Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 219 / Thursday, November 13, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 60783

Name of System No.

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Dated: October 3, 1997.

Alex Rodriguez,

Deputy Assistant Secretary (Administration)

[FR Doc. 97–29794 Filed 11–12–97; 8:45 am]

Billing Code: 4830–01–F

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS

AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 17

RIN 2900–AI84

Grants to States for Construction or

Acquisition of State Home Facilities

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This document amends the

‘‘Medical’’ regulations regarding

applications for grants to States for the

construction or acquisition of State

home facilities. VA awards grants based

on a priority ranking system. Usually,

the higher priority applications deplete

the available funding to the extent that

the lowest ranking application to be

offered funding is offered only a partial

grant. This final rule provides that if the

lowest ranking grant application

receives only a partial grant in a fiscal

year and if such grant award is partial

solely because VA has insufficient funds

for a full grant, the application would be

placed at the top of the list within its

priority group for the next fiscal year.

Often applicants are hesitant to accept

a partial grant because of the

uncertainty of receiving an additional

grant the next fiscal year. This final rule

will encourage States to accept a partial

grant by creating the likelihood that the

State would receive an additional grant

in the subsequent fiscal year.

Accordingly, this will help ensure that

VA would be able to award grants to

higher priority applicants that might

otherwise reject partial funding.

Also, this final rule provides that the

applicant receiving partial funding and

receiving priority as proposed will not

be required to submit a second

application for additional funds in the

subsequent fiscal year, but could be

required to update information already

submitted. The first application would

normally be adequate because the grant

award in the second fiscal year would

be for the same project which received

the partial grant award.

Further, the final rule provides that

the total amount awarded for the

application may not exceed 65 percent

of the total cost of the project as

determined at the time of the second

grant award for that grant application.

This is consistent with the statutory

requirement that limits grant awards to

no more than 65 percent of the

estimated cost construction or

acquisition.

DATES: Effective Date: December 15,

1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Kathleen Greve, Geriatrics and Extended

Care Strategic Healthcare Group, (202)

273–8534.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a

document published in the Federal

Register on July 29, 1997 (62 FR 40492),

VA proposed to amend the ‘‘Medical’’

regulations in 38 CFR part 17 as set

forth in the SUMMARY portion of this

document. The document provided a

60-day comment period, which ended

on September 29, 1997. Three

commentors submitted comments, all of

whom expressed full approval for the

provisions of the proposed rule.

Based on the rationale set forth in the

proposed rule and this document, the

provisions of the proposed rule are

adopted as a final rule without change.

The Secretary hereby certifies that the

adoption of this final rule will not have

a significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities as

they are defined in the Regulatory

Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601–612. The

rule will affect grants to States and will

not directly affect small entities.

Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b),

this rule is exempt from the initial and

final regulatory flexibility analyses

requirements of secs. 603 and 604.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic

Assistance program number for this

document is 64.005.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17

Administrative practice and

procedure. Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism,

Claims, Drug abuse, Foreign relations,

Government contracts, Grant programshealth, Grant programs-veterans, Health

care, Health facilities, Health

professions, Health records, Homeless,

Medical and dental schools, Medical

devices, Medical research, Mental

health programs, Nursing homes,

Philippines, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements,

Scholarships and fellowships, Travel

and transportation expenses, Veterans.

Approved: November 3, 1997.

Hershel W. Gober,

Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

For the reasons set forth above, 38

CFR part 17 is amended as set forth

below:

PART 17—MEDICAL

1. The authority citation for part 17

continues to read as follow:

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 1721, unless

otherwise noted.

2. In § 17.212, paragraph (d) is added

and the authority citation for the section

is revised to read as follows:

§ 17.212 Scope of grants program.

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(d)(1) Notwithstanding paragraph (c)

of this section and the provisions for

ranking projects within a priority group

in § 17.213(c)(3)(i), the Secretary shall

give an application first priority within

the priority group to which it is

assigned on the list of projects

established under § 17.213(d) for the

next fiscal year if:

(i) the State has accepted a grant for

that application as of August 15 of the

current fiscal year that is less than the

amount that the Secretary would have

awarded if VA had sufficient grant

funds to award the grant in such amount

in that fiscal year; and

(ii) the application is the lowest

ranking application on the priority list

for the current fiscal year for which

grant funds are available as of August 15

of that year.

(2) The Secretary shall not require a

State to submit a second grant

application for a project which receives

priority under paragraph (d)(1) of this

section but may require the State to

update information already submitted in

the application for the project. The

Secretary shall determine the amount of

a second grant at the time of the award

of that grant. In no case shall the total

amount awarded for the application

exceed 65 percent of the total cost of the

project as determined at the time of the

second grant award for that grant

application.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 8135(b))

[FR Doc. 97–29788 Filed 11–12–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8320–01–M