Rule2022-28334
Statutory Increase in Operations and Maintenance Grant Funding
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 30, 2022
Effective
December 30, 2022
Issuing agencies
Veterans Affairs Department
Abstract
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that govern Federal grants to establish, expand, improve, or operate and maintain veterans' cemeteries. This final rule implements new statutory amendments to increase the maximum amount of grants to States and Tribal Organizations to operate and maintain veterans' cemeteries as authorized by section 2206 of the "Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020" (the Act). Effective on January 5, 2021, the maximum amount of operation and maintenance grants increased from $5 million to $10 million. This final rule implements that statutory change. Additionally, VA is revising the date by which the list of approved pre-applications is prioritized for fiscal year funding from August 15 to October 1 each year.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 250 (Friday, December 30, 2022)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 250 (Friday, December 30, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 80460-80462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28334]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 39
RIN 2900-AR71
Statutory Increase in Operations and Maintenance Grant Funding
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its
regulations that govern Federal grants to establish, expand, improve,
or operate and maintain veterans' cemeteries. This final rule
implements new statutory amendments to increase the maximum amount of
grants to States and Tribal Organizations to operate and maintain
veterans' cemeteries as authorized by section 2206 of the ``Johnny
Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits
Improvement Act of 2020'' (the Act). Effective on January 5, 2021, the
maximum amount of operation and maintenance grants increased from $5
million to $10 million. This final rule implements that statutory
change. Additionally, VA is revising the date by which the list of
approved pre-applications is prioritized for fiscal year funding from
August 15 to October 1 each year.
DATES: This rule is effective December 30, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Eisenbach, Director of Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program, National Cemetery Administration (41E),
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20420. Telephone: (202) 632-7369. (This is not a toll-free telephone
number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule amends 38 CFR part 39 to
conform with statutory amendments made by section 2206 of Public Law
116-315, the ``Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health
Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020'' (the Act). The Act amended
Section 2408(f)(2) of title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.) to increase
the maximum amount of grants VA could award for operating and
maintaining Veterans' cemeteries from $5 million to $10 million.
To implement this authority, VA is revising regulatory text to
replace ``$5 million'' with ``$10 million'' every place it appears in
39 CFR 39.3 and 39.80. Specifically, VA is revising the information for
Priority Group 4 operation and maintenance grants in existing 38 CFR
39.3(c) to update the reference to the maximum grant awards to be made
in any fiscal year from $5 million to $10 million. Similarly, we are
revising the grant award information in Sec. 39.80(a)(2) and (b) to
clarify that operations and maintenance grants for Priority Group 4
projects must not result in a payment of more than $10 million.
In Sec. 39.3(d), VA is replacing ``By August 15 of each year''
with ``By October 1 of each year'' to align the date for finalizing the
prioritization of preapplications to the beginning of the fiscal year
in which the associated final grant applications will be eligible for
award. The August 15 date is not required by statute, but instead was a
self-imposed deadline for finalizing the priority listing of
preapplications when the grant program was first established. Since
then, the number of preapplications has grown, and VA needs the
additional time to conduct the final prioritization. VA publishes this
date in regulation to ensure transparency and awareness of the process
within the interested grant community.
Preapplications are accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis;
however, only those preapplications that were received on or before
July 1 of the current fiscal year are eligible for consideration in the
prioritization process for the upcoming/next fiscal year. The
preapplication process serves as a means to determine whether the
proposed project conforms to statutory and regulatory requirements. If
the preapplication is conforming, VA notifies the State or Tribal
Organization that the preapplication has been found to meet the
requirements, and the proposed project is included in the
prioritization.
This change from August 15 to October 1 for finalizing the
prioritization list expands VA's timeframe for conducting the
prioritization of preapplications by approximately 45 calendar days.
This does not affect a grant applicant's ability or opportunity to
submit a final grant application for the fiscal year in which it is
eligible for award and does not affect timeframes for awarding grants.
Applicants may begin preparing final grant applications at any time and
may submit the final application at any time. The October 1 date is
merely the announcement of the priority of proposed projects based on
preapplications and reflects the order in which those projects will be
awarded and funded. Additionally, publishing this date in regulation is
primarily informational for grant applicants and is not related to any
subsequent deadlines that would affect applicants. VA works with grant
applicants throughout the
[[Page 80461]]
final application process to award grants based on priority and
available funding in accordance with 38 CFR part 39.
Administrative Procedure Act
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs finds that there is good cause
under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to publish this rule without
prior opportunity for public comment and dispense with the 30-day delay
for the effective date of a rule under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). Pursuant to
section 553(b)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act, general notice
and opportunity for public comment are not required with respect to a
rulemaking when an ``agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the
finding and a brief statement of reasons therefor in the rules issued)
that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.'' Pursuant to section
553(d)(3), an agency may ``for good cause found'' dispense with the 30-
day delay in the effective date of a rule. Because the increased grant
amount is authorized by law and effective immediately, the Secretary
finds that it is unnecessary to delay issuance of this rule for the
purpose of soliciting prior public comment or to delay the rule's
effective date. By statute, Congress has imposed a cap on the amount
that VA expends for operation and maintenance grants, and VA
regulations provide that VA will award operations and maintenance
grants up to, but not exceeding, that cap. VA is not changing its
policy of awarding operation and maintenance grants up to the statutory
cap, but merely updating the regulation to reflect the statutory cap
now in effect. See Hadson Gas Sys. v. FERC, 75 F.3d 680, 684 (D.C. Cir.
1996) (finding that the act of amending regulatory language to reflect
statutory changes does not require an agency to engage in notice and
comment with respect to unchanged aspects of the regulatory scheme).
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess the
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, when
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public
health and safety effects, and other advantages; distributive impacts;
and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory
Review) emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has determined that
this rule is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order
12866.
The Regulatory Impact Analysis associated with this rulemaking can
be found as a supporting document at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, is not applicable
to this rulemaking because notice of proposed rulemaking is not
required. 5 U.S.C. 601(2), 603(a), 604(a).
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C.
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by
State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for
inflation) in any one year. This final rule will have no such effect on
State, local, and tribal governments, or on the private sector.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This final rule contains no provisions constituting a collection of
information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-
3521).
Assistance Listing
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program number and title
for this final rule is 64.203, Veterans Cemetery Grants Program.
Congressional Review Act
Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.),
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this rule
as not a major rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 39
Cemeteries, Grant Programs--veterans, Veterans.
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on December 22, 2022, and authorized the undersigned to sign
and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Jeffrey M. Martin,
Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans
Affairs amends 38 CFR part 39 as set forth below:
PART 39--AID FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, AND IMPROVEMENT, OR
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, OF VETERANS CEMETERIES.
0
1. The authority citation for Part 39 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101, 501, 2408, 2411, 3765.
Subpart A--General Provisions
0
2. Amend Sec. 39.3 by revising paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 39.3 Priority list.
* * * * *
(c) Grants for projects within Priority Group 4 will be awarded in
any fiscal year only after grants for all project applications under
Priority Groups 1, 2, and 3 that are ready for funding have been
awarded. Within Priority Group 4, projects will be ranked in priority
order based upon VA's determination of the relative importance of
proposed improvements and the degree to which proposed Operation and
Maintenance Projects achieve NCA national shrine standards of
appearance. No more than $10 million in any fiscal year will be awarded
for Operation and Maintenance Projects under Priority Group 4.
(d) By October 1 of each year, VA will make a list prioritizing all
preapplications that were received on or before July 1 of that year and
that were approved under Sec. 39.31 or Sec. 39.81, ranking them in
their order of priority within the applicable Priority Group for
funding during the fiscal year. Preapplications from previous years
will be re-prioritized each year and do not need to be resubmitted.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
0
3. Amend Sec. 39.80 by revising paragraphs (a)(2) and (b) to read as
follows:
Sec. 39.80 General requirements for a grant.
(a) * * *
(2) Its project must be ranked sufficiently high within Priority
Group 4 as defined in Sec. 39.3 for the applicable fiscal year so that
funds are available for the project, and a grant for the project must
not result in payment of more than the $10 million total amount
permissible for all Operation and Maintenance Projects in any fiscal
year;
* * * * *
(b) VA may approve under Sec. 39.85 any Operation and Maintenance
Project grant application up to the amount of the grant requested once
the
[[Page 80462]]
requirements under paragraph (a) of this section have been satisfied,
provided that sufficient funds are available, and that total amount of
grants awarded during any fiscal year for Operation and Maintenance
Projects does not exceed $10 million. In determining whether sufficient
funds are available, VA shall consider the project's ranking in
Priority Group 4; the total amount of funds available for cemetery
grant awards in Priority Group 4 during the applicable fiscal year; and
the prospects of higher-ranking projects being ready for the award of a
grant before the end of the applicable fiscal year.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
[FR Doc. 2022-28334 Filed 12-29-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 30, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.