Veterans' homes: Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund.

Existing law provides for the establishment of veterans' homes and requires the administrator of a veterans' home to maintain a Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund to be used, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to provide certain operations and activities relating to the general welfare of the veterans. These funds include proceeds from the California Veterans Homes Fund, operations of the Veterans' Home Exchange, specified revenue derived from the issuance of prisoner-of-war special license plates, funds derived from golf course green fees and range ball fees, donations, interest earned on invested funds, funds derived from the estates of deceased members, and any other moneys or property described under existing law, including, but not limited to, moneys and properties received by the home from estate assets located outside the home. Existing law requires the administrator to prepare and submit itemized reports organized by category and accounts for all funds deposited into, and expenditures made from, the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund during the previous fiscal year, as specified. This bill would create the Veterans' Home Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund in the State Treasury, to replace the existing individual funds. The bill would require all moneys in each existing veterans' home fund to be deposited into the Veterans' Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate these moneys to the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide for the general welfare of the residents living in state veterans' homes. Moneys in the fund would be exempt from specified provisions relating to the determination of administrative costs owed by each state agency to the state. The bill would require the department to develop standardized expenditure procedures and regulations for the fund, as specified, and to provide residents with a quarterly report on the expenditures made from the fund on behalf of each home. The bill would also require the department to prepare and submit the itemized reports, as specified. The bill also would make technical and conforming changes.