(1) (a) The state department shall establish rates for the care of residents, which rates must be as nearly equal to the cost of operation and maintenance of the veterans centers as practicable. Payments shall be made to the state department unless otherwise provided pursuant to a contract entered into in accordance with section 26-12-119. The state department shall deposit such payments together with any other moneys received from any source for the operation and maintenance of the veterans centers with the state treasurer, who shall credit all such moneys to the central fund for veterans community living centers, referred to in this article as the "central fund", which fund is hereby created.

(a.3) Repealed.

(a.5) For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the general assembly shall appropriate from the general fund to the central fund an amount not exceeding ten percent of the total gross revenue accrued by the central fund during the preceding fiscal year in coordination with the state department's standard budget request process. The state department shall use these funds to pay operational expenses of, and make capital improvements to, the veterans centers.

(b) (I) Repealed.

(I.5) For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017, and for each fiscal year thereafter:

(A) The money in the central fund is continuously appropriated to the state department for the direct costs of the operation and administration of the veterans centers and for capital construction in connection with the veterans centers; and

(B) Subject to annual appropriation, the state department may expend money from the central fund for indirect costs of the operation and administration of the veterans centers; except that the amount expended for indirect costs shall not exceed five percent of the total expenditures from the fund for the fiscal year.

(II) All requests for capital construction submitted by the state department shall be considered by the capital development committee pursuant to section 2-3-1304, C.R.S.

(III) All interest derived from the deposit and investment of moneys in the central fund shall be credited to such fund. At the end of any fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the central fund shall remain therein and shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or any other fund.

(c) Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), the state department shall prepare and submit to the general assembly an annual report detailing the financial status of each veterans center. This report must also identify which of the veterans centers administered pursuant to the provisions of this article are owned by the state but operated under contract by another entity.

(d) As part of the budget request that the state department submits to the joint budget committee in accordance with section 2-3-208 (2)(a), C.R.S., the state department shall provide a detailed report of the anticipated direct and indirect costs for the operation and administration of each veterans center for the upcoming fiscal year, including amounts for personal services, operating expenses, indirect costs, centrally appropriated costs, and FTE.(2) It is lawful for each veterans center and the Colorado veterans community living center at Homelake to deposit moneys belonging to the benefit fund established prior to July 1, 1985, and all donations or other voluntary contributions that may be received on or after that date in any manner for the benefit of residents of each veterans center and the Colorado veterans community living center at Homelake in an interest-bearing account with a federally insured financial depository pursuant to section 24-75-603, C.R.S. Withdrawals from such accounts shall be made only for the benefit, aid, and assistance of residents of each veterans center or the occupants of the Colorado veterans community living center at Homelake, including recreational equipment and facilities.

(3) The executive director may, in the name of the people of the state of Colorado and through the attorney general, institute and maintain actions at law for the collection of charges due from residents of veterans centers and the Colorado veterans community living center at Homelake, or said residents' conservators, guardians, executors, or administrators, resulting from the failure, neglect, or refusal of said persons to pay such charges.

(4) (a) If the state department sells a portion of vacant land to the United States department of veterans affairs for expansion of the Fort Logan national cemetery as authorized in House Bill 16-1456, enacted in 2016, the state treasurer shall credit the sale proceeds of such sale to the Fort Logan national cemetery fund, which fund is hereby created and referred to in this subsection (4) as the "cemetery fund". In the fiscal year in which the property sale takes place, and in each fiscal year thereafter until all sale proceeds are appropriated as specified in this paragraph (a), the general assembly shall appropriate money from the cemetery fund to the central fund in such amounts so that the appropriation from the cemetery fund required in this subsection (4) and the appropriation from the general fund required in paragraph (a.5) of subsection (1) of this section equals the maximum amount that would not exceed the limit for an enterprise set forth in section 24-77-102 (3)(b), C.R.S.

(b)

(I) The moneys transferred to the central fund pursuant to this subsection (4) may be used for nonrecurring expenditures that address the greatest needs of serving veterans.

(II) Notwithstanding section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), at least sixty days prior to making such expenditures, the state department shall report its recommended use of the sale proceeds to the state, veterans, and military affairs committees of the house of representatives and the senate, the capital development committee, and the joint budget committee.

(c)

(I) All interest derived from the deposit and investment of moneys in the cemetery fund are credited to the fund. At the end of any fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the cemetery fund remain in the fund and may not be credited or transferred to the general fund. The state controller shall notify the revisor of statutes when all the proceeds of the sale are appropriated to the central fund pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (4).

(II) The cemetery fund is repealed, effective on the date the revisor of statutes receives the notice from the state controller set forth in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c).