Protection and Advocacy for Veterans Act
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a five-year grant program to improve the monitoring of VA mental health and substance abuse treatment programs.
The VA shall award a grant to four protection and advocacy systems under which each recipient shall investigate and monitor VA facilities care and treatment of veterans with mental illness or substance abuse issues. Criteria for selecting recipients shall include whether the state in which the protection and advocacy system operates has low mental health, performance, and access scores.
During each year in which a protection and advocacy system carries out a demonstration project, the VA shall award a joint grant to a national organization with extensive knowledge of the protection and advocacy system and a veterans service organization to: (1) coordinate training and technical assistance, and (2) provide for related data collection, reporting, and analysis.
"Protection and advocacy system" means the state-established system to protect and advocate the rights of persons with developmental disabilities.
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1712 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1712
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a grant
program to improve the monitoring of mental health and substance abuse
treatment programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 23, 2017
Mrs. Roby (for herself, Ms. Titus, Mr. Walz, and Mr. Zeldin) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a grant
program to improve the monitoring of mental health and substance abuse
treatment programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protection and Advocacy for Veterans
Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE MONITORING OF MENTAL
HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS OF
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
establish a grant program to improve the monitoring of mental health
and substance abuse treatment programs of the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
(b) Grants.--
(1) Main grant.--
(A) Award.--In carrying out subsection (a), the
Secretary shall award a grant to four protection and
advocacy systems under which each protection and
advocacy system shall carry out a demonstration project
to investigate and monitor the care and treatment of
veterans provided pursuant to chapter 17 of title 38,
United States Code, for mental illness or substance
abuse issues at medical facilities of the Department.
(B) Minimum amount.--Each grant awarded under
subparagraph (A) to a protection and advocacy system
shall be an amount that is not less than $105,000
during each year that the protection and advocacy
system carries out a demonstration project described in
such subparagraph under the grant program.
(2) Collaboration grant.--
(A) Award.--During each year in which a protection
and advocacy system carries out a demonstration project
under subparagraph (A) of such paragraph, the Secretary
shall award a joint grant to a national organization
with extensive knowledge of the protection and advocacy
system and a veterans service organization in the
amount of $80,000.
(B) Collaboration.--Each national organization and
veterans service organization that is awarded a joint
grant under subparagraph (A) shall use the grant to
facilitate the collaboration between the national
organization and the veterans service organization to--
(i) coordinate training and technical
assistance for the protection and advocacy
systems; and
(ii) provide for data collection,
reporting, and analysis in carrying out
paragraph (1)(A).
(3) Authority.--In carrying out a demonstration project
under paragraph (1)(A), a protection and advocacy system shall
have the authorities provided by section 105(a) of the
Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act
(42 U.S.C. 10805(a)) with respect to a medical facility of the
Department.
(c) Selection.--In selecting the four protection and advocacy
system to receive grants under subsection (b)(1)(A), the Secretary
shall consider the following criteria:
(1) Whether the protection and advocacy system has
demonstrated monitoring and investigation experience, along
with knowledge of the issues facing veterans with disabilities.
(2) Whether the State in which the protection and advocacy
system operates--
(A) has low aggregated scores in the domains of
mental health, performance, and access as rated by the
Strategic Analytics Improvement and Learning database
system (commonly referred to as ``SAIL''); and
(B) to the extent practicable, is representative of
both urban and rural States.
(d) Reports.--The Secretary shall ensure that each protection and
advocacy system participating in the grant program submits to the
Secretary reports developed by the protection and advocacy system
relating to an investigation or monitoring conducted pursuant to
subsection (b)(1)(A). The Secretary shall designate an office of the
Department of Veterans Affairs to receive each such report.
(e) Duration; Termination.--
(1) Duration.--The Secretary shall carry out the grant
program established under subsection (a) for a period of five
years.
(2) Termination.--The Secretary may terminate a
demonstration project under subsection (b)(1)(A) before the
five-year period described in paragraph (1) if the Secretary
determines there is good cause for such termination. If the
Secretary carries out such a termination, the Secretary shall
award grants under subsection (b) to a new protection and
advocacy system.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the grant program under
subsection (a) $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``protection and advocacy system'' has the
meaning given the term ``eligible system'' in section 102(2) of
the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness
Act (42 U.S.C. 10802(2)).
(2) The term ``State'' means each of the several States,
territories, and possessions of the United States, the District
of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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