[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 800 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 800

 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South 
 Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center at Harlingen, 
 located in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service inpatient health 
  care facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to redesignate 
                  such center, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 24, 2013

  Mr. Cornyn introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South 
 Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center at Harlingen, 
 located in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service inpatient health 
  care facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to redesignate 
                  such center, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Treto Garza Far South Texas Veterans 
Inpatient Care Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. INPATIENT HEALTH CARE FACILITY AT DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
              AFFAIRS MEDICAL FACILITY IN HARLINGEN, TEXAS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The current and future health care needs of veterans 
        residing in Far South Texas are not being fully met by the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) According to recent census data, more than 108,000 
        veterans reside in Far South Texas.
            (3) Travel times for veterans from the Valley Coastal Bend 
        area from their homes to the nearest Department of Veterans 
        Affairs hospital for acute inpatient health care can exceed six 
        hours.
            (4) Even with the significant travel times, veterans from 
        Far South Texas demonstrate a high demand for health care 
        services from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (5) Ongoing overseas deployments of members of the Armed 
        Forces from Texas, including members of the Armed Forces on 
        active duty, members of the Texas National Guard, and members 
        of the other reserve components of the Armed Forces, will 
        continue to increase demand for medical services provided by 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (6) The Department of Veterans Affairs employs an annual 
        Strategic Capital Investment Planning process to ``enable the 
        VA to continually adapt to changes in demographics, medical and 
        information technology, and health care delivery'', which 
        results in the development of a multi-year investment plan that 
        determines where gaps in services exist or are projected and 
        develops an appropriate solution to meet those gaps.
            (7) According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, final 
        approval of the Strategic Capital Investment Planning priority 
        list serves as the ``building block'' of the annual budget 
        request for the Department.
            (8) Arturo ``Treto'' Garza, a veteran who served in the 
        Marine Corps, rose to the rank of Sergeant, and served two 
        tours in the Vietnam War, passed away on October 3, 2012.
            (9) Treto Garza, who was also a former co-chairman of the 
        Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande Valley, tirelessly fought 
        to improve health care services for veterans in the Rio Grande 
        Valley, with his efforts successfully leading to the creation 
        of the South Texas VA Health Care Center at Harlingen, located 
        in Harlingen, Texas.
    (b) Redesignation of South Texas Department of Veterans Affairs 
Health Care Center.--
            (1) In general.--The South Texas Department of Veterans 
        Affairs Health Care Center at Harlingen, located in Harlingen, 
        Texas, is redesignated as the ``Treto Garza South Texas 
        Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center''.
            (2) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
        document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
        medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs referred 
        to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
        ``Treto Garza South Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health 
        Care Center''.
    (c) Requirement of Full-Service Inpatient Facility.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
        ensure that the Treto Garza South Texas Department of Veterans 
        Affairs Health Care Center includes a full-service inpatient 
        health care facility of the Department and shall modify the 
        existing facility as necessary to meet that requirement.
            (2) Plan to expand facility capabilities.--The Secretary 
        shall include in the annual Strategic Capital Investment Plan 
        of the Department a project to expand the capabilities of the 
        Treto Garza South Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health 
        Care Center by adding the following:
                    (A) Inpatient capability for 50 beds with 
                appropriate administrative, clinical, diagnostic, and 
                ancillary services needed for support.
                    (B) An urgent care center.
                    (C) The capability to provide a full range of 
                services to meet the needs of women veterans.
    (d) Report to Congress.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs of the House of Representatives a report detailing a plan to 
implement the requirements in subsection (c), including an estimate of 
the cost of required actions and the time necessary for the completion 
of those actions.
    (e) Far South Texas Defined.--In this section, the term ``Far South 
Texas'' means the following counties in Texas: Aransas, Bee, Brooks, 
Calhoun, Cameron, DeWitt, Dimmit, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim 
Hogg, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Starr, 
Victoria, Webb, Willacy, Zapata.
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