Servicewomen’s Health Transition Training Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2941 To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military depart- ments to encourage female members who separate or retire from the Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to participate in the Women’s Health Transition Training pilot program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 23, 2019 Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself, Mr. CISNEROS, and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Af- fairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments to encourage female members who separate or retire from the Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to participate in the Women’s Health Transition Training pilot program 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2941 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicewomen’s Health 2 Transition Training Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 5 (1) Women are now the fastest growing cohort 6 of veterans and are expected to double in population 7 by 2045. 8 (2) Women comprise approximately 2,000,000 9 veterans in the United States and 10 percent of the 10 total veteran population. 11 (3) Women veterans are nearly two times more 12 likely to commit suicide than civilian women. 13 (4) On average, women do not connect with the 14 Veterans Health Administration until 2.7 years after 15 separating from military service. 16 (5) Female veterans have a higher rate of 17 homelessness than their male counterparts. 18 (6) One in five female members of the Armed 19 Forces report experiencing military sexual trauma. 20 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY OBJECTIVES.—It is in 21 the national interest of the United States to ensure female 22 veterans receive a high quality of care by promoting pro- 23 grams and initiatives that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2941 IH (1) educate women separating from active duty 1 in the Armed Forces of the services available to 2 them through the Department of Veterans Affairs; 3 (2) encourage women to enroll in the system of 4 enrollment of the Veterans Health Administration; 5 and 6 (3) increase the number of women receiving 7 health care from the Veterans Health Administra- 8 tion. 9 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con- 10 gress that the Department of Veterans Affairs, in piloting 11 the Women’s Health Transition Assistance Program, has 12 found that the pilot program has— 13 (1) educated hundreds of women, 99 percent of 14 whom would recommend the program to others, in 15 the process of separating or retiring from the Armed 16 Forces, of the care they can receive from the De- 17 partment of Veterans Affairs; 18 (2) improved awareness among pilot program 19 participants of services available from the Depart- 20 ment of Veterans Affairs by 56 percent; and 21 (3) increased pilot program participants’ intent 22 to enroll with the Department of Veterans Affairs by 23 13.1 percent, increased pilot program participants’ 24 intent to use Veteran Affairs health care services by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2941 IH 15.6 percent, and increased pilot program partici- 1 pants’ intent to use Veterans Affairs suicide preven- 2 tion services, if needed, by 19.3 percent. 3 SEC. 3. PARTICIPATION IN THE WOMEN’S HEALTH TRANSI- 4 TION TRAINING PILOT PROGRAM OF THE DE- 5 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall di- 7 rect— 8 (1) the Secretaries of the military departments 9 to encourage female members who separate or retire 10 from the Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to 11 participate in the Women’s Health Transition Train- 12 ing pilot program of the Department of Veterans Af- 13 fairs at locations selected by the Secretaries of the 14 military departments; and 15 (2) commanders of military installations that 16 have centers for the Transition Assistance Program 17 under sections 1142 and 1144 of title 10, United 18 States Code, to advertise the Women’s Health Tran- 19 sition Training pilot program to female members de- 20 scribed in paragraph (1). 21 (b) REPORT.—Not later than February 1, 2021, the 22 Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary 23 of Veterans Affairs, shall submit to Congress a report re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2941 IH garding participation described in subsection (a). The re- 1 port shall include the following: 2 (1) The number of participants in the pilot pro- 3 gram. 4 (2) The number of pilot program sessions and 5 the locations at which the sessions were held. 6 (3) Available metrics including course satisfac- 7 tion and improved awareness of health services fur- 8 nished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 9 (4) Barriers to expanding the pilot program to 10 reach more female members of the Armed Forces. 11 (5) Barriers to offering the pilot program online 12 to reach female members of the Armed Forces who 13 cannot attend in person. 14 (6) Recommendations for legislation to improve 15 or expand the pilot program. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS