A study undertaken by the VA identified areas within the country where establishment of an appropriately sized national cemetery would have the maximum impact on service to veterans. Nationally, California ranks first in veteran population with a total of 2.9 million veterans. This represents 10.6percent of total national veteran population. In order of magnitude, therefore, northern California has been identified as the area of the country most in need of a national cemetery. The fiscal year' 86 budget requests $6 million to purchase land for a cemetery in northern California. a 150 acre tract The VA has two sites under consideration of land at the Camp Parks Reserve Forces training area in Dublin, and a 350-500 acre parcel privately owned in Merced County near the San Luis Reservoir. Although the VA has identified Camp Parks as their primary choice, there are several problems associated with this site. (1) There is a hold on excessing the 150 acres at Camp Parks by the Subcommittee on Military Facilities and Installations of the Armed Services Committee. It is not certain that even if excessed, the land would go to the VA as there are several other interested parties. (2) Under Administration policy, Federal agencies must pay the General Services Administration (GSA) fair market value for surplus government property. Several Committees of the House do not support the purchase of land by one Federal agency from another. As an example, the Armed Services Committee is on record as denying the Air Force and other agencies money to purchase property in 3 separate instances. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs does not support paying for land when an alternative site is available at no cost to the Government. (3) 150 acres is not sufficient to establish a cemetery of the magnitude needed in northern California. Assurances of more land are necessary. For these reasons, and in view of the critical need to establish a cemetery in northern California, the Committee is expected to pass legislation establishing a cemetery in Merced County, California, provided the land for the cemetery is transferred to the VA at no cost to the Federal Government. Of the 109 operative national cemeteries, 51 are in closed status. Although the remaining 58 have ample gravesite resources, they are not appropriately located or distributed to effectively meet all veterans' present or future burial needs. Interments in all national cemeteries have generally increased each year since establishment, and during the next 15 years, veteran deaths in the Nation will continue to increase annually. Available gravesites in the National Cemetery System will be greatly reduced and scattered in location. The projected peak period is estimated between the years 2000 and 2015. The Committee initiative requests the VA to submit in its annual budget request a five-year plan for the construction and expansion of the National Cemetery System; a list in order of priority of the 10 geographic areas in the United States in which the need for additional burial space for veterans is greatest. report must also include related projected costs similar to those being provided by the medical construction authorization plan mandated under section 5007 of title 38, U.S.c. The In addition, the bill would require the placement of upright headstones in national cemeteries. Approximately 70 percent of all markers placed in national cemeteries are flat. The Committee has received numerous complaints from areas subject to heavy snowfalls that flat markers are not visible for long periods of time, making it difficult for survivors to find the graves of their loved ones. |