[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4428 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4428

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to maintain the existing capacity of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs to provide specialized services to disabled veterans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 1994

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to maintain the existing capacity of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs to provide specialized services to disabled veterans.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SPECIALIZED TREATMENT 
              CAPACITIES.

    (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 7318 the following new section:
``Sec. 7319. Specialized treatment services: preservation of Department 
              capacities
    ``(a) The Secretary shall ensure that the Department maintains the 
capacity to provide for the specialized treatment and rehabilitative 
needs of disabled veterans (including veterans with spinal cord 
dysfunction, blindness, and mental illness) within distinct programs or 
facilities of the Department that are dedicated to the specialized 
needs of those veterans in a manner that affords those veterans 
reasonable access to care and services for those specialized needs.
    ``(b) The Secretary shall ensure that overall capacity of the 
Department to provide such specialized services is not reduced below 
the capacity of the Department, nationwide, to provide those services, 
as of the date of the enactment of this section. Nothing in this 
section precludes the Secretary from expanding the number or type of 
facilities or programs that provide treatment and rehabilitation 
services for the specialized needs of such veterans, including 
provision of specialized services on an outpatient basis.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
7318 the following new item:

``7319. Specialized treatment services: preservation of Department 
                            capacities.''.

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