35A.1 Definitions.

1. "Commandant" means the commandant of the Iowa veterans home appointed in section 35D.13.

2. "Commission" means the commission of veterans affairs established in section 35A.2.

3. "Commissioner" means a member of the commission of veterans affairs.

4. "Director" means the executive director appointed pursuant to section 35A.3, subsection 3.

35A.10 Multiyear construction program--construction, repair, and improvement projects.

1. The commission shall work with the department of general services to prepare and submit to the director of the department of management, as provided in section 8.23, a multiyear construction program including estimates of the expenditure requirements for the construction, repair, or improvement of buildings, grounds, or equipment at the commission of veterans affairs building at Camp Dodge and the Iowa veterans home in Marshalltown.

2. The commandant and the commission shall have plans and specifications prepared by the department of general services for authorized construction, repair, or improvement projects in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars. An appropriation for a project shall not be expended until the department of general services has adopted plans and specifications and has completed a detailed estimate of the cost of the project, prepared under the supervision of a registered architect or registered professional engineer.

3. The director of the department of general services shall, in writing, let all contracts for authorized improvements in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars in accordance with chapter 18. The director of the department of general services shall not authorize payment for construction purposes until satisfactory proof has been furnished by the proper officer or supervising architect that the parties have complied with the contract.

35A.11 Veterans license fee fund.

A veterans license fee fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the commission. The fund shall include the fees credited by the treasurer of state from the sale of special veteran license plates pursuant to section 321.34, subsection 13, paragraph "d". Notwithstanding section 12C.7, interest or earnings on moneys in the veterans license fee fund shall be credited to the veterans license fee fund. Moneys in the fund are appropriated to the commission to be used to fulfill the responsibilities of the commission.

35A.2 Commission of veterans affairs.

1. A commission of veterans affairs is created consisting of seven persons who shall be appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate. Members shall be appointed to staggered terms of four years beginning and ending as provided in section 69.19. The governor shall fill a vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term.

2. Six commissioners shall be honorably discharged members of the armed forces of the United States. The American legion of Iowa, disabled American veterans department of Iowa, veterans of foreign wars department of Iowa, American veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, the Vietnam veterans of America, and the military order of the purple heart, through their department commanders, shall submit two names respectively from their organizations to the governor. The governor shall appoint from each of the organizations one representative to serve as a member of the commission, unless the appointments would conflict with the bipartisan and gender balance provisions of sections 69.16 and 69.16A. In addition, the governor shall appoint one member of the public, knowledgeable in the general field of veterans affairs, to serve on the commission.

35A.3 Duties of the commission.

The commission shall do all of the following:

1. Organize and annually select a chairperson.

2. Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A and establish policy for the management and operation of the commission.

3. Prescribe the duties of an executive director and other employees as the commission shall deem necessary to carry out the duties of the commission.

4. Supervise the commandant's administration of commission policy for the operations and conduct of the Iowa veterans home.

5. Maintain information and data concerning the military service records of Iowa veterans.

6. Assist county veterans affairs commissions established pursuant to chapter 35B. The commission shall provide to county commissions suggested uniform benefits and administrative procedures for carrying out the functions and duties of the county commissions.

7. Permanently maintain the records including certified records of bonus applications for awards paid from the war orphans educational fund under chapter 35.

8. Collect and maintain information concerning veterans affairs.

9. Conduct two service schools each year for the Iowa association of county commissioners and executive directors.

10. Assist the United States veterans administration, the Iowa veterans home, funeral directors, and federally chartered veterans service organizations in providing information concerning veterans service records and veterans affairs data.

11. Maintain alphabetically a permanent registry of the graves of all persons who served in the military or naval forces of the United States in time of war and whose mortal remains rest in Iowa.

12. Provide training to executive directors of county commissions of veteran affairs pursuant to section 35B.6. The commission may adopt rules in accordance with chapter 17A to provide for training of county veteran affairs executive directors.

13. Conduct an equal number of meetings at Camp Dodge and the Iowa veterans home. The agenda for each meeting shall include a reasonable time period for public comment.

35A.4 through 35A.7

Repealed by 92 Acts, ch 1140, § 38.

35A.8 Executive director--term--duties.

1. The governor shall appoint an executive director, subject to confirmation by the senate, who shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. The executive director is responsible for administering the duties of the commission other than those related to the Iowa veterans home.

2. The executive director shall be a resident of the state of Iowa and an honorably discharged veteran who served in the armed forces of the United States during a conflict or war. As used in this section, the dates of service in a conflict or war shall coincide with the dates of service established by the Congress of the United States.

3. Except for the employment duties and responsibilities assigned to the commandant for the Iowa veterans home, the executive director shall employ such personnel as are necessary for the performance of the duties and responsibilities assigned to the commission. All employees shall be selected on a basis of fitness for the work to be performed with due regard to training and experience and shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 19A.

4. a. The executive director shall provide for the administration of the bonus authorized in this subsection. The commission shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 17A, as necessary to administer this subsection including, but not limited to, application procedures, investigation, approval or disapproval, and payment of claims.

b. (1) Each person who served on active duty in the active, oceangoing merchant marine service of the United States, at any time between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, both dates inclusive, and who served for a period of not less than one hundred twenty days on or before December 31, 1946, and who at the time of entering into the merchant marine service was a legal resident of the state of Iowa, and who had maintained the person's residence in this state for a period of at least six months immediately before entering the merchant marine service, and was honorably discharged or separated from the merchant marine service, is entitled to receive from moneys appropriated for that purpose the sum of twelve dollars and fifty cents for each month that the person was on active duty in the merchant marine service, all before December 31, 1946, not to exceed a total sum of five hundred dollars. Compensation for a fraction of a month shall not be considered unless the fraction is sixteen days or more, in which case the fraction shall be computed as a full month.

(2) A person is not entitled to compensation pursuant to this subsection if the person received a bonus or compensation similar to that provided in this subsection from another state.

(3) A person is not entitled to compensation pursuant to this subsection if the person was on active duty in the merchant marine service after December 7, 1941, and the person refused on conscientious, political, religious, or other grounds, to be subject to military discipline.

(4) The surviving unremarried widow or widower, child or children, mother, father, or person standing in loco parentis, in the order named and none other, of any deceased person, shall be paid the compensation that the deceased person would be entitled to pursuant to this subsection, if living, but if any person has died or shall die, or is disabled, from service-connected causes incurred during the period and in the area from which the person is entitled to receive compensation pursuant to this subsection, the person or the first survivor as designated by this subsection, and in the order named, shall be paid five hundred dollars, regardless of the length of service.

c. A person who knowingly makes a false statement relating to a material fact in supporting an application under this subsection is guilty of a serious misdemeanor. A person convicted pursuant to this subsection shall forfeit all benefits to which the person may have been entitled under this subsection.

d. All payments and allowances made under this subsection shall be exempt from taxation and from levy and sale on execution.

e. The bonus compensation authorized under this subsection shall be paid from moneys appropriated for that purpose.

35A.9 Expenses and compensation.

The commissioners are entitled to receive reimbursement for actual expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties. Each member of the commission may also be eligible to receive compensation as provided in section 7E.6.

1. The executive director, commandant, and employees of the commission and the Iowa veterans home are entitled to receive, in addition to salary, reimbursement for actual expenses incurred while engaged in the performance of official duties.

2. All out-of-state travel by commissioners, the executive director, the commandant, or employees of the commission or the Iowa veterans home shall be approved by the chairperson of the commission.