Women Veterans TRUST Act

I 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Women Veterans Transi- 4 tional Residence Utilizing Support and Treatment Act’’ or 5 the ‘‘Women Veterans TRUST Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5556 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Substance use problems are a significant 3 problem among veterans and can negatively impact 4 a veteran’s health and quality of life. 5 (2) Veterans can turn to alcohol or drugs in an 6 attempt to relieve stress or the symptoms of mental 7 health disorders. 8 (3) Rates of substance use disorder among 9 women veterans range from three to 16 percent of 10 the population. 11 (4) Women veterans face a unique set of chal- 12 lenges associated with their military service that can 13 lead to substance abuse. 14 (5) Women veterans aged 35 and older were 15 found to have higher rates of substance-use dis- 16 orders than their non-veteran counterparts. 17 (6) Studies indicate women veterans are twice 18 as likely as men veterans to develop posttraumatic 19 stress disorder, twice as likely to have serious psy- 20 chological distress, and approximately one out of 21 four women veterans reports military sexual trauma. 22 (7) Studies indicate that women veterans with 23 a substance-use disorder diagnosis have higher rates 24 of suicide than their non-veteran peers, and women 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5556 IH veterans are more than twice as likely to die by sui- 1 cide than non-veteran women. 2 (8) Health services that are women-specific can 3 be important to effective care, and women veterans 4 consider the availability of women-specific care as 5 extremely important. 6 (9) While the Secretary of Veterans Affairs pro- 7 vides women veterans with substance use treatment 8 through a number of programs, the Women Vet- 9 erans’ Therapeutic Transitional Residence Program 10 is a model for providing treatment and rehabilitative 11 services to women veterans with drug and alcohol 12 dependency, and it is critical that the Secretary 13 identifies the need for, and feasibility of, similar pro- 14 grams throughout the health care system of the De- 15 partment. 16 SEC. 3. WOMEN-SPECIFIC DRUG AND ALCOHOL DEPEND- 17 ENCY TREATMENT AND REHABILITATIVE 18 PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN VETERANS. 19 (a) ANALYSIS.— 20 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days 21 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 22 retary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a nation- 23 wide analysis of the need for women-specific pro- 24 grams of the Department of Veterans Affairs that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5556 IH treat and rehabilitate women veterans with drug and 1 alcohol dependency. Such analysis shall include the 2 following: 3 (A) With respect to each of the three years 4 preceding the date of the analysis, the annual 5 number of women veterans who have been 6 treated and rehabilitated for drug and alcohol 7 dependency at each medical center of the De- 8 partment of Veterans Affairs. 9 (B) Information on all non-Department 10 women-specific programs to which the Secretary 11 refers women veterans for treatment and reha- 12 bilitation of drug and alcohol dependency, in- 13 cluding, for each such program, the name of the 14 entity carrying out the program, the location of 15 the program, and the number of women vet- 16 erans referred by the Secretary served annually 17 by the program. 18 (C) An analysis of the effectiveness of pro- 19 grams of the Department and non-Department 20 programs to treat and rehabilitate women vet- 21 erans with drug and alcohol dependency, 22 disaggregated by single-sex versus coed pro- 23 grams. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5556 IH (D) An analysis of all information the Sec- 1 retary maintains on the satisfaction of women 2 veterans with programs of the Department and 3 non-Department programs to treat and rehabili- 4 tate women veterans with drug and alcohol de- 5 pendency, disaggregated by single-sex versus 6 coed programs. 7 (E) An assessment of the demand and 8 need for women-specific programs to treat and 9 rehabilitate women veterans with drug and alco- 10 hol dependency, disaggregated by Veterans In- 11 tegrated Service Network and medical center of 12 the Department. 13 (F) Proposed locations for implementing 14 the pilot program under subsection (b). 15 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after 16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 17 of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees 18 on Veterans’ Affairs and Appropriations of the 19 House of Representatives and the Senate a report 20 containing the analysis under paragraph (1). 21 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.— 22 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than one year 23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 24 retary shall carry out a women-specific pilot pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5556 IH gram to treat and rehabilitate women veterans with 1 drug and alcohol dependency. The Secretary shall 2 develop such pilot program based on the findings of 3 the analysis conducted under subsection (a). 4 (2) LOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall select not 5 fewer than three Veterans Integrated Service Net- 6 works in which to carry out the pilot program. 7 (3) TERMINATION.—The authority to carry out 8 a pilot program under this section shall terminate on 9 the date that is five years after the date of the en- 10 actment of this Act. 11 (4) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 12 the date on which the pilot program under para- 13 graph (1) is completed, the Secretary shall submit to 14 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs and Appropriations 15 of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 16 report on the pilot program, including— 17 (A) the findings and conclusions of the 18 Secretary regarding the pilot program; and 19 (B) such recommendations of the Sec- 20 retary regarding the continuation or expansion 21 of the pilot program as the Secretary considers 22 appropriate. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5556.IH H5556 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS