[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  FISCAL YEAR 2016 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SEISMIC SAFETY AND 
                     CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration 
of S. 2422 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2422) to authorize the Secretary of Veterans 
     Affairs to carry out certain major medical facility projects 
     for which appropriations are being made for fiscal year 2016.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that 
the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2422) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2422

       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 ``Fiscal Year 2016 Department 
     of Veterans Affairs Seismic Safety and Construction 
     Authorization Act''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF CERTAIN MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY 
                   PROJECTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and 
     Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016, which was passed 
     by the Senate on November 10, 2015, without a single vote 
     cast against the bill, and the Consolidated Appropriations 
     Act, 2016 include the following amounts to be appropriated to 
     the Department of Veterans Affairs:
       (A) $35,000,000 to make seismic corrections to Building 208 
     at the West Los Angeles Medical Center of the Department in 
     Los Angeles, California, which, according to the Department, 
     is a building that is designated as having an exceptionally 
     high risk of sustaining substantial damage or collapsing 
     during an earthquake.
       (B) $158,000,000 to provide for the construction of a new 
     research building, site work, and demolition at the San 
     Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
       (C) $161,000,000 to replace Building 133 with a new 
     community living center at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs 
     Medical Center, which, according to the Department, is a 
     building that is designated as having an extremely high risk 
     of sustaining major damage during an earthquake.
       (D) $468,800,000 for construction projects that are 
     critical to the Department for ensuring health care access 
     and safety at medical facilities in Louisville, Kentucky, 
     Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, Perry Point, 
     Maryland, American Lake, Washington, Alameda, California, and 
     Livermore, California.
       (2) The Department is unable to obligate or expend the 
     amounts described in paragraph (1), other than for 
     construction design, because the Department lacks an explicit 
     authorization by an Act of Congress pursuant to section 
     8104(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, to carry out the 
     major medical facility projects described in such paragraph.
       (3) Among the major medical facility projects described in 
     paragraph (1), three are critical seismic safety projects in 
     California.
       (4) Every day that the critical seismic safety projects 
     described in paragraph (3) are delayed increases the risk of 
     a life-threatening building failure in the case of a major 
     seismic event.
       (5) According to the United States Geological Survey--
       (A) California has more than a 99 percent chance of 
     experiencing an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater in the 
     next 30 years;
       (B) even earthquakes of less severity than magnitude 6.7 
     can cause life threatening damage to seismically unsafe 
     buildings; and
       (C) in California, earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater 
     occur on average once every 1.2 years.
       (b) Authorization.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may 
     carry out the following major medical facility projects, with 
     each project to be carried out in an amount not to exceed the 
     amount specified for that project:
       (1) Seismic corrections to buildings, including 
     retrofitting and replacement of high-risk buildings, in San 
     Francisco, California, in an amount not to exceed 
     $180,480,000.
       (2) Seismic corrections to facilities, including facilities 
     to support homeless veterans, at the medical center in West 
     Los Angeles, California, in an amount not to exceed 
     $105,500,000.
       (3) Seismic corrections to the mental health and community 
     living center in Long Beach, California, in an amount not to 
     exceed $287,100,000.
       (4) Construction of an outpatient clinic, administrative 
     space, cemetery, and columbarium in Alameda, California, in 
     an amount not to exceed $87,332,000.
       (5) Realignment of medical facilities in Livermore, 
     California, in an amount not to exceed $194,430,000.
       (6) Construction of a medical center in Louisville, 
     Kentucky, in an amount not to exceed $150,000,000.
       (7) Construction of a replacement community living center 
     in Perry Point, Maryland, in an amount not to exceed 
     $92,700,000.
       (8) Seismic corrections and other renovations to several 
     buildings and construction of a specialty care building in 
     American Lake, Washington, in an amount not to exceed 
     $16,260,000.
       (c) Authorization of Appropriations for Construction.--
     There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 
     Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2016 or the year in which 
     funds are appropriated for the Construction, Major Projects, 
     account, $1,113,802,000 for the projects authorized in 
     subsection (b).
       (d) Limitation.--The projects authorized in subsection (b) 
     may only be carried out using--
       (1) funds appropriated for fiscal year 2016 pursuant to the 
     authorization of appropriations in subsection (c);
       (2) funds available for Construction, Major Projects, for a 
     fiscal year before fiscal year 2016 that remain available for 
     obligation;
       (3) funds available for Construction, Major Projects, for a 
     fiscal year after fiscal year 2016 that remain available for 
     obligation;
       (4) funds appropriated for Construction, Major Projects, 
     for fiscal year 2016 for a category of activity not specific 
     to a project;
       (5) funds appropriated for Construction, Major Projects, 
     for a fiscal year before fiscal year 2016 for a category of 
     activity not specific to a project; and
       (6) funds appropriated for Construction, Major Projects, 
     for a fiscal year after fiscal year 2016 for a category of 
     activity not specific to a project.

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