II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 315 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the outreach activities 

of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 26, 2009 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Veterans Outreach Im5 provement Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR ENHANCE2 MENT OF OUTREACH OF ACTIVITIES DEPART3 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new subchapter: 

7 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—OUTREACH 

8 ‘‘§ 561. Outreach activities: funding 

9 ‘‘(a) SEPARATE ACCOUNT FOR OUTREACH ACTIVI10 TIES.—The Secretary shall establish a separate account 

11 for the funding of the outreach activities of the Depart12 ment, and shall establish within such account a separate 

13 subaccount for the funding of the outreach activities of 

14 each element of the Department specified in subsection 

15 (c). 

16 ‘‘(b) BUDGET REQUIREMENTS.—In the budget jus17 tification materials submitted to Congress in support of 

18 the Department budget for any fiscal year (as submitted 

19 with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) 

20 of title 31), the Secretary shall include a separate state21 ment of the amount requested for such fiscal year for ac22 tivities as follows: 

23 ‘‘(1) For outreach activities of the Department 

24 in aggregate. 

25 ‘‘(2) For outreach activities of each element of 

26 the Department specified in subsection (c). 


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1 ‘‘(c) COVERED ELEMENTS.—The elements of the De2 partment specified in this subsection are as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) The Veterans Health Administration. 

4 ‘‘(2) The Veterans Benefits Administration. 

5 ‘‘(3) The National Cemetery Administration. 

6 ‘‘§ 562. Outreach activities: coordination of activities 

7 within Department 

8 ‘‘(a) PROCEDURES FOR EFFECTIVE COORDINA9 TION.—The Secretary shall establish and maintain proce10 dures for ensuring the effective coordination of the out11 reach activities of the Department between and among the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(1) The Office of the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(2) The Office of Public Affairs. 

15 ‘‘(3) The Veterans Health Administration. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Veterans Benefits Administration. 

17 ‘‘(5) The National Cemetery Administration. 

18 ‘‘(b) REVIEW AND MODIFICATION.—The Secretary 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) periodically review the procedures main21 tained under subsection (a) for the purpose of ensur22 ing that such procedures meet the requirement in 

23 that subsection; and 

24 ‘‘(2) make such modifications to such proce25 dures as the Secretary considers appropriate in light 


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1 of such review in order to better achieve that pur2 pose. 

3 ‘‘§ 563. Grants to State and local governments and 

4 nonprofit community-based organizations 

5 for improvement of outreach 

6 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to 

7 assist State and local governments and nonprofit commu8 nity-based organizations in carrying out programs that 

9 offer a high probability of improving outreach and assist10 ance to veterans, and to the spouses, children, and parents 

11 of veterans who may be eligible to receive veterans’ or vet12 erans’-related benefits, to ensure that such individuals are 

13 fully informed about, and assisted in applying for, any vet14 erans’ and veterans’-related benefits and programs (in15 cluding under State veterans’ programs). 

16 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—(1) The Secretary may award grants 

17 to State and local governments and nonprofit community18 based organizations in order to achieve purposes as fol19 lows: 

20 ‘‘(A) To carry out, coordinate, improve, or oth21 erwise enhance outreach. 

22 ‘‘(B) To carry out, coordinate, improve, or oth23 erwise enhance activities to assist in the development 

24 and submittal of claims for veterans’ and veterans’- 

25 related benefits. 


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1 ‘‘(2) A veterans agency of a State receiving a grant 

2 under this subsection may use the grant amount for pur3 poses described in paragraph (1) or award all or any por4 tion of such grant amount to local governments in such 

5 State, other public entities in such State, or nonprofit 

6 community-based organizations in such State for such 

7 purposes. 

8 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—Amounts available for the Depart9 ment for outreach in the account under section 561 of this 

10 title shall be available for activities under this section, in11 cluding grants under subsection (b).’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

13 at the beginning of chapter 5 of such title is amended by 

14 adding at the end the following new items: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—OUTREACH

‘‘561. Outreach activities: funding. 

‘‘562. Outreach activities: coordination of activities within Department. 

‘‘563. Grants to State and local governments and community-based organizations for improvement of outreach.’’. 

Æ 


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