Title 38, Veterans' BenefitsRelease 119-102
§7361 Authority to Establish; Status
Title 38 › PART V — BOARDS, ADMINISTRATIONS, AND SERVICES › CHAPTER 73 — VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION—ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS › SUBCHAPTER IV — RESEARCH CORPORATIONS › § 7361
Summary
The Secretary may allow a nonprofit to be set up at any Department medical center to give flexible funding for approved research, education, or both. The nonprofit can work at more than one medical center and then is called a “multi-medical center research corporation.” If it serves multiple centers, the board must include the official at each center who is, or acts as, that center’s medical director. The corporation may handle the money it receives and spends for the research and education at those centers. The nonprofit must be formed under the nonprofit laws of the State where a covered medical center is located. It must follow only the federal laws that normally apply to private nonprofits. It is not owned or run by the United States and is not a federal agency. If it is not recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) within four years of being created, the Secretary must dissolve it. A corporation can become a multi-medical center one if its board approves a resolution and the Secretary agrees.
Full Legal Text
Title 38, §7361
Veterans' Benefits, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary may authorize the establishment at any Department medical center of a nonprofit corporation to provide a flexible funding mechanism for the conduct of approved research and education at the medical center. Such a corporation may be established to facilitate either research or education or both research and education.
(b)(1)Subject to paragraph (2), a corporation established under this subchapter may facilitate the conduct of research, education, or both at more than one medical center. Such a corporation shall be known as a “multi-medical center research corporation”.
(2)The board of directors of a multi-medical center research corporation under this subsection shall include the official at each Department medical center concerned who is, or who carries out the responsibilities of, the medical center director of such center as specified in section 7363(a)(1)(A)(i) of this title.
(3)In facilitating the conduct of research, education, or both at more than one Department medical center under this subchapter, a multi-medical center research corporation may administer receipts and expenditures relating to such research, education, or both, as applicable, performed at the Department medical centers concerned.
(c)Any corporation established under this subchapter shall be established in accordance with the nonprofit corporation laws of the State in which the applicable Department medical center is located and shall, to the extent not inconsistent with any Federal law, be subject to the laws of such State. In the case of any multi-medical center research corporation that facilitates the conduct of research, education, or both at Department medical centers located in different States, the corporation shall be established in accordance with the nonprofit corporation laws of the State in which one of such Department medical centers is located.
(d)(1)Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter or under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, any corporation established under this subchapter, and its officers, directors, and employees, shall be required to comply only with those Federal laws, regulations, and executive orders and directives that apply generally to private nonprofit corporations.
(2)A corporation under this subchapter is not—
(A)owned or controlled by the United States; or
(B)an agency or instrumentality of the United States.
(e)If by the end of the four-year period beginning on the date of the establishment of a corporation under this subchapter the corporation is not recognized as an entity the income of which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary shall dissolve the corporation.
(f)A corporation established under this subchapter may act as a multi-medical center research corporation under this subchapter in accordance with subsection (b) if—
(1)the board of directors of the corporation approves a resolution permitting facilitation by the corporation of the conduct of research, education, or both at the other Department medical center or medical centers concerned; and
(2)the Secretary approves the resolution of the corporation under paragraph (1).
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsec. (e), is classified to section 501(c)(3) of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Amendments
2010—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–163, § 801(c)(1), struck out “Except as otherwise required in this subchapter or under
Regulations
prescribed by the Secretary, any such corporation, and its directors and employees, shall be required to comply only with those Federal laws,
Regulations
, and executive orders and directives which apply generally to private nonprofit corporations.” after “the medical center.” Subsecs. (b) to (d). Pub. L. 111–163, § 801(a)(1)(B), (b)(1), (c)(2), added subsecs. (b) to (d). Former subsec. (b) redesignated (e). Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 111–163, § 801(d), inserted “section 501(c)(3) of” after “exempt from taxation under”. Pub. L. 111–163, § 801(a)(1)(A), redesignated subsec. (b) as (e). Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 111–163, § 801(a)(2), added subsec. (f). 1999—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–117 inserted “and education” after “research” and inserted at end “Such a corporation may be established to facilitate either research or education or both research and education.” 1996—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–262 struck out “section 501(c)(3) of” before “the Internal Revenue Code of 1986”. 1992—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–291 substituted “four-year period” for “three-year period”. 1991—Pub. L. 102–40, § 401(a)(4)(B), renumbered section 4161 of this title as this section. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–40, § 403(a)(2), substituted “Department” for “Veterans’ Administration”. Pub. L. 102–40, § 403(a)(1), substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator” in two places. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–40, § 403(a)(1), substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1992 Amendment Pub. L. 102–291, § 3(c), May 20, 1992, 106 Stat. 179, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by subsections (a) and (b) [amending this section and section 7368 of this title] shall take effect as of
October 1, 1991.” Ratification of Actions of Secretary of Veterans Affairs During Lapsed Period Pub. L. 102–291, § 3(d),
May 20, 1992, 106 Stat. 179, provided that: “The following actions of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs during the period beginning on
October 1, 1991, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act [
May 20, 1992] are hereby ratified: “(1) A failure to dissolve a nonprofit corporation established under section 7361(a) of title 38, United States Code, that, within the three-year period beginning on the date of the establishment of the corporation, was not recognized as an entity the income of which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 [26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3)]. “(2) The establishment of a nonprofit corporation for approved research under section 7361(a) of title 38, United States Code.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
38 U.S.C. § 7361
Title 38, Veterans' Benefits
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102