Topic: Defense — Personnel Issues
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2016-09-06 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on September 12, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out the following leases at the VA's West Los Angeles Campus in Los Angeles, California:

 any enhanced-use lease of real property for supportive housing that principally benefits veterans and their families; any lease of real property for not to exceed 50 years to a third party for services that principally benefit veterans and their families and that are related to health and wellness, education, vocational training and employment, peer activities or recreation, legal and federal benefits assistance, volunteerism, family support services, and transportation; and a lease of real property for up to 10 years to the Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the University of California, Los Angeles, if the lease is consistent with the VA master plan, the provision of veterans services is the predominant focus, and the Regents agree to provide non-VA compensated additional services that principally benefit veterans and their families. The VA shall not enter into land-sharing agreements unless the agreements provide additional health care resources and benefit veterans and their families in ways other than generating additional revenue.

Funds received by the VA from a lease shall be credited to the applicable VA medical facilities account and shall be available, without fiscal year limitation and without further appropriation, exclusively for campus renovation and maintenance.

The VA may, notwithstanding any other provision of law other than federal laws relating to environmental and historic preservation, grant easements or rights-of-way on, above, or under campus lands to: (1) any local or regional public transportation authority to construct, operate, or maintain public mass transit facilities; and (2) California, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, any agency or political subdivision thereof, or any public utility company for the purpose of providing public utilities.

The VA may not sell or convey to a third party fee simple title to any real property or related improvements made at the campus.

The VA shall ensure that each lease is consistent with the draft master plan approved by the VA on January 28, 2016, or successor master plans.

The VA shall establish, within 180 days, a Community Veterans Engagement Board to coordinate locally with the VA to: (1) identify community goals; and (2) provide advice to improve services for veterans, members of the Armed Forces, and their families.

The VA shall submit, annually, an evaluation of all campus leases and land-sharing agreements.

The VA Inspector General shall report on: (1) all campus leases; and (2) the VA's management of land use at the campus, including an assessment of efforts to implement the master plan.

(Sec. 3) The VA may not waive or postpone the obligation of a lessee to pay any consideration under an enhanced-use lease, including monthly rent. (The enhanced-use lease program is a program in which the VA leases under-utilized real estate to the private sector for developing supportive housing and other services for homeless and at-risk veterans and their families.)

The bill provides that nothing in this bill shall be construed to: (1) authorize the VA to enter into an enhanced-use lease that authorizes the federal government to guarantee a third party loan to a lessee; and (2) abrogate or constitute a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the United States with respect to any financial agreement between a lessee and a third-party relating to an enhanced-use lease.

The annual report on enhanced-use leases shall include: (1) identification of VA actions taken to implement and administer such leases, and (2) lease amounts deposited into the Medical Care Collection Fund account and the VA's use of such funds.

Such report shall also include with respect to each enhanced-use lease: (1) an overview of the VA's use of consideration received to support veterans, (2) the amount of consideration received by the VA under or relating to the lease, and (3) the costs to the VA of carrying out the lease.

The bill defines "major enhanced-use lease" as an enhanced-use lease that includes more than $10 million in average annual rent.

The Government Accountability Office shall submit an audit of the enhanced-use lease program within 270 days.