Lethal Means Safety Training Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2749 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update the Lethal Means Safety and Suicide Prevention training course of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 21, 2021 Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. MRVAN, and Mr. PAPPAS) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update the Lethal Means Safety and Suicide Prevention training course of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lethal Means Safety 4 Training Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUICIDE RISK MANAGEMENT AND PREVENTION 6 AND LETHAL MEANS TRAINING. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2749.IH H2749 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2749 IH (1) INITIAL UPDATE.—Not later than 180 days 1 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 2 retary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with enti- 3 ties described in subsection (c), shall update the Le- 4 thal Means Safety and Suicide Prevention training 5 course of the Department of Veterans Affairs to en- 6 sure that it is culturally appropriate and uses best 7 practices identified by appropriate subject matter ex- 8 perts. 9 (2) SUBSEQUENT UPDATES.—Not less fre- 10 quently than once each year, the Secretary shall up- 11 date the training as appropriate, taking into consid- 12 eration best practices, and publish a report on the 13 internet website of the Department that includes the 14 percentage of individuals in each category described 15 in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) of subsection (b) who 16 completed the training referred to in paragraph (1) 17 during the year covered by the report. 18 (b) TRAINING.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require 20 each employee referred to in paragraph (2) to take 21 the most recently updated version of the training 22 course referred to in subsection (a)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2749.IH H2749 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2749 IH (A) not later than 90 days after the date 1 such person is initially hired by the Depart- 2 ment; and 3 (B) at least once every year thereafter. 4 (2) COVERED EMPLOYEE.—An employee de- 5 scribed in this paragraph is any of the following: 6 (A) An employee of the Veterans Health 7 Administration or Veterans Benefits Adminis- 8 tration who regularly interacts with veterans in 9 the course of performing the employee’s respon- 10 sibilities. 11 (B) A compensation and pension examiner, 12 including an employee of a contractor of the 13 Department who performs compensation and 14 pension examinations. 15 (C) An employee of a Veterans Center or 16 vocational rehabilitation facility. 17 (3) COMMUNITY CARE PROVIDERS.—As a condi- 18 tion of furnishing care through a non-Department 19 provider under section 1703 of title 38, United 20 States Code, the Secretary shall require any em- 21 ployee of such provider who provides such care to 22 take the most recently updated version of the train- 23 ing course referred to in subsection (a)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2749.IH H2749 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2749 IH (A) not later than 90 days after the date 1 on which the Secretary first agrees to furnish 2 any such care through such provider; and 3 (B) at least once every year thereafter. 4 (4) FAMILY CAREGIVERS.—As a condition of 5 providing support to a family caregiver under section 6 1720G of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary 7 shall require the caregiver to take the most recently 8 updated version of the training course referred to in 9 subsection (a)— 10 (A) not later than 90 days after the date 11 on which the caregiver first receives support 12 under such section; and 13 (B) at least once every year thereafter. 14 (c) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—The entities described in 15 the subsection are the following: 16 (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 17 ices, in consultation with the Directors of the Na- 18 tional Institute of Mental Health, Substance Abuse 19 and Mental Health Services Administration, and 20 other appropriate Federal agencies. 21 (2) Experts in the assessment, treatment, and 22 management of individuals at risk for suicide. 23 (3) Professional associations that the Secretary 24 of Veterans Affairs determines are appropriate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2749.IH H2749 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2749 IH (4) Federal firearms license dealers and in- 1 structors. 2 (5) Experts in lethal means safety counseling 3 practice and education. 4 (6) The Department of Veterans Affairs Mental 5 Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. 6 (7) Veterans service organizations. 7 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 8 make the training course referred to in subsection (a) pub- 9 licly available on an internet website of the Department. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:02 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2749.IH H2749 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS