Comprehensive Review of Military Suicide Act

Comprehensive Review of Military Suicide Act

This bill requires the Department of Defense to issue and implement guidance that requires that each suicide involving a member of the Armed Forces be reviewed by a multidisciplinary board established at the command or installation level.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7474 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7474

To direct the Secretary of Defense to issue guidance for the review of 
  suicide events involving members of the Armed Forces, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 1, 2020

Mrs. Trahan (for herself, Ms. Speier, and Mr. Cisneros) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Defense to issue guidance for the review of 
  suicide events involving members of the Armed Forces, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Comprehensive Review of Military 
Suicide Act''.

SEC. 2. MULTIDISCIPLINARY BOARD TO EVALUATE SUICIDE EVENTS.

    (a) Guidance Required.--The Secretary of Defense shall issue 
guidance that requires each suicide event involving a member of a 
covered Armed Force to be reviewed by a multidisciplinary board 
established at the command or installation level. Such guidance shall 
require that, for each suicide event reviewed by such a board, the 
board will--
            (1) clearly define the objective, purpose, and outcome of 
        the review;
            (2) take a multidisciplinary approach to the review and 
        include, as part of the review process, leaders of military 
        units, medical and mental health professionals, and 
        representatives of military criminal investigative 
        organizations;
            (3) obtain the data necessary to make a comprehensive 
        Department of Defense suicide event report submission; and
            (4) take appropriate steps to protect and share information 
        obtained from ongoing investigations into the event (such as 
        medical and law enforcement reports).
    (b) Implementation by Covered Armed Forces.--Not later than 90 days 
after the date on which the guidance is issued under subsection (a), 
the chiefs of the covered Armed Forces shall implement the guidance.
    (c) Progress Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the 
congressional defense committees a report on the progress of the 
Secretary in implementing the guidance required under subsection (a).
    (d) Covered Armed Forces Defined.--In this section, the term 
``covered Armed Forces'' means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, 
and Space Force.
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