Official Summaries

Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act

This bill expands and makes permanent the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) grant program that provides transportation options to veterans for medical purposes.

First, the bill expands the program to cover transportation for veterans in rural areas, in addition to veterans in highly rural areas (who are already eligible under the program).

The bill also authorizes the VA to award such grants to county veterans service organizations and tribal organizations to assist veterans with transportation for medical care.

Further, the bill increases the maximum grant amount to $60,000. However, if a grant recipient is required to purchase a vehicle to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, such grant amount may be increased to not more than $80,000.

Finally, the bill defines rural and highly rural in the same manner as the terms are given under the Rural-Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA) coding system of the Department of Agriculture. RUCA uses population density and commuting patterns to assign designations. 

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 784 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 784

 To expand and modify the grant program of the Department of Veterans 
  Affairs to provide innovative transportation options to veterans in 
              highly rural areas, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2025

Mr. Ossoff (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To expand and modify the grant program of the Department of Veterans 
  Affairs to provide innovative transportation options to veterans in 
              highly rural areas, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Veterans Transportation to 
Care Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION AND MODIFICATION OF TRANSPORTATION GRANT PROGRAM OF 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    Section 307 of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services 
Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-163; 38 U.S.C. 1710 note) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by inserting ``rural or'' 
        before ``highly'';
            (2) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by inserting ``rural or'' before ``highly'' 
                each place it appears;
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                        subparagraph (C);
                            (ii) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 
                        the following new subparagraph (B):
                    ``(B) County veterans service organizations.''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following 
                        new subparagraph:
                    ``(D) Tribal organizations.'';
                    (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``A State 
                veterans service agency or veterans service 
                organization awarded'' and inserting ``A recipient 
                of''; and
                    (D) by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the 
                following new paragraph (4):
            ``(4) Maximum amount.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), the amount of a grant under this 
                section may not exceed $60,000.
                    ``(B) Additional amount to purchase a vehicle.--The 
                amount of a grant under this section to a recipient may 
                be increased to an amount not to exceed $80,000 if the 
                recipient is required to purchase a vehicle to comply 
                with the requirements of the Americans with 
                Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) in 
                carrying out this section.'';
            (3) in subsection (c), by striking paragraph (1) and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(1) Rural; highly rural.--The terms `rural' and `highly 
        rural' have the meanings given those terms under the Rural-
        Urban Commuting Areas (RUCA) coding system of the Department of 
        Agriculture.''; and
            (4) in subsection (d), by striking ``$3,000,000 for each of 
        fiscal years 2010 through 2022'' and inserting ``such sums as 
        may be necessary''.
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