Paul Benne Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2022 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for improvements to the specially adapted housing program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 27, 2019 Mr. MORAN (for himself and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for im- provements to the specially adapted housing program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Paul Benne Specially 4 Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2022.IS S2022 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2022 IS SEC. 2. PRIORITY IN AWARD OF SPECIALLY ADAPTED 1 HOUSING GRANTS TO SERIOUSLY ILL VET- 2 ERANS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2101 of title 38, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing new subsection: 6 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY FOR SERIOUSLY ILL VETERANS.—(1) 7 In providing assistance under this section, the Secretary 8 shall give priority to seriously ill veterans. 9 ‘‘(2) In this section, the term ‘seriously ill veteran’ 10 shall have the meaning given such term by the Sec- 11 retary.’’. 12 (b) DEFINITION OF SERIOUSLY ILL VETERAN.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than 90 days 14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 15 retary of Veterans Affairs shall— 16 (A) determine the meaning of the term 17 ‘‘seriously ill veteran’’ for purposes of sub- 18 section (d) of section 2101 of title 38, United 19 States Code, as added by subsection (a); and 20 (B) submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 21 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 22 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa- 23 tives the meaning of such term as so deter- 24 mined. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2022.IS S2022 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2022 IS (2) APPLICABILITY.—The definition of ‘‘seri- 1 ously ill veteran’’ as determined under paragraph (1) 2 shall apply for purposes of such subsection (d) be- 3 ginning on the date that is 30 days after the date 4 on which the Secretary submits to the Committees 5 on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of 6 Representatives the definition of such term as so de- 7 termined. 8 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 9 subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2020, and 10 apply with respect to assistance provided on or after that 11 date. 12 SEC. 3. INCREASE IN AMOUNTS OF ASSISTANCE PROVIDED. 13 (a) INCREASE IN NUMBER OF GRANTS PER VET- 14 ERAN.—Section 2102(d)(3) of title 38, United States 15 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘three’’ and inserting ‘‘six’’. 16 (b) INCREASE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS AU- 17 THORIZED TO BE APPROVED.—Section 2101(a)(4) of 18 such title is amended by striking ‘‘30 applications’’ and 19 inserting ‘‘120 applications’’. 20 (c) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE 21 FOR ADAPTATION TO VETERAN’S RESIDENCE.—Section 22 2102(b)(2) of such title is amended by striking ‘‘$12,000’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘$19,733’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:39 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2022.IS S2022 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2022 IS (d) INCREASE IN AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF ASSIST- 1 ANCE FOR ACQUISITION OF HOUSING WITH SPECIAL 2 FEATURES.—Section 2102(d)(1) of such title is amended 3 by striking ‘‘$63,780’’ and inserting ‘‘$98,492’’. 4 (e) INCREASE IN AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF ASSIST- 5 ANCE FOR ADAPTATIONS TO VETERANS’ RESIDENCES.— 6 Section 2102(d)(2) of such title is amended by striking 7 ‘‘$12,756’’ and inserting ‘‘$19,733’’. 8 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION.—The 9 amendments made by this section shall take effect on Oc- 10 tober 1, 2020. The amendments made by subsections (c) 11 and (d) shall apply with respect to individuals who have 12 not received the maximum amount of assistance under 13 section 2101 of title 38, United States Code, before such 14 date. 15 SEC. 4. PROVISION OF ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS OF SPE- 16 CIALLY ADAPTED HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR 17 CERTAIN VETERANS. 18 Section 2102 of such title is amended by adding at 19 the end the following new subsection: 20 ‘‘(f)(1) Notwithstanding the aggregate amounts spec- 21 ified in subsection (d), a covered veteran may apply for 22 and receive an additional amount of assistance under sub- 23 section (a) or (b) of section 2101 of this title in an amount 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2022.IS S2022 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2022 IS that does not exceed half of the amount specified in sub- 1 section (d). 2 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, a covered veteran is a veteran 3 who— 4 ‘‘(A) is described in section 2101(a)(2) of this 5 title; 6 ‘‘(B) first receives assistance under this chapter 7 on or after October 1, 2020; 8 ‘‘(C) as of the date of the veteran’s application 9 for assistance under paragraph (1), most recently 10 received assistance under this chapter more than ten 11 years before such date; and 12 ‘‘(D) lives in a home that the Secretary deter- 13 mines does not have adaptations that are reasonably 14 necessary because of the veteran’s disability.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Jul 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2022.IS S2022 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS