I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2218 

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to setaside community development block grant amounts in each fiscal year 

for grants to local chapters of veterans service organizations for rehabilitation of, and technology for, their facilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2015 

Mr. COLLINS of New York (for himself, Mr. ROTHFUS, and Mr. KING of New 

York) 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 rehabilitation of, 

and technology for, their facilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Renovate and Enhance 

5 Veterans’ Meeting Halls and Posts Act of 2015’’ or the 

6 ‘‘REVAMP Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO VETERANS SERVICE OR2 GANIZATIONS FOR FACILITY REHABILITA3 TION AND TECHNOLOGY. 

4 (a) GRANTS.—Section 107 of the Housing and Com5 munity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5307) is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following new sub7 section: 

8 ‘‘(g) COMPETITIVE GRANTS TO VETERANS SERVICE

9 ORGANIZATIONS FOR FACILITY REHABILITATION AND

10 UPGRADING TECHNOLOGY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY; ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES AND

12 USES.—Using the amounts made available under 

13 section 106(a)(4) in each fiscal year for grants 

14 under this subsection, the Secretary shall make 

15 grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible veterans 

16 service organizations, which grant amounts shall be 

17 available for use only for— 

18 ‘‘(A) repairs or rehabilitation of existing 

19 facilities of such organizations; and 

20 ‘‘(B) acquiring or upgrading computers 

21 and technology for such facilities. 

22 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZA23 TIONS.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 

24 ‘eligible veterans service organization’ means— 

25 ‘‘(A) an entity that is exempt from tax26 ation pursuant to section 501(c)(19) of the InVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 May 09, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2218.IH H2218

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1 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 

2 501(c)(19)) and is organized on a local or area 

3 basis; and 

4 ‘‘(B) a local or area chapter, post, or other 

5 unit of a national, regional, Statewide, or other 

6 larger entity of which local or area chapters, 

7 posts, or units are members, that is exempt 

8 from taxation pursuant to section 501(c)(19) of 

9 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 

10 501(c)(19)). 

11 Such term does not include any such national, re12 gional, Statewide, or other larger entity. 

13 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) AMOUNT.—No eligible veterans serv15 ice organization may receive grant amounts 

16 under this subsection, from the amounts made 

17 available for any single fiscal year, in an 

18 amount exceeding the lesser of— 

19 ‘‘(i) the aggregate cost of the pro20 posed activities and uses under paragraph 

21 (1) for which the grant amounts will be 

22 used; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) $200,000. 

24 ‘‘(B) TIMING.—Any eligible veterans serv25 ice organization that receives grant amounts 


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1 under this subsection from amounts made avail2 able for a fiscal year shall be ineligible for any 

3 grant from any amounts made available for 

4 such grants for any of the succeeding 5 fiscal 

5 years. 

6 ‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—Applications for assist7 ance under this subsection may be submitted only by 

8 eligible veterans service organizations, and shall be 

9 in such form and in accordance with such proce10 dures as the Secretary shall establish. Such applica11 tions shall include a plan for the proposed repair or 

12 rehabilitation activities to be conducted using grant 

13 amounts under this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(5) SELECTION; CRITERIA.—The Secretary 

15 shall select applications to receive grants under this 

16 subsection pursuant to a competition and based on 

17 criteria for such selection, which shall include— 

18 ‘‘(A) the extent of need for such assist19 ance; 

20 ‘‘(B) the quality of the plan proposed for 

21 repair or rehabilitation of the facility involved; 

22 ‘‘(C) the capacity or potential capacity of 

23 the applicant to successfully carry out the plan; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(D) such other factors as the Secretary 

2 determines to be appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(6) PROHIBITION OF CONSTRUCTION OR AC4 QUISITION.—No amounts from a grant under this 

5 subsection may be used for the construction or ac6 quisition of a new facility.’’. 

7 (b) FUNDING.—Subsection (a) of section 106 of the 

8 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 

9 U.S.C. 5306(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and (3)’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘(3), and (4)’’; 

12 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para13 graph (5); and 

14 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol15 lowing new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(4) For each fiscal year, after reserving 

17 amounts under paragraphs (1) and (2) and allo18 cating amounts under paragraph (3), the Secretary 

19 shall allocate $50,000,000 (subject to sufficient 

20 amounts remaining after such reservations and allo21 cation) for grants under section 107(g).’’. 

22 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Housing and 

23 Urban Development shall issue any regulations necessary 

24 to carry out sections 106(a)(4) and 107(g) of the Housing 

25 and Community Development Act of 1974, as added by 


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1 the amendments made by this section, not later than the 

2 expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of 

3 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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