ministrator to be the proper charge as fixed by any applicable statute or valid administrative regulation.

(3) All or any part of the pension, compensation, or retirement pay payable on account of any incompetent veteran who is being furnished hospital treatment, institutional or domiciliary care may, in the discretion of the Administrator, be paid to the chief officer of the institution wherein the veteran is being furnished such treatment or care, to be properly accounted for by such chief officer and to be used for the benefit of the veteran.

(c) Any veteran subject to the provisions of subsection (b) shall be deemed to be single and without dependents in the absence of satisfactory evidence to the contrary. In no event shall increased compensation, pension or retirement pay of such veteran be granted for any period more than one year before receipt of satisfactory evidence showing such veteran has a wife, child, or dependent parent. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or any other provision of law, no reduction shall be made in the pension of any veteran for any part of the period during which he is furnished hospital treatment, or institutional or domiciliary care, for Hansen's disease, by the United States or any political subdivision thereof.

(e) Where any veteran in receipt of an aid and attendance allowance described in section 314(r) of this title is hospitalized at Government expense, such allowance shall be discontinued from the first day of the second calendar month which begins after the date of his admission for such hospitalization for so long as such hospitalization continues. Any discontinuance required by administrative regulation, during hospitalization of a veteran by the Veterans' Administration, of increased pension based on need of regular aid and attendance or additional compensation based on need of regular aid and attendance as described in subsection (1) or (m) of section 314 of this title, shall not be effective earlier than the first day of the second calendar month which begins after the date of the veteran's admission for hospitalization. In case a veteran affected by this subsection leaves a hospital against medical advice and is thereafter admitted to hospitalization within six months from the date of such departure, such allowance, increased pension, or additional compensation, as the case may be, shall be discontinued from the date of such readmission for so long as such hospitalization continues.1

1Sec. 3. Public Law 89-362 provides: "The amendments made by this Act shall also apply to cases in which pension eligibility is subject to the provisions of section 9(b) of the Veterans' Pension Act of 1959."

SECTION 306 OF PUBLIC LAW 95-588

SAVINGS PROVISIONS FOR PERSONS ENTITLED TO PENSION AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1978

SEC. 306. (a)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), any person who as of December 31, 1978, is entitled to receive pension under section 521, 541, or 542 of title 38, United States Code, may elect to receive pension under such section as in effect after such date, subject to the terms and conditions in effect with respect to the receipt of such pension. Any such election shall be made in such form and manner as the Administrator may prescribe. If pension is paid pursuant to such an election, the election shall be irrevocable.

(B) Any veteran eligible to make an election under subparagraph (A) who is married to another veteran who is also eligible to make such an election may not make such an election unless both such veterans make such an election.

(2) Any person eligible to make an election under paragraph (1) who does not make such an election shall continue to receive pension at the monthly rate being paid to such person on December 31, 1978, subject to all provisions of law applicable to basic eligibility for and payment of pension under section 521, 541, or 542, as appropriate, of title 38, United States Code, as in effect on December 31, 1978, except that

(A) pension may not be paid to such person if such person's annual income (determined in accordance with section 503 of title 38, United States Code, as in effect on December 31, 1978) exceeds $4,038, in the case of a veteran or surviving spouse without dependents, $5,430, in the case of a veteran or surviving spouse with one or more dependents, or $3,299, in the case of a child; and

(B) the amount prescribed in subsection (f)(1) of section 521 of such title (as in effect on December 31, 1978) shall be $1,285; as each such amount is increased from time to time under paragraph (3).

(3) Whenever there is an increase under section 3112 of title 38, United States Code (as added by section 304 of this Act), in the maximum annual rates of pension under sections 521, 541, and 542 of such title, as in effect after December 31, 1978, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall, effective on the date of such increase under such section 3112, increase

(A) the annual income limitations in effect under paragraph (2); and

(B) the amount of income of a veteran's spouse excluded from the annual income of such veteran under section 521(f)(1) of such title, as in effect on December 31, 1978;

by the same percentage as the percentage by which such maximum annual rates under such sections 521, 541, and 542 are increased. (b)(1) Effective January 1, 1979, section 9 of the Veterans' Pension Act of 1959 (Public Law 86-211) is repealed.

(2)A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), any person who as of December 31, 1978, is entitled to receive pension under section 9(b) of the Veterans' Pension Act of 1959 may elect to receive pension under section 521, 541, or 542 or title 38, United States Code, as in effect after such date, subject to the terms and conditions in effect with respect to the receipt of such pension. Any such election shall be made in such form and manner as the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs may prescribe. If pension is paid pursuant to such an election, the election shall be irrevocable.

(B) Any veteran eligible to make an election under subparagraph (A) who is married to another veteran who is also eligible to make such an election may not make such an election unless both such veterans make such an election.

(3) Any person eligible to make an election under paragraph (2) who does not make such an election shall continue to receive pension at the monthly rate being paid to such person on December 31, 1978, subject to all provisions of law applicable to basic eligibility for and payment of pension under section 9(b) of the Veterans' Pension Act of 1959, as in effect on December 31, 1978, except that pension may not be paid to such person if such person's annual income (determined in accordance with the applicable provisions of law, as in effect on December 31, 1978) exceeds $3,534, in the case of a veteran or surviving spouse without dependents or in the case of a child, or $5,098, in the case of a veteran or surviving spouse with one or more dependents, as each such amount is increased from time to time under paragraph (4).

(4) Whenever there is an increase under section 3112 of title 38, United States Code (as added by section 304 of this Act), in the maximum annual rates of pension under sections 521, 541, and 542 of such title, as in effect after December 31, 1978, the Administrator shall, effective on the date of such increase under such section 3112, increase the annual income limitations in effect under paragraph (3) by the same percentage as the percentage by which the maximum annual rates under such sections 521, 542, and 543 are increased.

(c) Any case in which—

(1) a claim for pension is pending in the Veterans' Administration on December 31, 1978;

(2) a claim for pension is filed by a veteran after December 31, 1978, and within one year after the date on which such veteran became totally and permanently disabled, if such veteran become totally and permanently disabled before January 1, 1979; or

(3) a claim for pension is filed by a surviving spouse or by a child after December 31, 1978, and within one year after the date of death of the veteran through whose relationship such

claim is made, if the death of such veteran occurred before January 1, 1979;

shall be adjudicated under title 38, United States Code, as in effect on December 31, 1978. Any benefits determined to be payable as the result of the adjudication of such a claim shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (a).

(d) In any case in which any person who as of December 31, 1978, is entitled to receive pension under section 521, 541, or 542 of title 38, United States Code, or under section 9(b) of the Veterans' Pension Act of 1959, elects (in accordance with subsection (a) (1) or (b)(2), as appropriate) before October 1, 1979, to receive pension under such section as in effect after December 31, 1978, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall pay to such person an amount equal to the amount by which the amount of pension benefits such person would have received had such election been made on January 1, 1979, exceeds the amount of pension benefits actually paid to such person for the period beginning on January 1, 1979, and ending on the date preceding the date of such election.

(e) Whenever there is an increase under subsections (a)(3) and (b)(4) in the annual income limitations with respect to persons being paid pension under subsections (a)(2) and (b)(3), the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall publish such annual income limitations, as increased pursuant to such subsections, in the Federal Register at the same time as the material required by section 215(i)(2)(D) of the Social Security Act is published by reason of a determination under section 215(i) of such Act.

SECTION 6 OF THE NATIONAL CEMETERIES ACT OF 1973 (PUBLIC LAW 93-43)

SEC. 6. (a)(1) There are hereby transferred from the Secretary of the Army to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs all jurisdiction over, and responsibility for, (A) all national cemeteries (except the cemetery at the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home and Arlington National Cemetery), and (B) any other cemetery (including burial plots), memorial, or monument under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Army immediately preceding the effective date of this section (except the cemetery located at the United States Military Academy at West Point) which the President determines would be appropriate in carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2) There are hereby transferred from the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Air Force to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs all jurisdiction over, and responsibility for, any cemetery (including burial plots), memorial, or monument under the jurisdiction of either Secretary immediately preceding the effective date of this section (except those cemeteries located at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, the United States Naval Home Cemetery at Philadelphia, and the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs) which the President determines would be appropriate in carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(b) So much of the personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations and other funds available to, or under the jurisdiction of, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, in connection with functions transferred by this Act, as determined by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, are transferred to the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs.

(c) All offenses committed and all penalties and forfeitures incurred under any of the provisions of law amended or repealed by this Act may be prosecuted and punished in the same manner and with the same effect as if such amendments or repeals had not been made.

(d) All rules, regulations, orders, permits, and other privileges issued or granted by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Secretary of the Air Force with respect to the cemeteries, memorials, and monuments transferred to the Veterans' Administration by this Act, unless contrary to the provisions of such Act, shall remain in full force and effect until modified, suspended, overruled, or otherwise changed by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, by any court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.

(e) No suit, action, or other proceeding commenced by or against any officer in his official capacity as an official of the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of