(1) Lease of a satellite outpatient clinic in Al-
lentown, Pennsylvania, in an amount not to exceed
$2,159,000.
(2) Lease of a satellite outpatient clinic in
Beaumont, Texas, in an amount not to exceed
$1,940,000.
(3) Lease of a satellite outpatient clinic in Bos-
ton, Massachusetts, in an amount not to exceed
$2,358,000.
(4) Lease of a parking facility in Cleveland,
Ohio, in an amount not to exceed $1,300,000.
(5) Lease of a satellite outpatient clinic and
Veterans Benefits Administration field office in San
Antonio, Texas, in an amount not to exceed
$2,256,000.
(6) Lease of a satellite outpatient clinic in To-
ledo, Ohio, in an amount not to exceed $2,223,000.
SEC. 103. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year
1997—
(1) for the Construction, Major Projects, ac-
count, $422,300,000 for the projects authorized in
section 101; and
(2) for the Medical Care account, $12,236,000
for the leases authorized in section 102.
(b) LIMITATION.—The projects authorized in section
101 may only be carried out using—
(1) funds appropriated for fiscal year 1997 pur-
suant to the authorization of appropriations in sub-
section (a);
(2) funds appropriated for Construction, Major
Projects for a fiscal year before fiscal year 1997 that
remain available for obligation; and
(3) funds appropriated for Construction, Major
Projects for fiscal year 1997 for a category of activ-
ity not specific to a project.
SEC. 104. REPORT ON HEALTH CARE NEEDS OF VETERANS
IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA.
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 60 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on
Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representa-
tives a report on the health care needs of veterans in east
central Florida. In preparing the report, the Secretary
shall consider the needs of such veterans for psychiatric
and long-term care. The Secretary shall include in the re-
port the Secretary’s views, based on the Secretary’s deter-
mination of such needs, as to the best means of meeting
such needs using the amounts appropriated pursuant to
the authorization of appropriations in this Act and Public
Law 103–452 for projects to meet the health care needs
of such veterans. The Secretary may, subject to the avail-
ability of appropriations for such purpose, use an inde-
pendent contractor to assist in the determination of such
health care needs.
(b) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not obligate
any funds, other than for design work, for the conversion
of the former Orlando Naval Training Center Hospital in
Orlando, Florida (now under the jurisdiction of the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs), to a nursing home care unit
until 45 days after the date on which the report required
by subsection (a) is submitted.
TITLE II—STRATEGIC PLANNING
FOR HEALTH CARE RESOURCES
SEC. 201. STRATEGIC PLANNING.
Section 8107 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-
section (c);
(2) by striking out subsection (a) and inserting
in lieu thereof the following new subsections:
‘‘(a) In order to promote effective planning for the
efficient provision of care to eligible veterans, the Sec-
retary, based on the analysis and recommendations of the
Under Secretary for Health, shall submit to each commit-
tee, not later than January 31 of each year, a report re-
garding long-range health planning of the Department.
‘‘(b) Each report under subsection (a) shall include
the following:
‘‘(1) A five-year strategic plan for the provision
of care under chapter 17 of this title to eligible vet-
erans through coordinated networks of medical fa-
cilities operating within prescribed geographic serv-
ice-delivery areas, such plan to include provision of
services for the specialized treatment and rehabilita-
tive needs of disabled veterans (including veterans
with spinal cord dysfunction, blindness, amputations,
and mental illness) through distinct programs or fa-
cilities of the Department dedicated to the special-
ized needs of those veterans.
‘‘(2) A description of how planning for the net-
works will be coordinated.
‘‘(3) A profile regarding each such network of
medical facilities which identifies—
‘‘(A) the mission of each existing or pro-
posed medical facility in the network;
‘‘(B) any planned change in the mission
for any such facility and the rationale for such
planned change;
‘‘(C) the population of veterans to be
served by the network and anticipated changes
over a five-year period and a ten-year period,
respectively, in that population and in the
health-care needs of that population;
‘‘(D) information relevant to assessing
progress toward the goal of achieving relative
equivalency in the level of resources per patient
distributed to each network, such information
to include the plans for and progress toward
lowering the cost of care-delivery in the network
(by means such as changes in the mix in the
network of physicians, nurses, physician assist-
ants, and advance practice nurses);
‘‘(E) the capacity of non-Federal facilities
in the network to provide acute, long-term, and
specialized treatment and rehabilitative services
(described in section 7305 of this title), and de-
terminations regarding the extent to which
services to be provided in each service-delivery
area and each facility in such area should be
provided directly through facilities of the De-
partment or through contract or other arrange-
ments, 
including 
arrangements 
authorized
under sections 8111 and 8153 of this title; and
‘‘(F) a five-year plan for construction, re-
placement, or alteration projects in support of
the approved mission of each facility in the net-
work and a description of how those projects
will improve access to care, or quality of care,
for patients served in the network.
‘‘(4) A status report for each facility on
progress toward—
‘‘(A) instituting planned mission changes
identified under paragraph (3)(B);
‘‘(B) implementing principles of managed
care of eligible veterans; and
‘‘(C) developing and instituting cost-effec-
tive alternatives to provision of institutional
care.’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary shall submit to each commit-
tee, not later than January 31 of each year, a report show-
ing the current priorities of the Department for proposed
major medical construction projects. Each such report
shall identify the 20 projects, from within all the projects
(2) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking out ‘‘a detailed’’ and insert-
ing in lieu thereof ‘‘A detailed’’; and
(B) by striking out the semicolon at the
end and inserting in lieu thereof a period;
(3) in paragraph (2)—
(A) by striking out ‘‘an estimate’’ and in-
serting in lieu thereof ‘‘An estimate’’; and
(B) by striking out ‘‘; and’’ and inserting
in lieu thereof a period;
(4) in paragraph (3), by striking out ‘‘an esti-
mate’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘An estimate’’;
and
(5) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
‘‘(4) Demographic data applicable to the
project, including information on projected changes
in the population of veterans to be served by the
project over a five-year period and a ten-year period.
‘‘(5) Current and projected workload and utili-
zation data.
‘‘(6) Current and projected operating costs of
the facility, to include both recurring and non-recur-
ring costs.
‘‘(7) The priority score assigned to the project
under the Department’s prioritization methodology
and, if the project is being proposed for funding
ahead of a project with a higher score, a specific ex-
planation of the factors other than the priority that
were considered and the basis on which the project
is proposed for funding ahead of projects with high-
er priority scores.
‘‘(8) A listing of each alternative to construc-
tion of the facility that has been considered.’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub-
section (a) shall apply with respect to any prospectus sub-
mitted by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 
203. 
CONSTRUCTION 
AUTHORIZATION 
REQUIRE-
MENTS.
(a) DEFINITION
OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY
PROJECT.—Paragraph (3)(A) of section 8104(a) of title
38, United States Code, is amended by striking out
‘‘$3,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000,000’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZA-
TION REQUIREMENT.—(1) Subsection (b) of section 301
of the Veterans’ Medical Programs Amendments of 1992
(Public Law 102–405; 106 Stat. 1984) is repealed.
(2) The amendments made by subsection (a) of such
section shall apply with respect to any major medical facil-
ity project or any major medical facility lease of the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs, regardless of when funds
are first appropriated for that project or lease, except that
in the case of a project for which funds were first appro-
priated before October 9, 1992, such amendments shall
not apply with respect to amounts appropriated for that
project for a fiscal year before fiscal year 1998.
(c) LIMITATION
ON OBLIGATIONS
FOR ADVANCE
PLANNING.—Section 8104 of title 38, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(f) The Secretary may not obligate funds in an
amount in excess of $500,000 from the Advance Planning
Fund of the Department toward design or development
of a major medical facility project until—
‘‘(1) the Secretary submits to the committees a
report on the proposed obligation; and
‘‘(2) a period of 30 days has passed after the
date on which the report is received by the commit-
tees.’’.
SEC. 204. TERMINOLOGY CHANGES.
(a) 
DEFINITION
OF
‘‘CONSTRUCT’’.—Section
8101(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking out ‘‘working drawings’’ and in-
serting in lieu thereof ‘‘construction documents’’;
and
(2) by striking out ‘‘preliminary plans’’ and in-
serting in lieu thereof ‘‘design development’’.
(b) PARKING FACILITIES.—Section 8109(h)(3)(B) of
such title is amended by striking out ‘‘working drawings’’
and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘construction documents’’.
SEC. 205. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION HEAD-
QUARTERS.
(a) REPEAL OF STATUTORY SPECIFICATION OF OR-
GANIZATIONAL SERVICES.—The text of section 7305 of
title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(a) The Veterans Health Administration shall in-
clude the Office of the Under Secretary for Health and
such professional and auxiliary services as the Secretary
may find to be necessary to carry out the functions of the
Administration.
‘‘(b) In organizing, and appointing persons to posi-
tions in, the Office, the Under Secretary shall ensure that
the Office is staffed so as to provide the Under Secretary
with appropriate expertise, including expertise in—
‘‘(1) unique programs operated by the Adminis-
tration to provide for the specialized treatment and
rehabilitation of disabled veterans (including blind
rehabilitation, spinal cord dysfunction, mental ill-
ness, and geriatrics and long-term care); and
‘‘(2) appropriate clinical care disciplines.’’.
(b) OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY.—Section
7306 of such title is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking out ‘‘and who shall be a
qualified doctor of medicine’’ in paragraph (2);
(B) by striking out paragraphs (5), (6),
and (7); and
(C) by redesignating the succeeding two
paragraphs as paragraphs (5) and (6), respec-
tively; and
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking out ‘‘subsection (a)(3)’’
and all that follows through ‘‘two may be’’ and
inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘subsection (a)(3), not
more than two may be’’;
(B) by striking out the semicolon after
‘‘dental medicines’’ and inserting in lieu thereof
a period; and
(C) by striking out paragraphs (2) and (3).
TITLE III—OTHER MATTERS
SEC. 301. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
MEDICAL CENTER, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI.
(a) NAME.—The Department of Veterans Affairs
medical center in Jackson, Mississippi, shall be known and
designated as the ‘‘G. V. Sonny Montgomery Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Center’’. Any reference to
such medical center in any law, regulation, map, docu-
ment, record, or other paper of the United States shall
be considered to be a reference to the G. V. Sonny Mont-
gomery Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef-
fect at noon on January 3, 1997, or the first day on which
G. V. Sonny Montgomery otherwise ceases to be a Member
of the House of Representatives.
SEC 302. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
MEDICAL 
CENTER, 
JOHNSON 
CITY, 
TEN-
NESSEE.
(a) NAME.—The Mountain Home Department of
Veterans Affairs medical center in Johnson City, Ten-
nessee, shall after the date of the enactment of this Act
be known and designated as the ‘‘James H. Quillen De-
partment of Veterans Affairs Medical Center’’. Any ref-
erence to such medical center in any law, regulation, map,
document, record, or other paper of the United States
shall be considered to be a reference to the James H. Quil-
len Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef-
fect at noon on January 3, 1997, or the first day on which
James H. Quillen otherwise ceases to be a Member of the
House of Representatives.
SEC. 303. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
NURSING CARE CENTER, ASPINWALL, PENN-
SYLVANIA.
The Department of Veterans Affairs nursing care
center at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical cen-
ter in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, shall after the date of the
enactment of this Act be known and designated as the ‘‘H.
John Heinz, III Department of Veterans Affairs Nursing
Care Center’’. Any reference to such nursing care center
in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other
paper of the United States shall be considered to be a ref-
erence to the H. John Heinz, III Department of Veterans
Affairs Nursing Care Center.
SEC. 304. RESTORATION OF AUTHORITY FOR ESTABLISH-
MENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-
FAIRS RESEARCH CORPORATIONS.
Section 7368 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by striking out ‘‘December 31, 1992’’ and insert-
ing in lieu thereof ‘‘December 31, 2000’’.
Passed the House of Representatives June 4, 1996.
Attest:
Clerk.