IB
Union Calendar No. 201
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3581
[Report No. 118–251]
To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the family caregiver
program of the Department of Veterans Affairs to include services related
to mental health and neurological disorders, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY22, 2023
Mrs. K
IGGANSof Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
O
CTOBER25, 2023
Additional sponsors: Ms. H
OULAHAN, Ms. MACE, Ms. PETTERSEN, Mr.
M
OULTON, and Mr. LAWLER
O
CTOBER25, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 22, 2023]
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A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the family
caregiver program of the Department of Veterans Affairs
to include services related to mental health and neuro-
logical disorders, and for other purposes.
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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 ‘‘Caregiver Outreach and 4
Program Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘COPE Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS AF-6
FAIRS TO AWARD GRANTS TO ENTITIES TO 7
IMPROVE PROVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH 8
SUPPORT TO FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF VET-9
ERANS. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 17 of title 11
38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 12
the following new section: 13
‘‘§ 1720K. Grants to provide mental health support to 14
family caregivers of veterans 15
‘‘(a) A
UTHORITY.—The Secretary may award grants 16
to carry out, coordinate, improve, or otherwise enhance 17
mental health counseling, treatment, or support to the fam-18
ily caregivers of veterans participating in the family care-19
giver program. 20
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATION.—(1) To be eligible for a grant 21
under this section, an entity shall submit to the Secretary 22
an application therefor at such time, in such manner, and 23
containing such information as the Secretary may require. 24
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‘‘(2) Each application submitted under paragraph (1) 1
shall include the following: 2
‘‘(A) A detailed plan for the use of the grant. 3
‘‘(B) A description of the programs or efforts 4
through which the entity will meet the outcome meas-5
ures developed by the Secretary under subsection (g). 6
‘‘(C) A description of how the entity will dis-7
tribute grant amounts equitably among areas with 8
varying levels of urbanization. 9
‘‘(D) A plan for how the grant will be used to 10
meet the unique needs of veterans residing in rural 11
areas, American Indian or Alaska Native veterans, el-12
derly veterans, women veterans, and veterans from 13
other underserved communities. 14
‘‘(c) D
ISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary shall seek to en-15
sure that grants awarded under this section are equitably 16
distributed among entities located in States with varying 17
levels of urbanization. 18
‘‘(d) P
RIORITY.—The Secretary shall prioritize award-19
ing grants under this section that will serve the following 20
areas: 21
‘‘(1) Areas with high rates of veterans enrolled in 22
the family caregiver program. 23
‘‘(2) Areas with high rates of— 24
‘‘(A) suicide among veterans; or 25
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‘‘(B) referrals to the Veterans Crisis Line. 1
‘‘(e) R
EQUIREDACTIVITIES.—Any grant awarded 2
under this section shall be used— 3
‘‘(1) to expand existing programs, activities, and 4
services; 5
‘‘(2) to establish new or additional programs, ac-6
tivities, and services; or 7
‘‘(3) for travel and transportation to facilitate 8
carrying out paragraph (1) or (2). 9
‘‘(f) O
UTCOMEMEASURES.—(1) The Secretary shall 10
develop and provide to each entity that receives a grant 11
under this section written guidance on the following: 12
‘‘(A) Outcome measures. 13
‘‘(B) Policies of the Department. 14
‘‘(2) In developing outcome measures under paragraph 15
(1), the Secretary shall consider the following goals: 16
‘‘(A) Increasing the utilization of mental health 17
services among family caregivers of veterans partici-18
pating in the family caregiver program. 19
‘‘(B) Reducing barriers to mental health services 20
among family caregivers of veterans participating in 21
such program. 22
‘‘(g) T
RACKINGREQUIREMENTS.—(1) The Secretary 23
shall establish appropriate tracking requirements with re-24
spect to the entities receiving a grant under this section. 25
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‘‘(2) Not less frequently than annually, the Secretary 1
shall submit to Congress a report on such tracking require-2
ments. 3
‘‘(h) P
ERFORMANCEREVIEW.—The Secretary shall— 4
‘‘(1) review the performance of each entity that 5
receives a grant under this section; and 6
‘‘(2) make information regarding such perform-7
ance publicly available. 8
‘‘(i) R
EMEDIATIONPLAN.—(1) In the case of an entity 9
that receives a grant under this section and does not meet 10
the outcome measures developed by the Secretary under sub-11
section (g), the Secretary shall require the entity to submit 12
to the Secretary a remediation plan under which the entity 13
shall describe how and when it plans to meet such outcome 14
measures. 15
‘‘(2) The Secretary may not award a subsequent grant 16
under this section to an entity described in paragraph (1) 17
unless the Secretary approves the remediation plan sub-18
mitted by the entity under such paragraph. 19
‘‘(j) M
AXIMUMAMOUNT.—The amount of a grant 20
awarded under this section may not exceed 10 percent of 21
amounts made available for grants under this section for 22
the fiscal year in which the grant is awarded. 23
‘‘(k) S
UPPLEMENT, NOTSUPPLANT.—Any grant 24
awarded under this section shall be used to supplement and 25
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not supplant funding that is otherwise available through 1
the Department to provide mental health support among 2
family caregivers of veterans participating in the family 3
caregiver program. 4
‘‘(l) O
UTREACH TOFAMILYCAREGIVERS.—The Sec-5
retary shall include, in the outreach materials regularly 6
mailed to a family caregiver who participates in the family 7
caregiver program, notice of mental health support provided 8
by recipients of grants under this section that are located 9
in the relevant Veterans Integrated Service Network. 10
‘‘(m) F
UNDING.—(1) Amounts for the activities of the 11
Department under this section shall be budgeted and appro-12
priated through a separate appropriation account. 13
‘‘(2) In the budget justification materials submitted to 14
Congress in support of the budget of the Department for 15
any fiscal year (as submitted with the budget of the Presi-16
dent under section 1105(a) of title 31), the Secretary shall 17
include a separate statement of the amount requested to be 18
appropriated for that fiscal year for the account specified 19
in paragraph (1). 20
‘‘(n) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, for each of 22
fiscal years 2024 through 2026, $50,000,000 to carry out 23
this section. 24
‘‘(o) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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‘‘(1) The terms ‘caregiver’ and ‘family caregiver’ 1
have the meanings given those terms in section 1720G 2
of this title. 3
‘‘(2) The term ‘family caregiver program’ means 4
the program of comprehensive assistance for family 5
caregivers under section 1720G of this title. 6
‘‘(3) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means the 7
toll-free hotline for veterans established under section 8
1720F of this title.’’. 9
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections at 10
the beginning of such subchapter is amended by adding at 11
the end the following new item: 12
‘‘1720K. Grants to provide mental health support to family caregivers of vet-
erans.’’.
SEC. 3. CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO MITI-
13
GATE THE RISK OF FLOODING ON LOCAL 14
PROPERTY ADJACENT TO MEDICAL FACILI-15
TIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-16
FAIRS. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 8108 of title 38, United 18
States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, or to mitigate the 19
risk of flooding, including the risk of flooding associated 20
with rising sea levels’’ before the period at the end. 21
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 22
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Af-23
fairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 24
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of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report that 1
includes an assessment of— 2
(1) the extent to which each medical facility (as 3
such term is defined in section 8101(3) of title 38, 4
United States Code) is at risk of flooding, including 5
the risk of flooding associated with rising sea levels; 6
and 7
(2) whether additional resources are necessary to 8
address the risk of flooding at each such facility. 9
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 10
authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Vet-11
erans Affairs for each of fiscals year 2024 through 2028 12
$25,000,000 to carry out the amendment made by sub-13
section (a). 14
SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR 15
CAREGIVERS. 16
(a) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than one year 17
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 18
General of the United States shall submit to the Committee 19
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 20
Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 21
on the provision of mental health support to caregivers of 22
veterans. 23
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The report submitted under sub-24
section (a) shall include the following: 25
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(1) An assessment of the need for mental health 1
support among caregivers participating in the care-2
giver programs. 3
(2) An assessment of options for mental health 4
support in facilities of the Department of Veterans Af-5
fairs and in the community for caregivers partici-6
pating in the caregiver programs. 7
(3) An assessment of the availability and accessi-8
bility of mental health support in facilities of the De-9
partment and in the community for caregivers par-10
ticipating in the caregiver programs. 11
(4) An assessment of the awareness among care-12
givers of the availability of mental health support in 13
facilities of the Department and in the community for 14
caregivers participating in the caregiver programs. 15
(5) An assessment of barriers to mental health 16
support in facilities of the Department and in the 17
community for caregivers participating in the care-18
giver programs. 19
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
(1) The term ‘‘caregiver’’ has the meaning given 21
that term in section 1720G of title 38, United States 22
Code. 23
(2) The term ‘‘caregiver programs’’ means— 24
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(A) the program of comprehensive assistance 1
for family caregivers under subsection (a) of sec-2
tion 1720G of title 38, United States Code; and 3
(B) the program of support services for 4
caregivers under subsection (b) of such section. 5
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REVIEW OF SECURITY AT COVERED FACILI-6
TIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-7
FAIRS. 8
(a) A
NNUALSURVEY.—Not later than one year after 9
the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there-10
after for each of the following five years, the Secretary of 11
Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Director of the 12
Office of Security and Law Enforcement of the Department 13
of Veterans Affairs, shall conduct an annual survey of cov-14
ered employees to collect information regarding security at 15
each covered facility. Each annual survey shall include 16
questions about— 17
(1) the type and frequency of criminal activity 18
experienced at the covered facility during the 12 19
months prior to the date the covered employee com-20
pletes the survey; 21
(2) the number of vacant positions for Depart-22
ment police officers at the covered facility and the 23
number of days each vacant position has been vacant; 24
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(3) the availability and adequacy of covered 1
equipment; 2
(4) the availability and adequacy of resources, 3
classes, or other time set aside for training Depart-4
ment police officers who work at each covered facility 5
about any skill or tactic related to law enforcement, 6
including the proper use of force, firearms qualifica-7
tions and training, procedures for responding to an 8
active threat, and any other training required for De-9
partment police officers; 10
(5) any security weakness; 11
(6) an analysis of the relationship between the 12
covered facility (including the Department police offi-13
cers who work at the covered facility) and local law 14
enforcement agencies; 15
(7) efforts by the personnel of the covered facility 16
to address and reduce criminal activity at, or in close 17
proximity to, the covered facility; and 18
(8) recommendations for the Secretary to better 19
address and reduce criminal activity at, or in close 20
proximity to, covered facilities. 21
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 22
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 23
each of the following five years, the Secretary shall submit 24
to each of the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate 25
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and the House of Representatives an annual report regard-1
ing security at covered facilities that includes— 2
(1) the results of the annual survey described 3
under subsection (a) for the year covered by the re-4
port; 5
(2) an analysis, made in coordination with the 6
Director of the Office of Security and Law Enforce-7
ment of such Department and each director and po-8
lice chief of a Veterans Integrated Service Network, of 9
the results of the annual survey described under sub-10
section (a) for the year covered by the report; 11
(3) a plan of action that describes how the Sec-12
retary plans to address any security weakness identi-13
fied in the results of the annual survey and includes 14
clearly-stated goals with measurable benchmarks for 15
each goal and deadlines for each benchmark; and 16
(4) a list of each vacant position for police chief 17
or deputy police chief at each covered facility, and the 18
number of days the position has been vacant. 19
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
(1) The term ‘‘covered equipment’’ means any 21
item issued by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to a 22
Department police officer (including batons, firearms, 23
pepper spray, ballistic vests, body-worn cameras, and 24
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radios) for use in the provision of services under sec-1
tion 902 of title 38, United States Code. 2
(2) The term ‘‘covered employee’’ means any em-3
ployee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who is 4
employed at a covered facility as a police chief, a fa-5
cility emergency management leader, a facility direc-6
tor, or a person carrying out the responsibilities of 7
one of these positions in an acting capacity. 8
(3) The term ‘‘covered facility’’ means any facil-9
ity of the Department of Veterans Affairs where De-10
partment police officers have jurisdiction. 11
(4) The term ‘‘Department police officer’’ has the 12
meaning given to such term as used in section 902 of 13
title 38, United States Code. 14
(5) The term ‘‘security weakness’’ means a defi-15
ciency in the facilities, staffing, or covered equipment 16
at a covered facility that a covered employee of the 17
covered facility determines presents a risk to the safe-18
ty of visitors or staff, including an unsecured door, 19
inoperable security camera, unsecured police oper-20
ations room, a lack of security presence at an en-21
trance to the covered facility, and a lack of security 22
presence in an area of the covered facility or the 23
grounds of the covered facility that the director of the 24
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covered facility determines requires an increased secu-1
rity presence. 2
SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HOUSING 3
LOAN FEES. 4
The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 5
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘November 14, 6
2031’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘March 12, 7
2032’’. 8
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201
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 3581
[Report No. 118–251]
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify
the family caregiver program of the Department
of Veterans Affairs to include services related to
mental health and neurological disorders, and for
other purposes.
O
CTOBER
25, 2023
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
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