Sponsors (2)
The bill formally honors local veterans and standardizes clinic names to improve clarity and recognition, while imposing modest taxpayer/VA costs and causing short-term administrative updates and potential local disagreement.
Veterans in Des Moines and Marshalltown will have their local VA outpatient clinics formally named to honor their service, increasing recognition and local visibility of veteran services.
Federal records, maps, and signage will be updated to use the new clinic names, reducing long-term confusion in official documents and making it easier for patients and providers to identify facilities.
The VA and taxpayers will incur modest costs to replace signage and update records for the renamed clinics.
Hospitals, local governments, and mapping systems may experience temporary confusion during the transition as maps, documents, and signage are updated.
Some community members may disagree with the chosen commemorative names, creating local disagreement or controversy.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Renames two VA outpatient clinics in Des Moines and Marshalltown, Iowa, after two fallen Iowa National Guard staff sergeants and requires federal records to use the new names.
Official title: Designate the clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Des Moines, Iowa, as the "Staff Sergeant Edgar Torres-Tovar VA Clinic" and to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department in Marshalltown, Iowa, as the "Staff Sergeant William Nathaniel Howard VA Clinic".
Introduced February 11, 2026 by Joni Ernst · Last progress February 11, 2026
Designates and renames two Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics in Iowa in honor of two fallen Iowa National Guard staff sergeants. It requires that all federal references to those clinics use the new names and records the servicemembers’ basic service and death-in-action details as findings. The changes are purely commemorative: one clinic in Des Moines is named for Staff Sergeant Edgar Torres-Tovar and one clinic in Marshalltown is named for Staff Sergeant William Nathaniel (Nate) Howard. The new names take effect upon enactment and federal documents must be read to refer to the clinics by those names.