HF 534 (LSB 1443HV (1) 91)

HOUSE FILE 534

BY  COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 27)

(COMPANION TO SF 252 BY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the veterans trust fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 35A.13, subsection 5, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  a.  For each fiscal year that the balance of the trust fund on July 1 is below fifty seventy-five million dollars, the interest and earnings on moneys in the fund and the first five hundred thousand dollars transferred pursuant to section 99G.39 from the lottery fund are appropriated to the commission to be used to achieve the purposes of subsection 8. Moneys appropriated to the commission under this paragraph that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the end of the fiscal year shall revert to the fund.
   b.  For each fiscal year that the balance of the trust fund on July 1 is above fifty million dollars but the balance of the fund was below fifty million dollars on July 1 of the previous fiscal year, moneys transferred pursuant to section 99G.39 from the lottery fund are appropriated to the commission to be used to achieve the purposes of subsection 8. Moneys appropriated to the commission under this paragraph that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the end of the fiscal year shall revert to the fund.
   c.  For each fiscal year that the balance of the trust fund on July 1 is above fifty million dollars and the balance of the fund was above fifty million dollars on July 1 of the previous fiscal year, moneys equal to the net income the fund received in the previous fiscal year are appropriated to the commission to be used to achieve the purposes of subsection 8. Moneys appropriated to the commission under this paragraph that remain unencumbered or unobligated at the end of the fiscal year shall revert to the fund. For the purposes of this paragraph, “income” means moneys credited to the veterans trust fund pursuant to subsection 2 and moneys transferred pursuant to section 99G.39.
   d.  b.  Notwithstanding paragraphs paragraph “a”, “b”, and “c”, moneys credited to the war orphans educational assistance account shall be expended as provided in subsection 9.
   e.  c.  Notwithstanding paragraphs paragraph “a”, “b”, and “c”, moneys transferred under subsection 6 to the county commission of veteran affairs training program account shall be expended as provided in section 35A.16.
    Sec. 2.  Section 99G.39, subsection 3, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Two million five hundred thousand dollars in lottery revenues shall be transferred each fiscal year to the veterans trust fund established pursuant to section 35A.13 prior to deposit of the lottery revenues in the general fund pursuant to section 99G.40. However, if the balance of the veterans trust fund is fifty million dollars or more, the moneys shall be appropriated to the department for distribution to county directors of veteran affairs, with fifty percent of the moneys to be distributed equally to each county and fifty percent of the moneys to be distributed to each county based upon the population of veterans in the county, so long as the moneys distributed to a county do not supplant moneys appropriated by that county for the county director of veteran affairs, unless the balance of the veterans trust fund is equal to or greater than seventy-five million dollars at the beginning of the fiscal year.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the veterans trust fund. 
   The bill requires that each fiscal year in which the balance of the veterans trust fund is below $75 million, rather than $50 million, the interest on the veterans trust fund and the first $500,000 received from the lottery fund be appropriated to the commission of veterans affairs to provide various benefits to veterans and veterans’ families according to Code section 35A.13(8). The bill removes the requirement that when the balance of the veterans trust fund is above $50 million but was below $50 million the previous fiscal year, moneys transferred from the lottery fund be appropriated to the commission of veterans affairs to be used according to Code section 35A.13(8). The bill also removes the requirement that when the balance of the veterans trust fund for both the present and the previous fiscal year are above $50 million, the net income of the veterans trust fund from the previous fiscal year be appropriated to the commission of veterans affairs to be used according to Code section 35A.13(8). The bill removes the requirement that the moneys from the lottery fund be distributed to county directors of veteran affairs when the veterans trust fund has a balance of more than $50 million, and terminates transfers from the lottery fund for each fiscal year in which the veterans trust fund has a balance of at least $75 million.