The bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic at 4328 Page Avenue in Michigan Center, Michigan, to be known as the "Captain Herbert Elfring VA Clinic" and says federal references to the listed community-based outpatient clinic will be treated as references to that name. The statutory text is narrowly focused: it names a single facility and includes a clause that converts existing references in law and documents to the new name.
For professionals, this matters because the designation creates an immediate administrative task for the VA (updating records, signage, maps, and internal references) without accompanying appropriations. It also follows the common congressional practice of using short bills to confer honorific names on federal facilities; those practices carry predictable operational and oversight implications for agency recordkeeping and small implementation budgets.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires the VA clinic at the specified street address in Michigan Center to be known as the Captain Herbert Elfring VA Clinic and treats any existing federal reference to that community-based outpatient clinic as a reference to the new name. The change takes effect after the statute is enacted.
Who It Affects
Directly affected parties include the VA’s medical facility management and records staff responsible for updating databases and signage, veterans who use the clinic (as the clinical operations are unchanged), and local officials or vendors who manage maps and wayfinding. The sponsor and committee handling the bill are also part of the bill's legislative record.
Why It Matters
Although symbolic, the designation creates concrete administrative tasks for a federal agency and sets a naming precedent for other honorific bills. Legal references and regulatory citations will map to the new name, which matters for procurement, reporting, and legal citation practices.
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What This Bill Actually Does
This bill contains two short provisions. The first provision assigns a commemorative name to a single VA community-based outpatient clinic by street address, establishing the name the VA and other federal entities should use in all official contexts.
The second provision instructs that any reference in U.S. law, regulation, map, document, or other federal record to the identified clinic should be read as a reference to the new name. Together, those two steps ensure consistency across statutory and administrative materials.
Practically, the VA will need to update facility name fields in its electronic health and asset-management systems, change signage and wayfinding at the site, and notify any federal partners who maintain official lists or maps of VA facilities. Because the bill contains no funding clause, those costs would come from existing VA budgets or routine operations funding, which creates a small operational burden but no new programmatic directives.The bill does not alter the clinic’s mission, services, ownership, or governance.
It creates no new legal rights or obligations for veterans or third parties beyond establishing a uniform name for official use and citation. It also follows the familiar congressional template for commemorative naming: precise, narrow, and administratively focused rather than programmatic.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill names the VA community-based outpatient clinic at 4328 Page Avenue, Michigan Center, Michigan, the "Captain Herbert Elfring VA Clinic.", The statute takes effect upon enactment — the new name applies 'after the date of the enactment of this Act.', It contains a broad reference clause: any federal law, regulation, map, document, paper, or other record mentioning the clinic will be considered a reference to the new name.
The bill text does not appropriate funds or direct the VA to allocate money for signage, records updates, or related implementation costs.
Representative Tim Walberg introduced the measure in the House and it was referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Designates the new facility name
This subsection identifies the clinic precisely by street address and assigns the commemorative name. By using an exact location rather than a facility code, the provision minimizes ambiguity about which VA site is affected. For implementers, the precise address is the anchor point for updating internal systems, contracts, and public materials.
Universal-reference clause for federal records
Subsection (b) instructs that any reference in federal law, regulation, map, or document to the previously referenced community-based outpatient clinic should be read as referring to the Captain Herbert Elfring VA Clinic. That language functions as a harmonization tool: it eliminates the need for later statutory amendments that would change old citations. Administratively, this reduces legal frictions when agencies search legacy materials or reconcile records.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Veterans across all five countries.
Explore Veterans in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Local veterans and community stakeholders — they receive a named facility that can strengthen community recognition and local identity without changing services.
- The family or supporters of Captain Herbert Elfring — the designation publicly honors an individual and secures the commemorative name in federal records.
- VA communications and outreach staff — having a single, congressionally mandated name simplifies external messaging and avoids conflicting local usages.
- Local governments and tourism/wayfinding services — a formal name aids mapping services and community materials that reference federal facilities.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of Veterans Affairs facility managers and administrative staff — responsible for updating digital records, printed materials, directories, and interior/exterior signage at the clinic.
- Federal taxpayers (indirectly) — implementation costs must be absorbed within existing VA budgets since the bill includes no appropriation.
- Contractors and vendors hired for signage, mapping, or IT updates — they will perform work under existing procurement processes and budgets, potentially on short notice.
- State and local agencies or utilities that reference the facility in official materials — they may need to update databases, maps, and legal references to maintain consistency.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is symbolic recognition versus administrative cost and precedence: Congress can efficiently honor individuals by naming facilities, but each designation imposes small, tangible burdens on agency operations and budgets and cumulatively sets expectations for future namings — creating a persistent tension between commemorative impulses and resource-constrained implementation.
The bill is narrowly textual and symbolic, but that simplicity hides practical implementation questions. The statute mandates the name and harmonizes references, yet it is silent about who pays for changes to physical signage, wayfinding, and third-party systems.
In practice, agencies treat those as minor operational expenses, but when multiple commemorative namings accumulate, the aggregate administrative cost can become material to local facility budgets. Agencies must decide whether to reallocate maintenance funds or delay replacements until scheduled cycles.
Another unresolved question is the operational scope of the reference clause. The provision directs that existing federal references be 'considered' references to the new name, which generally prevents legal confusion; however, it does not explicitly require non-federal entities (state, county, private mapping platforms) to change their records.
That creates a potential mismatch between federal and public-facing materials. Finally, because the bill names a person, it implicitly assumes no future controversy over that honoree; the statute includes no mechanism for rescission or review if circumstances change, which is typical but still a governance trade-off lawmakers and agencies accept with commemorative namings.
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