I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4355 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve services for veterans 
residing in rural areas. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 16, 2005 
Mr. WU introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve services 
for veterans residing in rural areas. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Veterans Serv-
ices Outreach and Training Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF OUTREACH. 
Section 101 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(34) The term ‘outreach’ means the act or 
process of reaching out in a systematic manner to 
proactively provide information, services, and bene-
fits counseling to veterans, and to the spouses, chil-
dren, and parents of veterans, who may be eligible 
to receive benefits under the laws administered by 
the Secretary, and to ensure that such individuals 
are fully informed about, and assisted in applying 
for, any benefits and programs under such laws.’’. 
SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS GRANT PRO-
GRAM FOR RURAL COUNTY VETERAN SERV-
ICE OFFICERS. 
(a) GRANTS.—Chapter 5 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting after section 531 the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘§ 532. Grants to assist certain rural counties in 
training county veteran service officers 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to im-
prove outreach and assistance to veterans, and to the 
spouses, children, and parents of veterans, who may be 
eligible to receive veterans’ or veterans-related benefits 
and who are residing in rural counties through the train-
ing of rural county veteran service officers. 
‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall carry 
out a program to make competitive grants in accordance
with this section to provide financial assistance to State 
departments of veteran affairs for the purpose stated in 
subsection (a). 
‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a grant 
under this section shall be determined by the Secretary, 
but may not exceed $50,000. 
‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of this section, a 
State is eligible for a grant under this section if it can 
demonstrate either of the following: 
‘‘(1) That it has at least one county, in which 
veterans reside, that does not have a trained county 
veterans service officer. 
‘‘(2) That it has at least one county, in which 
veterans reside, that has an employee who performs 
county veterans service officer functions and is able 
to demonstrate a need for training for that employee 
in those functions. 
‘‘(e) COMPETITION FOR GRANT.—An eligible State 
seeking a grant under this section shall submit to the Sec-
retary an application for the grant. The application shall 
be in such form and shall contain such information as the 
Secretary may require, including information establishing 
that the State is an eligible State under this section. From 
the applications submitted the Secretary shall approve 
those applications that the Secretary determines to be the
most promising in carrying out the purposes of the grant 
program. Each State whose application is selected by the 
Secretary to receive a grant under the grant program shall 
receive funds in an amount determined by the Secretary 
under subsection (c). In making such determination, the 
Secretary shall take into consideration the amount of the 
total appropriation for the grant program, the relative size 
of the State’s veteran population, and the funding nec-
essary to improve outreach of veterans residing in rural 
counties through the training of county veteran service of-
ficers in those counties. Such funds shall go to the State 
department of veterans’ affairs. 
‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE RECEIPT OF FED-
ERAL FUNDS.—Each State receiving a grant under this 
section shall— 
‘‘(1) provide to the Secretary information and 
assurances that the funds received under the grant 
program for the training of county veteran service 
officers will go to assist counties which, in accord-
ance with standards and classification of the Census 
Bureau, consist entirely of territory, population, and 
housing units outside of territory classified by the 
Census Bureau as an ‘urban area’; 
‘‘(2) provide an assurance that the State agency 
shall provide training in a manner consistent with
accepted State or national training programs for 
county veteran service officers; 
‘‘(3) use funds received under this section only 
to supplement the amount of funds that would, in 
the absence of such Federal funds, be made avail-
able from non-Federal sources for the purposes of 
this section, and not to supplant such funds; and 
‘‘(4) submit a report to the Secretary not later 
than one year after the receipt of such grant out-
lining how the grant money was spent, such report 
to be in such form and containing such information 
as the Secretary may require but including informa-
tion on how the training was provided to county vet-
erans services officers and the effect of such training 
on improving outreach to veterans residing in rural 
counties. 
‘‘(g) COUNTY VETERAN SERVICE OFFICER.—For 
purposes of this section, a county veteran service officer 
is an employee of a county (regardless of job title) whose 
duties include providing to veterans residing in the county 
advice and casework services related to benefits provided 
under laws administered by the Secretary. 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Vet-
erans’ Affairs to carry out the provisions of this section 
$2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2010.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 531 the following new 
item: 
‘‘532. Grants to assist certain rural counties in training county veteran service 
officers.’’. 
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