[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5556 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5556
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct an analysis of
the need for women-specific programs that treat and rehabilitate women
veterans with drug and alcohol dependency and to carry out a pilot
program regarding such programs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 8, 2020
Ms. Brownley of California introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct an analysis of
the need for women-specific programs that treat and rehabilitate women
veterans with drug and alcohol dependency and to carry out a pilot
program regarding such programs.
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 ``Women Veterans Transitional Residence
Utilizing Support and Treatment Act'' or the ``Women Veterans TRUST
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Substance use problems are a significant problem among
veterans and can negatively impact a veteran's health and
quality of life.
(2) Veterans can turn to alcohol or drugs in an attempt to
relieve stress or the symptoms of mental health disorders.
(3) Rates of substance use disorder among women veterans
range from three to 16 percent of the population.
(4) Women veterans face a unique set of challenges
associated with their military service that can lead to
substance abuse.
(5) Women veterans aged 35 and older were found to have
higher rates of substance-use disorders than their non-veteran
counterparts.
(6) Studies indicate women veterans are twice as likely as
men veterans to develop posttraumatic stress disorder, twice as
likely to have serious psychological distress, and
approximately one out of four women veterans reports military
sexual trauma.
(7) Studies indicate that women veterans with a substance-
use disorder diagnosis have higher rates of suicide than their
non-veteran peers, and women veterans are more than twice as
likely to die by suicide than non-veteran women.
(8) Health services that are women-specific can be
important to effective care, and women veterans consider the
availability of women-specific care as extremely important.
(9) While the Secretary of Veterans Affairs provides women
veterans with substance use treatment through a number of
programs, the Women Veterans' Therapeutic Transitional
Residence Program is a model for providing treatment and
rehabilitative services to women veterans with drug and alcohol
dependency, and it is critical that the Secretary identifies
the need for, and feasibility of, similar programs throughout
the health care system of the Department.
SEC. 3. WOMEN-SPECIFIC DRUG AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY TREATMENT AND
REHABILITATIVE PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN VETERANS.
(a) Analysis.--
(1) Requirement.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall conduct a nationwide analysis of the need for women-
specific programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs that
treat and rehabilitate women veterans with drug and alcohol
dependency. Such analysis shall include the following:
(A) With respect to each of the three years
preceding the date of the analysis, the annual number
of women veterans who have been treated and
rehabilitated for drug and alcohol dependency at each
medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(B) Information on all non-Department women-
specific programs to which the Secretary refers women
veterans for treatment and rehabilitation of drug and
alcohol dependency, including, for each such program,
the name of the entity carrying out the program, the
location of the program, and the number of women
veterans referred by the Secretary served annually by
the program.
(C) An analysis of the effectiveness of programs of
the Department and non-Department programs to treat and
rehabilitate women veterans with drug and alcohol
dependency, disaggregated by single-sex versus coed
programs.
(D) An analysis of all information the Secretary
maintains on the satisfaction of women veterans with
programs of the Department and non-Department programs
to treat and rehabilitate women veterans with drug and
alcohol dependency, disaggregated by single-sex versus
coed programs.
(E) An assessment of the demand and need for women-
specific programs to treat and rehabilitate women
veterans with drug and alcohol dependency,
disaggregated by Veterans Integrated Service Network
and medical center of the Department.
(F) Proposed locations for implementing the pilot
program under subsection (b).
(2) Report.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs and
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a
report containing the analysis under paragraph (1).
(b) Pilot Program.--
(1) Requirement.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall carry out a
women-specific pilot program to treat and rehabilitate women
veterans with drug and alcohol dependency. The Secretary shall
develop such pilot program based on the findings of the
analysis conducted under subsection (a).
(2) Locations.--The Secretary shall select not fewer than
three Veterans Integrated Service Networks in which to carry
out the pilot program.
(3) Termination.--The authority to carry out a pilot
program under this section shall terminate on the date that is
five years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(4) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on
which the pilot program under paragraph (1) is completed, the
Secretary shall submit to Committees on Veterans' Affairs and
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate a
report on the pilot program, including--
(A) the findings and conclusions of the Secretary
regarding the pilot program; and
(B) such recommendations of the Secretary regarding
the continuation or expansion of the pilot program as
the Secretary considers appropriate.
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