I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8901 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish new requirements for State homes for veterans that receive per diem from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 8, 2020 Mr. KENNEDY (for himself and Mr. NEAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish new requirements for State homes for veterans that receive per diem from the Secretary 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 ‘‘Holyoke Veterans 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8901 IH SEC. 2. STATE HOMES FOR VETERANS: GOVERNING BOD- 1 IES; ADMINISTRATORS; INFECTION 2 PREVENTIONISTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1741 of title 38, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing new subsection: 6 ‘‘(g) A State home shall— 7 ‘‘(1) have a governing body that— 8 ‘‘(A) is legally responsible for establishing 9 and implementing policies regarding the man- 10 agement and operation of the State home; 11 ‘‘(B) consists of more than one person; and 12 ‘‘(C) appoints an administrator or deputy 13 superintendent described in paragraph (2); 14 ‘‘(2) employ an administrator or deputy super- 15 intendent who— 16 ‘‘(A) is licensed by the State, if required by 17 State law; and 18 ‘‘(B) meets standards established by the 19 Secretary of Health and Human Services under 20 subsection (f)(4) of sections 1819 and 1919 of 21 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–3, 22 1396r); 23 ‘‘(3) employ an infection preventionist (as that 24 term is defined in section 1744a of this title); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8901 IH ‘‘(4) include in information submitted each year 1 to the Secretary— 2 ‘‘(A) the name of the infection 3 preventionist under paragraph (3); and 4 ‘‘(B) an emergency plan, updated annually, 5 in case of public health emergency or other dis- 6 aster.’’. 7 (b) FUNDING OF INFECTION PREVENTIONISTS.— 8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 17 of title 38, 9 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 10 section 1744 the following new section: 11 ‘‘§ 1744a. Hiring and retention of infection 12 preventionists: payments to assist States 13 ‘‘(a) PAYMENT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall make 14 payments to States under this section for the purpose of 15 assisting State homes in the hiring and retention of infec- 16 tion preventionists. 17 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—Payments to a State 18 for a fiscal year under this section shall, subject to submis- 19 sion of an application, be made to any State that during 20 that fiscal year receives per diem payments under this sub- 21 chapter for that fiscal year. 22 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—A 23 payment under this section may not be used to provide 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8901 IH more than 50 percent of the salary or wages for an infec- 1 tion preventionist for a fiscal year. 2 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—A payment under this section 3 for any fiscal year with respect to any State home may 4 only be made based upon an application submitted by the 5 State seeking the payment with respect to that State 6 home. Any such application shall describe the salary or 7 wages of the infection preventionist. 8 ‘‘(e) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—Payments under this sec- 9 tion shall be made from funds available for other pay- 10 ments under this subchapter. 11 ‘‘(f) DISBURSEMENT.—Payments under this section 12 to a State home shall be made as part of the disbursement 13 of payments under section 1741 of this title with respect 14 to that State home. 15 ‘‘(g) USE OF CERTAIN RECEIPTS.—The Secretary 16 shall require as a condition of any payment under this sec- 17 tion that, in any case in which the State home receives 18 a refund payment made by an employee in breach of the 19 terms of an agreement for employee assistance that used 20 funds provided under this section, the payment shall be 21 returned to the State home’s incentive program account 22 and credited as a non-Federal funding source. 23 ‘‘(h) ANNUAL REPORT FROM PAYMENT.—(1) Any 24 State home receiving a payment under this section for any 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8901 IH fiscal year, shall, as a condition of the payment, be re- 1 quired to agree to provide to the Secretary a report setting 2 forth in detail the use of funds received through the pay- 3 ment, including the emergency plan under subsection (g) 4 of section 1741 of this title. 5 ‘‘(2) The report for any fiscal year shall be provided 6 to the Secretary within 60 days of the close of the fiscal 7 year and shall be subject to audit by the Secretary. Eligi- 8 bility for a payment under this section for any later fiscal 9 year is contingent upon the receipt by the Secretary of 10 the annual report under this subsection for the previous 11 fiscal year in accordance with this subsection. 12 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 13 regulations to carry out this section. The regulations shall 14 include the establishment of criteria for the award of pay- 15 ments under this section. 16 ‘‘(j) INFECTION PREVENTIONIST DEFINED.—In this 17 section, the term ‘infection preventionist’ means an indi- 18 vidual— 19 ‘‘(1) who has primary professional training in 20 nursing, medical technology, microbiology, epidemi- 21 ology, or a related field; 22 ‘‘(2) whom the Secretary determines is qualified 23 by education, training, experience, or certification; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8901 IH ‘‘(3) who works at least part-time at the State 1 home; and 2 ‘‘(4) who has completed specialized training in 3 infection prevention and control.’’. 4 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 5 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 6 by inserting, after the item relating to section 1744, 7 the following new item: 8 ‘‘1744a. Hiring and retention of infection preventionists: payments to assist States.’’. (c) GAO STUDY.—Not later than one year after the 9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 10 of the United States shall submit a report to Congress 11 containing the results of a study regarding how to improve 12 oversight of State homes by the Secretary. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8901.IH H8901 KHAMMond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with BILLS