[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4309 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4309

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve services for veterans 
                        residing in rural areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 10, 2005

    Mr. Wu introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve services for veterans 
                        residing in rural areas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Veterans Services Outreach and 
Training Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF OUTREACH.

    Section 101 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(34) The term `outreach' means the act or process of 
        reaching out in a systematic manner to proactively provide 
        information, services, and benefits counseling to veterans, and 
        to the spouses, children, and parents of veterans, who may be 
        eligible to receive benefits under the laws administered by the 
        Secretary, and to ensure that such individuals are fully 
        informed about, and assisted in applying for, any benefits and 
        programs under such laws.''.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS GRANT PROGRAM FOR RURAL COUNTY 
              VETERAN SERVICE OFFICERS.

    (a) Grants.--Chapter 5 of title 38, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting after section 531 the following new section:
``Sec. 532. Grants to assist certain rural counties in employing county 
              veteran service officers; professional qualifications
    ``(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to improve outreach 
and assistance to veterans, and to the spouses, children, and parents 
of veterans, who may be eligible to receive veterans' or veterans-
related benefits and who are residing in rural counties through the 
training of rural county veteran service officers.
    ``(b) Grant Program.--The Secretary shall carry out a program to 
make competitive grants in accordance with this section to provide 
financial assistance to State departments of veteran affairs for the 
purpose stated in subsection (a).
    ``(c) Amount of Grant.--The amount of a grant under this section 
shall be determined by the Secretary, but may not exceed $1,000,000.
    ``(d) Eligibility.--For purposes of this section, a State is 
eligible for a grant under this section if it can demonstrate any of 
the following:
            ``(1) That it has at least one county, in which veterans 
        reside, that does not have a county veterans service officer.
            ``(2) That it has at least one county, in which veterans 
        reside, that has a county veterans service officer who performs 
        county veterans service officer functions on less than a full-
        time basis and that county is able to demonstrate a need for 
        additional services by a county veterans service officer.
            ``(3) That it has at least one county, in which not fewer 
        than 1,000 veterans reside, that currently has a full-time 
        county veterans service officer, but only if the county is able 
        to demonstrate a need for additional services by a county 
        veterans service officer.
    ``(e) Competition for Grant.--An eligible State seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application for the 
grant. The application shall be in such form and shall contain such 
information as the Secretary may require, including information 
establishing that the State is an eligible State under this section. 
From the applications submitted the Secretary shall approve those 
applications that the Secretary determines to be the most promising in 
carrying out the purposes of the grant program. Each State whose 
application is selected by the Secretary to receive a grant under the 
grant program shall receive funds in an amount determined by the 
Secretary under subsection (c). In making such determination, the 
Secretary shall take into consideration the amount of the total 
appropriation for the grant program, the relative size of the State's 
veteran population, and the funding necessary to improve training and 
outreach of county veteran service officers in rural counties. Such 
funds shall go to the State department of veterans' affairs.
    ``(f) Requirements for State Receipt of Federal Funds.--Each State 
receiving a grant under this section shall--
            ``(1) provide to the Secretary information and assurances 
        that the funds received under the grant program for the 
        training of county veteran service officers will go to assist 
        counties in which not less than 1,000 veterans reside, and 
        which, in accordance with standards and classification of the 
        Census Bureau, consists entirely of territory, population, and 
        housing units outside of territory classified by the Census 
        Bureau as an `urban area';
            ``(2) provide an assurance that the State agency shall 
        match the Federal funds provided under this section by 
        providing at least 20 percent of the total cost of the grant 
        program; and
            ``(3) use funds received under this section only to 
        supplement the amount of funds that would, in the absence of 
        such Federal funds, be made available from non-Federal sources 
        for the purposes of this section, and not to supplant such 
        funds.
    ``(g) County Veteran Service Officer.--For purposes of this 
section, a county veteran service officer is an employee of a county 
(regardless of job title) whose duties include providing to veterans 
residing in the county advice and casework services related to benefits 
provided under laws administered by the Secretary.
    ``(h) Grant Frequency.--Grants under this section shall be made on 
an annual basis.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
531 the following new item:

``532. Grants to assist certain rural counties in employing county 
                            veteran service officers; professional 
                            qualifications.''.
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