HF 2471 (LSB 5263HZ (1) 87)

HOUSE FILE 2471

BY  COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

(SUCCESSOR TO HF 2346)
(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 538)

A BILL FOR

An Act concerning the department of veterans affairs relating to membership on the commission of veterans affairs and expenditures from the veterans trust fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 35A.2, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2018, are amended to read as follows:
   1.  A commission of veterans affairs is created consisting of nine eleven persons who shall be appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate. Members shall be appointed to staggered terms of four years beginning and ending as provided in section 69.19. The governor shall fill a vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term. In addition to the members appointed by the governor, the director of the department and the commandant of the Iowa veterans home shall serve as nonvoting, ex officio members of the commission.
   2.  Eight Ten commissioners shall be honorably discharged members of the armed forces of the United States. The American legion of Iowa, disabled American veterans department of Iowa, veterans of foreign wars department of Iowa, American veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, the Vietnam veterans of America, and the military order of the purple heart, the paralyzed veterans of America, and the Iowa association of county commissioners and veteran service officers, through their department commanders, shall submit two names respectively from their organizations to the governor. The adjutant general and the Iowa affiliate of the reserve officers association shall submit names to the governor of persons to represent the Iowa national guard and the association. The governor shall appoint from the group of names submitted by the adjutant general and reserve officers association two representatives and from each of the other organizations one representative to serve as a member of the commission, unless the appointments would conflict with the bipartisan and gender balance provisions of sections 69.16 and 69.16A. In addition, the governor shall appoint one member of the public, knowledgeable in the general field of veterans affairs, to serve on the commission.
    Sec. 2.  Section 35A.13, subsection 3, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Moneys credited to the trust fund shall not be transferred, used, obligated, appropriated, or otherwise encumbered, except as provided in this section. Moneys in the trust fund may be used for cash flow purposes during a fiscal year provided that any moneys so allocated are returned to the trust fund by the end of that fiscal year. Moneys in the trust fund may also be used for cemetery grant development purposes provided that any moneys so allocated, except for moneys used for department of administrative services expenditures related to the grant, are returned to the trust fund upon receipt of federal funds received for such purposes.
    Sec. 3.  Section 35A.13, subsection 4, paragraph a, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  The minimum balance of the trust fund required prior to expenditure of moneys from the trust fund is five million dollars. Once the minimum balance is reached, the interest and earnings on the fund and the first three five hundred thousand dollars transferred each fiscal year pursuant to section 99G.39 from the lottery fund to the trust fund are appropriated to the commission to be used to achieve the purposes of subsection 6 of this section. Moneys appropriated to the commission that remain unobligated or unexpended at the end of each fiscal year shall revert to the trust fund. It is the intent of the general assembly that the balance in the trust fund reach fifty million dollars.
    Sec. 4.  Section 35A.13, subsection 6, paragraph l, Code 2018, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 5.  Section 35A.13, subsection 6, Code 2018, is amended by adding the following new paragraphs:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  o.  Rental housing assistance for veterans who meet the definition of homeless, as set out in 42 U.S.C. §11302, for payment of rental application fees needed for obtaining rental housing.
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  p.  Monetary assistance on a one-time basis per recipient to be used to prevent homelessness in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars per recipient.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill concerns the department of veterans affairs.
   Code section 35A.2, concerning the commission of veterans affairs, is amended to increase the membership on the commission from 9 to 11 persons. The bill provides that additional persons include a representative selected from names submitted by the paralyzed veterans of America and by the Iowa association of county commissioners and veteran service officers.
   Code section 35A.13, concerning the veterans trust fund, is amended.
   Code section 35A.13(3) is amended to provide that moneys used by the department of administrative services for expenditures related to cemetery grant development purposes are not required to be returned to the veterans trust fund upon receipt of federal funds received for cemetery grant development purposes.
   Code section 35A.13(4) is amended to provide that once the minimum balance in the trust fund of $5 million is reached, interest and earnings on the fund and the first $500,000, instead of the first $300,000, transferred to the fund from the Iowa lottery authority from lottery revenues may be used each fiscal year by the commission of veterans affairs for the purposes provided within the Code section.
   Code section 35A.13(6), concerning permissible uses for moneys in the veterans trust fund, is amended. The bill strikes the provision authorizing moneys in the trust fund to be expended for matching funds to veterans organizations to provide for accredited veteran service officers. The bill provides that moneys in the trust fund may be expended, upon a majority vote of the state commission of veterans affairs, for rental housing assistance for homeless veterans for the payment of rental application fees needed to secure rental housing, and for a one-time monetary assistance to prevent homelessness in an amount not to exceed $1,000 per recipient.