By: Menéndez S.B. No. 1304
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2015; March 18, 2015, read
first time and referred to Committee on Veteran Affairs and
Military Installations; April 8, 2015, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 8, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a women veterans mental health
initiative within the mental health intervention program for
veterans.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1001.202, Health and Safety Code, as
added by Chapter 352 (H.B. 2392), Acts of the 83rd Legislature,
Regular Session, 2013, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1001.202. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The
department shall develop a mental health intervention program for
veterans. The program must include:
(1) peer-to-peer counseling;
(2) access to licensed mental health professionals for
volunteer coordinators and peers;
(3) training approved by the department for peers;
(4) technical assistance for volunteer coordinators
and peers;
(5) grants to regional and local organizations
providing services under this subchapter;
(6) recruitment, retention, and screening of
community-based therapists;
(7) suicide prevention training for volunteer
coordinators and peers; and
(8) veteran jail diversion services, including
veterans courts.
(a-1) As part of the mental health intervention program for
veterans, the department shall develop a women veterans mental
health initiative.
(b) The department shall solicit and ensure that
specialized training is provided to persons who are peers and who
want to provide peer-to-peer counseling or other peer-to-peer
services under the program.
(c) The department may adopt rules necessary to implement
this subchapter.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
* * * * *