I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3280 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a grant program 
to assist veterans in highly rural areas by providing transportation to 
medical centers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2009 
Mr. RODRIGUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 
grant program to assist veterans in highly rural areas 
by providing transportation to medical centers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. TRANSPORTATION GRANTS FOR RURAL VET-
ERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS. 
(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall establish a grant program to provide in-
novative transportation options to veterans in highly 
rural areas. 
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(2) USE
OF
FUNDS.—Grants awarded under 
this section may be used by State veterans service 
agencies and veterans service organizations to— 
(A) assist veterans in highly rural areas to 
travel to Department of Veterans Affairs med-
ical centers; and 
(B) otherwise assist in providing medical 
care to veterans in highly rural areas. 
(3) MAXIMUM
AMOUNT.—The amount of a 
grant under this section may not exceed $50,000. 
(4) NO MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The recipi-
ent of a grant under this section may not be re-
quired to provide matching funds as a condition for 
receiving such grant. 
(5) RECOVERY OF UNUSED GRANT FUNDS.—If 
a recipient of a grant does not use the full amount 
of funds received under this section by not later 
than September 30 of the fiscal year in which such 
grant was awarded, the United States shall be enti-
tled to recover from such recipient the total of all 
unused grant amounts made under this section to 
such recipient. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 
regulations for— 
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(1) evaluating grant applications under this sec-
tion; and 
(2) otherwise administering the program estab-
lished by this section. 
(c) REPORTS.—Not later than February 1 of each 
year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report con-
taining information related to each grant awarded under 
this section during the preceding year, including— 
(1) the name of the grant recipient; and 
(2) the amount of the grant. 
(d) VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATION DEFINI-
TION.—In this section, the term ‘‘veterans service organi-
zation’’ means any organization recognized by the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs for the representation of vet-
erans under section 5902 of title 38, United States Code. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this section. 
Æ 
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