[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4355 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4355

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 16, 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 training county 
              veteran service officers
    ``(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 $50,000.
    ``(d) Eligibility.--For purposes of this section, a State is 
eligible for a grant under this section if it can demonstrate either of 
the following:
            ``(1) That it has at least one county, in which veterans 
        reside, that does not have a trained county veterans service 
        officer.
            ``(2) That it has at least one county, in which veterans 
        reside, that has an employee who performs county veterans 
        service officer functions and is able to demonstrate a need for 
        training for that employee in those functions.
    ``(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 outreach of 
veterans residing in rural counties through the training of county 
veteran service officers in those 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 which, in accordance with standards and classification 
        of the Census Bureau, consist 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 
        provide training in a manner consistent with accepted State or 
        national training programs for county veteran service officers;
            ``(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; and
            ``(4) submit a report to the Secretary not later than one 
        year after the receipt of such grant outlining how the grant 
        money was spent, such report to be in such form and containing 
        such information as the Secretary may require but including 
        information on how the training was provided to county veterans 
        services officers and the effect of such training on improving 
        outreach to veterans residing in rural counties.
    ``(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) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs to carry out the 
provisions of this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 
through 2010.''.
    (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 training county 
                            veteran service officers.''.
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