in accordance with 
    subsection (b).
    (b) Site Selection.--(1) The Secretary, in selecting a site for the 
project referred to in subsection (a)(6), shall conduct a study to 
determine the most appropriate location for that facility. In conducting 
the study, the Secretary shall determine--
        (A) what the specific mission of each medical center operated by 
    the Secretary in the Chesapeake network should be to achieve within 
    that network--
            (i) effective planning;
            (ii) reduction in duplication of services and programs in 
        the same geographic area;
            (iii) realignment of services among facilities within each 
        network;
            (iv) improved means of resource distribution; and
            (v) more efficient delivery of needed services;
        (B) whether there is a need for expansion and modernization of 
    the nursing home care unit at the medical center at Fort Howard, 
    Maryland; and
        (C) what effect the construction of nursing home beds in 
    Baltimore, Maryland, as proposed in the President's budget for the 
    Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1994, would have for 
    the missions of each of the other medical centers operated by the 
    Secretary in the Chesapeake network.
    (2) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans Affairs of 
the Senate and House a report on the study under paragraph (1). The 
Secretary shall include in the report a statement of each determination 
made by the Secretary under that paragraph.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is hereby authorized to be appropriated to 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 1994--
        (1) $143,100,000 for the major medical facility projects 
    authorized in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 101(a) and such 
    sums as may be necessary for the project described in section 
    101(a)(6), but not to exceed $14,500,000 in the case of construction 
    of nursing home beds in Baltimore, Maryland, as proposed in the 
    President's budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal 
    year 1994; and
        (2) $50,123,105 for the major medical facility leases authorized 
    in section 101(a).
    (b) Limitation.--The projects authorized in section 101 may only be 
carried out using--
        (1) funds appropriated for fiscal year 1994 pursuant to the 
    authorization of appropriations in subsection (a);
        (2) funds appropriated for Construction, Major Projects for a 
    fiscal year before fiscal year 1994 that remain available for 
    obligation; and
        (3) funds appropriated for Construction, Major Projects for 
    fiscal year 1994 for a category of activity not specific to a 
    project.
SEC. 3. INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF FACILITY PROJECT THRESHOLD.
    (a) Section 8104(a)(3)(A) of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by striking out ``$2,000,000'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
``$3,000,000''.
    (b) Section 8109(i)(2) of such title is amended by striking out 
``$2,000,000'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``$3,000,000''.
SEC. 4. INCREASED TERM OF LEASE AUTHORITY RELATING TO PERSHING HALL, 
FRANCE.
    Section 403(c)(1) of the Veterans' Benefits Programs Improvement Act 
of 1991 (36 U.S.C. 493) is amended by striking out ``35 years'' and 
inserting in lieu thereof ``99 years''.







                                Speaker of the House of Representatives.







                             Vice President of the United States and    
                                                President of the Senate.