Topic: Defense — Installations & Land
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2012-05-23 00:00:00

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013 - Title I: Department of Defense - Appropriates funds for FY2013 for the Department of Defense (DOD) for: (1) military construction for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and Air Force (military departments), DOD, the Army and Air National Guard, and the Army, Navy, and Air Force reserves; (2) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Security Investment Program; (3) family housing construction and related operation and maintenance for the military departments and DOD; (4) the Department of Defense Family Housing Improvement Fund; (5) chemical demilitarization construction; and (6) the Department of Defense Base Closure Accounts of 1990 and 2005. Specifies restrictions and authorizations regarding the use of funds appropriated in this title and in other military construction appropriations Acts. (Sec. 110) Prohibits appropriated funds from being used to initiate a new installation overseas without prior notification to the congressional appropriations committees. (Sec. 113) Directs the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to notify the appropriate congressional committees 30 days in advance of the plans and scope of any proposed military exercise involving U.S. personnel if construction costs are anticipated to exceed $100,000. (Sec. 119) Authorizes the transfer of DOD funds for expenses associated with the Homeowners Assistance Program under the Metropolitan Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966. (Sec. 122) Places specified restrictions and limitations on the obligation or expenditure of funds made available in this title or in any other military construction appropriations Act to carry out a military construction, land acquisition, or family housing project at or for a military installation approved for closure, or for supporting a function that has been approved for realignment to another installation, in 2005 under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990. (Sec. 123) Provides for the transfer of lapsed unobligated military construction and family housing funds into the Foreign Currency Fluctuations, Defense account. (Sec. 124) Prohibits the Secretary from using appropriated funds to take beneficial occupancy of more than 2,000 parking spaces provided by the BRAC (base realignment and closure) 133 project (northern Virginia). Allows a waiver of such prohibition under limited circumstances. (Sec. 125) Prohibits this Act's funds from being used for any action that relates to or promotes the expansion of the boundaries or size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado. (Sec. 126) Prohibits the Secretary of the Army from using appropriated funds to relocate an Army unit that: (1) performs a testing mission or function that is not performed by any other Army unit and is statutorily required, and (2) is located at a military installation at which the total number of Army civilian employees and contractor personnel exceeds 10% of the total number of regular and reserve Army personnel assigned there. Allows an exception if such Secretary notifies the defense committees of such relocation's compliance with Army Regulation 5-10 concerning the policy, procedures, and responsibilities for Army stationing actions. (Sec. 127) Cancels from prior appropriations Acts: (1) $20 million in defense-wide military construction funds, and (2) $212.291 million for the Department of Defense Base Closure Account 2005. (Sec. 129) Reduces by $2.334 million the total amount available in this Act for DOD civilian personnel. Title II: Department of Veterans Affairs - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) the Veterans Benefits Administration, (2) readjustment benefits, (3) veterans insurance and indemnities, (4) the Veterans Housing Benefit Program Fund, (5) the Vocational Rehabilitation Loans Program, (6) the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program, (7) the Veterans Health Administration (including for medical and prosthetic research and information technology systems), (8) the National Cemetery Administration, (9) the Office of the Inspector General, (10) construction for major and minor projects, and (11) grants for the construction of state extended care facilities and veterans cemeteries. Specifies restrictions and authorizations regarding the use of funds appropriated in this title. (Sec. 210) Makes funds from this title available to reimburse expenses of the Office of Resolution Management and the Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication, within specified limits. (Sec. 216) Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Secretary, for purposes of this title) to enter into agreements with certain Indian tribes and tribal organizations in rural Alaska to provide health care, including behavioral health and dental care. (Sec. 219) Directs the Secretary to report quarterly to the appropriations committees on the financial status of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). (Sec. 223) Allows certain VA funds to be used to fund operations of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Requires written notification from the Secretary to the appropriations committees of any fund transfers for such purpose. (Sec. 226) Directs the Secretary to notify the appropriations committees on all bid savings in major construction projects that total at least $5 million or 5% of the programmed amount, whichever is less. (Sec. 228) Directs the Secretary to notify the appropriations committees quarterly concerning any single national outreach and awareness marketing campaign in which obligations exceed $2 million. (Sec. 229) Directs the Secretary to include in a current annual sufficiency letter to Congress a description of any changes exceeding $250 million in funding requirements for the Medical Services account resulting from the spring recalculation of the Enrollee Healthcare Projection Model. (Sec. 230) Requires the Secretary to submit a reprogramming request to the appropriations committees whenever a change of 10% or more is proposed in funding for the current or advance year in the Medical Services initiatives listed in the congressional submission. (Sec. 231) Rescinds specified funds made available in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 for the VA's Medical services, Medical support and compliance, and Medical facilities accounts. (Sec. 232) Reduces by specified amounts funds made available in this Act for the Veterans Health Administration, the National Cemetery Administration, and VA departmental administration. Title III: Related Agencies - Appropriates funds for: (1) the American Battle Monuments Commission, (2) the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, (3) cemeterial expenses, and (4) the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Title IV: Overseas Contingency Operations - Appropriates funds for Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism, specifically for Navy and Marine Corps military construction. Title V: General Provisions - Specifies restrictions and authorities regarding the use of funds appropriated in this Act. (Sec. 507) Prohibits this Act's funds from being used for: (1) a project or program named for an individual serving as a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner of the U.S. House of Representatives; (2) maintaining or establishing a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography; (3) funding the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); (4) exercising the power of eminent domain without the payment of just compensation; (5) renovating, expanding, or constructing any facility in the United States in order to house any non-U.S. citizen detained at U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; (6) paying for first-class travel by an agency employee in contravention of federal employee travel requirements; (7) entering into a contract or agreement with any corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation within the preceding 24 months, or that carries an unpaid federal tax liability; or (8) requiring or prohibiting bidders, contractors, and subcontractors from entering into or adhering to agreements with one or more labor organizations. (Sec. 518) Prohibits the applicable allocation of new budget authority under this Act from exceeding the amount of proposed new budget authority.