[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4731 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4731
To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to set aside
community development block grant amounts in each fiscal year for
grants to local chapters of veterans service organizations for the
renovation, rehabilitation, and modernization of local chapter
facilities.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 27, 2021
Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez
of Texas, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Chu, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. McGovern, Mr.
Bowman, Mr. San Nicolas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Pressley, Ms.
Norton, and Ms. Schakowsky) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to set aside
community development block grant amounts in each fiscal year for
grants to local chapters of veterans service organizations for the
renovation, rehabilitation, and modernization of local chapter
facilities.
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 ``Veterans Service Organization
Modernization Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS FOR
FACILITY REHABILITATION AND MODERNIZATION.
(a) Grants.--Section 107 of the Housing and Community Development
Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5307) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsection:
``(g) Competitive Grants to Veterans Service Organizations for
Facility Rehabilitation and Upgrading Technology.--
``(1) Authority; eligible activities and uses.--Using the
amounts made available under section 106(a)(4) in each fiscal
year for grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall make
grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible veterans service
organizations, which grant amounts shall be available for use
only for--
``(A) repairs or rehabilitation of existing
facilities of such organizations; and
``(B) modernization of technologies used by such
organizations.
``(2) Eligible veterans service organizations.--For
purposes of this subsection, the term `eligible veterans
service organization' means--
``(A) an entity that--
``(i) is organized on a local or area
basis; and
``(ii) is--
``(I) exempt from taxation pursuant
to section 501(c)(19) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C.
501(c)(19)); or
``(II) an organization of past or
present members of the Armed Forces of
the United States that is chartered
under title 36, United States Code; and
``(B) a local or area chapter, post, or other unit
of a national, regional, Statewide, or other larger
entity of which local or area chapters, posts, or units
are members--
``(i) that is exempt from taxation pursuant
to section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(19)); or
``(ii) which larger entity is an
organization of past or present members of the
Armed Forces of the United States that is
chartered under title 36, United States Code.
``(3) Limitations.--
``(A) Amount.--No eligible veterans service
organization may receive grant amounts under this
subsection, from the amounts made available for any
single fiscal year, in an amount exceeding the lesser
of--
``(i) the aggregate cost of the proposed
activities and uses under paragraph (1) for
which the grant amounts will be used; or
``(ii) $100,000.
``(B) Timing.--Any eligible veterans service
organization that receives grant amounts under this
subsection from amounts made available for a fiscal
year shall be ineligible for any grant from any amounts
made available for such grants for any of the
succeeding three fiscal years.
``(4) Applications.--Applications for assistance under this
subsection may be submitted only by eligible veterans service
organizations, and shall be in such form and in accordance with
such procedures as the Secretary shall establish. Such
applications shall include a plan for the proposed repair or
rehabilitation activities to be conducted using grant amounts
under this subsection.
``(5) Selection; criteria.--The Secretary shall select
applications to receive grants under this subsection pursuant
to a competition and based on criteria for such selection,
which shall include--
``(A) the extent of need for such assistance;
``(B) the quality of the plan proposed for repair
or rehabilitation of the facility involved;
``(C) the capacity or potential capacity of the
applicant to successfully carry out the plan; and
``(D) such other factors as the Secretary
determines to be appropriate.
``(6) Prohibition of construction or acquisition.--No
amounts from a grant under this subsection may be used for the
construction or acquisition of a new facility.''.
(b) Funding.--Subsection (a) of section 106 of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5306(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and (3)''' and
inserting ``(3), and (4)'';
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new
paragraph:
``(4) For each fiscal year, after reserving amounts under
paragraphs (1) and (2) and allocating amounts under paragraph
(3), the Secretary shall allocate $10,000,000 (subject to
sufficient amounts remaining after such reservations and
allocation) for grants under section 107(g).''.
(c) Regulations.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall issue any regulations necessary to carry out sections 106(a)(4)
and 107(g) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as
added by the amendments made by this section, not later than the
expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment
of this Act.
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