Grants to States for Construction or Acquisition of State Home Facilities

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 17

RIN 2900-AI84

Grants to States for Construction or Acquisition of State Home

Facilities

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This document amends the ``Medical'' regulations regarding

applications for grants to States for the construction or acquisition

of State home facilities. VA awards grants based on a priority ranking

system. Usually, the higher priority applications deplete the available

funding to the extent that the lowest ranking application to be offered

funding is offered only a partial grant. This final rule provides that

if the lowest ranking grant application receives only a partial grant

in a fiscal year and if such grant award is partial solely because VA

has insufficient funds for a full grant, the application would be

placed at the top of the list within its priority group for the next

fiscal year. Often applicants are hesitant to accept a partial grant

because of the uncertainty of receiving an additional grant the next

fiscal year. This final rule will encourage States to accept a partial

grant by creating the likelihood that the State would receive an

additional grant in the subsequent fiscal year. Accordingly, this will

help ensure that VA would be able to award grants to higher priority

applicants that might otherwise reject partial funding.

Also, this final rule provides that the applicant receiving partial

funding and receiving priority as proposed will not be required to

submit a second application for additional funds in the subsequent

fiscal year, but could be required to update information already

submitted. The first application would normally be adequate because the

grant award in the second fiscal year would be for the same project

which received the partial grant award.

Further, the final rule provides that the total amount awarded for

the application may not exceed 65 percent of the total cost of the

project as determined at the time of the second grant award for that

grant application. This is consistent with the statutory requirement

that limits grant awards to no more than 65 percent of the estimated

cost construction or acquisition.

DATES: Effective Date: December 15, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Kathleen Greve, Geriatrics and

Extended Care Strategic Healthcare Group, (202) 273-8534.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a document published in the Federal

Register on July 29, 1997 (62 FR 40492), VA proposed to amend the

``Medical'' regulations in 38 CFR part 17 as set forth in the SUMMARY

portion of this document. The document provided a 60-day comment

period, which ended on September 29, 1997. Three commentors submitted

comments, all of whom expressed full approval for the provisions of the

proposed rule.

Based on the rationale set forth in the proposed rule and this

document, the provisions of the proposed rule are adopted as a final

rule without change.

The Secretary hereby certifies that the adoption of this final rule

will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of

small entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5

U.S.C. 601-612. The rule will affect grants to States and will not

directly affect small entities. Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b),

this rule is exempt from the initial and final regulatory flexibility

analyses requirements of secs. 603 and 604.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program number for this

document is 64.005.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17

Administrative practice and procedure. Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism,

Claims, Drug abuse, Foreign relations, Government contracts, Grant

programs-health, Grant programs-veterans, Health care, Health

facilities, Health professions, Health records, Homeless, Medical and

dental schools, Medical devices, Medical research, Mental health

programs, Nursing homes, Philippines, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Scholarships and fellowships, Travel and transportation

expenses, Veterans.

Approved: November 3, 1997.

Hershel W. Gober,

Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

For the reasons set forth above, 38 CFR part 17 is amended as set

forth below:

PART 17--MEDICAL

1. The authority citation for part 17 continues to read as follow:

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 1721, unless otherwise noted.

2. In Sec. 17.212, paragraph (d) is added and the authority

citation for the section is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 17.212 Scope of grants program.

* * * * *

(d)(1) Notwithstanding paragraph (c) of this section and the

provisions for ranking projects within a priority group in

Sec. 17.213(c)(3)(i), the Secretary shall give an application first

priority within the priority group to which it is assigned on the list

of projects established under Sec. 17.213(d) for the next fiscal year

if:

(i) the State has accepted a grant for that application as of

August 15 of the current fiscal year that is less than the amount that

the Secretary would have awarded if VA had sufficient grant funds to

award the grant in such amount in that fiscal year; and

(ii) the application is the lowest ranking application on the

priority list for the current fiscal year for which grant funds are

available as of August 15 of that year.

(2) The Secretary shall not require a State to submit a second

grant application for a project which receives priority under paragraph

(d)(1) of this section but may require the State to update information

already submitted in the application for the project. The Secretary

shall determine the amount of a second grant at the time of the award

of that grant. In no case shall the total amount awarded for the

application exceed 65 percent of the total cost of the project as

determined at the time of the second grant award for that grant

application.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 8135(b))

[FR Doc. 97-29788 Filed 11-12-97; 8:45 am]

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