‘‘(B) activities to assist in the development 
and submittal of claims for veterans and vet-
erans-related benefits; or 
‘‘(2) to increase the number of county or tribal 
veterans service officers serving in the State by hir-
ing new, additional such officers. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—(1) To be eligible for a grant 
under this section, a State shall submit to the Secretary 
an application therefor at such time, in such manner, and 
containing such information as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(2) Each application submitted under paragraph (1) 
shall include the following: 
‘‘(A) A detailed plan for the use of the grant. 
‘‘(B) A description of the programs through 
which the State will meet the outcome measures de-
veloped by the Secretary under subsection (i). 
‘‘(C) A description of how the State will dis-
tribute grant amounts equitably among counties 
with varying levels of urbanization. 
‘‘(D) A plan for how the grant will be used to 
meet the unique needs of American Indian or Alaska 
Native veterans, elderly veterans, women veterans, 
and veterans from other underserved communities. 
‘‘(d) DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary shall seek to en-
sure that grants awarded under this section are equitably 
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distributed among States with varying levels of urbaniza-
tion. 
‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall prioritize 
awarding grants under this section that will serve the fol-
lowing areas: 
‘‘(1) Areas with a critical shortage of county or 
tribal veterans service officers. 
‘‘(2) Areas with high rates of— 
‘‘(A) suicide among veterans; or 
‘‘(B) referrals to the Veterans Crisis Line. 
‘‘(f) USE OF COUNTY OR TRIBAL VETERANS SERV-
ICE OFFICERS.—A State that receives a grant under this 
section to carry out an activity described in subsection 
(b)(1) shall carry out the activity through— 
‘‘(1) a county or tribal veterans service officer 
of the State; or 
‘‘(2) if the State does not have a county or trib-
al veterans service officer, or if the county or tribal 
veterans service officers of the State cover only a 
portion of that State, an appropriate entity of a 
State, local, or tribal government, or another pub-
licly funded entity, as determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(g) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.—Any grant awarded 
under this section shall be used— 
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‘‘(1) to expand existing programs, activities, 
and services; 
‘‘(2) to hire new, additional county or tribal vet-
erans service officers; or 
‘‘(3) for travel and transportation to facilitate 
carrying out paragraph (1) or (2). 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—A grant under this 
section may be used to provide education and training, in-
cluding on-the-job training, for State, county, local, and 
tribal government employees who provide (or when trained 
will provide) veterans outreach services in order for those 
employees to obtain accreditation in accordance with pro-
cedures approved by the Secretary. 
‘‘(i) OUTCOME MEASURES.—(1) The Secretary shall 
develop and provide to each State that receives a grant 
under this section written guidance on the following: 
‘‘(A) Outcome measures. 
‘‘(B) Policies of the Department. 
‘‘(2) In developing outcome measures under para-
graph (1), the Secretary shall consider the following goals: 
‘‘(A) Increasing the use of veterans and vet-
erans-related benefits, particularly among vulnerable 
populations. 
‘‘(B) Increasing the number of county and trib-
al veterans service officers recognized by the Sec-
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retary for the representation of veterans under chap-
ter 59 of this title. 
‘‘(j) TRACKING REQUIREMENTS.—(1) With respect 
to each grant awarded under this section, the Secretary 
shall track the use of veterans and veterans-related bene-
fits among the population served by the grant, including 
the average period of time between the date on which a 
veteran applies for such a benefit and the date on which 
the veteran receives the benefit, disaggregated by type of 
benefit. 
‘‘(2) Not less frequently than annually, the Secretary 
shall submit to Congress a report on the information 
tracked under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(k) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.—(1) The Secretary 
shall— 
‘‘(A) review the performance of each State that 
receives a grant under this section; and 
‘‘(B) make information regarding such perform-
ance publicly available. 
‘‘(l) REMEDIATION PLAN.—(1) In the case of a State 
that receives a grant under this section and does not meet 
the outcome measures developed by the Secretary under 
subsection (i), the Secretary shall require the State to sub-
mit a remediation plan under which the State shall de-
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scribe how and when it plans to meet such outcome meas-
ures. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary may not award a subsequent 
grant under this section to a State described in paragraph 
(1) unless the Secretary approves the remediation plan 
submitted by the State. 
‘‘(m) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant 
awarded under this section may not exceed 10 percent of 
amounts made available for grants under this section for 
the fiscal year in which the grant is awarded. 
‘‘(n) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Any grant 
awarded under this section shall be used to supplement 
and not supplant State and local funding that is otherwise 
available. 
‘‘(o) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘county or tribal veterans service 
officer’ includes a local equivalent veterans service 
officer. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means the 
toll-free hotline for veterans established under sec-
tion 1720F(h) of this title. 
‘‘(p) FUNDING.—(1) Amounts for the activities of the 
Department under this section shall be budgeted and ap-
propriated through a separate appropriation account. 
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‘‘(2) In the budget justification materials submitted 
to Congress in support of the Department budget for any 
fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the President 
under section 1105(a) of title 31), the Secretary shall in-
clude a separate statement of the amount requested to be 
appropriated for that fiscal year for the account specified 
in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(q) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for each 
of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, $50,000,000 to carry 
out this section.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of chapter 63 of such title is amended 
by striking the items relating to sections 6307 and 6308 
and inserting the following new items: 
‘‘6307. Grants to States to improve outreach to veterans. 
‘‘6308. Outreach for eligible dependents. 
‘‘6309. Biennial report to Congress.’’. 
Æ 
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