I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3544 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 9, 2009 Mr. Filner introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide guidelines for the establishment of new national cemeteries by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the National Cemeteries Expansion Act of 2009.

2.

Establishment of new national cemeteries by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Section 2404 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (h)(1)In selecting a location for the establishment of a new national cemetery under this chapter, the Secretary shall give priority to a location where at least 110,000 veterans reside within a 75-mile radius of the location. (2)In conducting an annual performance measure of the percentage of veterans who are served by any cemetery, the Secretary shall— (A)use census tracts, rather than counties, as the primary geographic unit to test and identify potential locations for new national cemeteries and to determine the percentage of veterans served; (B)use methods to avoid the double counting of veterans in overlapping service areas; and (C)count veterans who reside in counties bisected by a service area using a proportional overlay method. .