[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5953 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5953

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to display in each facility 
 of the Department of Veterans Affairs a Women Veterans Bill of Rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2010

  Mr. Filner introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to display in each facility 
 of the Department of Veterans Affairs a Women Veterans Bill of Rights.

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

SECTION 1. DISPLAY OF WOMEN VETERANS BILL OF RIGHTS.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure 
that the Women Veterans Bill of Rights described in subsection (b) is--
            (1) displayed prominently in each facility of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs; and
            (2) distributed widely to women veterans.
    (b) Women Veterans Bill of Rights.--The Women Veterans Bill of 
Rights described in this subsection is a sign stating that women 
veterans should have the following rights:
            (1) The right to a coordinated, comprehensive, primary 
        women's health care, at every Department of Veterans Affairs 
        medical facility, including the recognized models of best 
        practices, systems, and structures for care delivery that 
        ensure that every woman veteran has access to a Department of 
        Veterans Affairs primary care provider who can meet all her 
        primary care needs, including gender-specific, acute and 
        chronic illness, preventive, and mental health care.
            (2) The right to be treated with dignity and respect at all 
        Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.
            (3) The right to innovation in care delivery promoted and 
        incentivized by the Veterans Health Administration to support 
        local best practices fitted to the particular configuration and 
        women veteran population.
            (4) The right to request and get treatment by clinicians 
        with specific training and experience in women's health issues.
            (5) The right to enhanced capabilities of medical 
        providers, clinical support, non-clinical, and administrative, 
        to meet the comprehensive health care needs of women veterans.
            (6) The right to request and expect gender equity in 
        provision of clinical health care services.
            (7) The right to equal access to health care services as 
        that of their male counterparts.
            (8) The right to parity to their male veteran counterpart 
        regarding the outcome of performance measures of health care 
        services.
            (9) The right to be informed, through outreach campaigns, 
        of benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs and to be included in Department outreach 
        materials for any benefits and service to which they are 
        entitled.
            (10) The right to be featured proportionately, including by 
        age and ethnicity, in Department outreach materials, including 
        electronic and print media that clearly depict them as being 
        the recipient of the benefits and services provided by the 
        Department.
            (11) The right to be recognized as an important separate 
        population in new strategic plans for service delivery within 
        the health care system of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (12) The right to equal consideration in hiring and 
        employment for any job to which they apply.
            (13) The right to equal consideration in securing Federal 
        contracts.
            (14) The right to equal access and accommodations in 
        homeless programs that will meet their unique family needs.
            (15) The right to have their claims adjudicated equally, 
        fairly, and accurately without bias or disparate treatment.
            (16) The right to have their military sexual trauma and 
        other injuries compensated in a way that reflects the level of 
        trauma sustained.
            (17) The right to expect that all veteran service officers, 
        especially those who are trained by the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs Training Responsibility Involvement Preparation program 
        for claims processing, are required to receive training to be 
        aware of and sensitive to the signs of military sexual trauma, 
        domestic violence, and personal assault.
            (18) The right to the availability of female personnel to 
        assist them in the disability claims application and appellate 
        processes of the Department.
            (19) The right to the availability of female compensation 
        and pension examiners.
            (20) The right to expect specialized training be provided 
        to disability rating personnel regarding military sexual trauma 
        and gender-specific illnesses so that these claims can be 
        adjudicated more accurately.
            (21) The right to expect the collection of gender-specific 
        data on disability ratings, for the performance of longitudinal 
        and trend analyses, and for other applicable purposes.
            (22) The right to a method to identify and track outcomes 
        for all claims involving personal assault trauma, regardless of 
        the resulting disability.
            (23) The right for women veterans' programs and women 
        veteran coordinators to be measured and evaluated for 
        performance, consistency, and accountability.
            (24) The right to burial benefits under the laws 
        administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
                                 <all>