Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1969 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1969
5	5	To amend and reauthorize the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide
6	6	Prevention Grant Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH10, 2025
9	9	Mrs. M
10	10	ILLER-MEEKSintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
11	11	Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend and reauthorize the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon
14	14	Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program of the Depart-
15	15	ment of Veterans Affairs.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Wrong Door for 4
20	20	Veterans Act’’. 5
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23	23	•HR 1969 IH
24	24	SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO AND REAUTHORIZATION OF THE 1
25	25	STAFF SERGEANT PARKER GORDON FOX SUI-2
26	26	CIDE PREVENTION GRANT PROGRAM OF THE 3
27	27	DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 4
28	28	(a) R
29	29	EORGANIZATION.—Subsection (b) of section 201 5
30	30	of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental 6
31	31	Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 (Public Law 116– 7
32	32	171; 38 U.S.C. 1720F note) is amended, in the second 8
33	33	sentence, by striking ‘‘Office of Mental Health and Suicide 9
34	34	Prevention’’ and inserting ‘‘the Assistant Under Secretary 10
35	35	for Health for Clinical Services’’. 11
36	36	(b) G
37	37	RANTMONEY: AMOUNT; USE.—Such section is 12
38	38	further amended, in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking 13
39	39	‘‘$750,000 per grantee per fiscal year’’ and inserting 14
40	40	‘‘$500,000 per fiscal year (not more than 5 percent of 15
41	41	which may be spent on food and non-alcoholic beverages), 16
42	42	plus $10,000 per eligible individual who receives suicide 17
43	43	prevention services provided or coordinated by such grant-18
44	44	ee’’. 19
45	45	(c) P
46	46	REFERENCE IN DISTRIBUTION OFGRANTS.— 20
47	47	Such section is further amended, in subsection (d)(2), by 21
48	48	adding at the end the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall not 22
49	49	give preference to an eligible entity solely because the eligi-23
50	50	ble entity previously received, or applied for, a grant under 24
51	51	this section’’. 25
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54	54	•HR 1969 IH
55	55	(d) REAPPLICATION BY A PREVIOUSGRANTEE.— 1
56	56	Such section is further amended, in subsection (f), by add-2
57	57	ing at the end the following new paragraph: 3
58	58	‘‘(3) R
59	59	EAPPLICATION BY PREVIOUS GRANT -4
60	60	EE.—An application submitted by an eligible entity 5
61	61	that previously received grant funds under this sec-6
62	62	tion shall include in such application evidence that 7
63	63	the eligible entity used such grant funds to serve a 8
64	64	significant number of veterans.’’. 9
65	65	(e) B
66	66	RIEFING FORLOCALVAMCS.—Such section is 10
67	67	further amended, in subsection (h), by adding at the end 11
68	68	the following new paragraph: 12
69	69	‘‘(5) B
70	70	RIEFING FOR LOCAL VAMCS .—Not less 13
71	71	than once per calendar quarter, the Secretary shall 14
72	72	provide, to the appropriate personnel of each medical 15
73	73	center of the Department located not more than 100 16
74	74	miles from the primary location of a grantee, a 17
75	75	briefing about the grant program under this section 18
76	76	in order to improve coordination between a grantee 19
77	77	and such personnel. The Secretary may permit a 20
78	78	representative of a grantee to attend such a brief-21
79	79	ing.’’. 22
80	80	(f) D
81	81	URATION.—Such section is further amended, in 23
82	82	subsection (j), by striking ‘‘the date that is three years 24
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85	85	•HR 1969 IH
86	86	after the date on which the first grant is awarded under 1
87	87	this section’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 2028’’. 2
88	88	(g) E
89	89	MERGENTSUICIDECARE.—Such section is fur-3
90	90	ther amended, in subsection (n)— 4
91	91	(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘When’’; and 5
92	92	(2) by adding at the end the following new 6
93	93	paragraph: 7
94	94	‘‘(2) A grantee shall notify— 8
95	95	‘‘(A) an eligible individual receiving suicide pre-9
96	96	vention services provided or coordinated by such 10
97	97	grantee that such eligible individual may receive 11
98	98	emergent suicide care under section 1720J of title 12
99	99	38, United States Code; and 13
100	100	‘‘(B) the Secretary if such eligible individual re-14
101	101	quests such emergent suicide care.’’. 15
102	102	(h) R
103	103	EAUTHORIZATION.—Such section is further 16
104	104	amended, in subsection (p)— 17
105	105	(1) by striking ‘‘a total of $174,000,000 for fis-18
106	106	cal years 2021 through 2025’’ and inserting an em 19
107	107	dash; and 20
108	108	(2) by adding at the end the following new 21
109	109	paragraphs: 22
110	110	‘‘(1) for fiscal years 2021 through 2025, a total 23
111	111	of $174,000,000; and 24
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114	114	•HR 1969 IH
115	115	‘‘(2) for fiscal years 2026 through 2028, a total 1
116	116	of $157,500,000.’’. 2
117	117	(i) C
118	118	LARIFICATION OFELIGIBLEENTITIES.—Such 3
119	119	section is further amended, in subsection (q)(3)— 4
120	120	(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 5
121	121	by inserting ‘‘an entity that has continuously pro-6
122	122	vided mental health care or support services in the 7
123	123	United States during the two-year period before the 8
124	124	date on which the entity applies for a grant under 9
125	125	this section, and that is’’ after ‘‘means’’; and 10
126	126	(2) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, or a 11
127	127	health care provider’’ after ‘‘foundation’’. 12
128	128	(j) T
129	129	ECHNICALCORRECTION TO DEFINITIONS.— 13
130	130	Such section is further amended, in subsection (q)(5), by 14
131	131	striking ‘‘Medical services’’ and inserting ‘‘The term 15
132	132	‘emergency treatment’ means medical services’’. 16
133	133	(k) R
134	134	EQUIREDUSE OFSCREENINGPROTOCOLSE-17
135	135	LECTED BY THESECRETARY.— 18
136	136	(1) I
137	137	N GENERAL.—Such section is further 19
138	138	amended, in subsection (q)(11)(A)(ii), by striking 20
139	139	‘‘screening for risk’’ and inserting ‘‘screening for 21
140	140	risk, using a protocol selected by the Secretary’’. 22
141	141	(2) R
142	142	ULES OF CONSTRUCTION .—In addition to 23
143	143	the protocol selected pursuant to the amendment 24
144	144	made by paragraph (1)— 25
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147	147	•HR 1969 IH
148	148	(A) the Secretary may furnish another pro-1
149	149	tocol to a grantee; and 2
150	150	(B) a grantee may use another protocol to 3
151	151	screen for risk. 4
152	152	Æ
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