[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1534 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1534

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 9, 2015

  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 medical 
  center of the Department of Veterans Affairs located in Harlingen, 
   Texas, includes a full-service inpatient health care facility, to 
        redesignate such medical 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 South Texas Veterans 
Inpatient Care Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF MEDICAL CENTER OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
              IN HARLINGEN, TEXAS, AND INCLUSION OF INPATIENT HEALTH 
              CARE FACILITY AT SUCH MEDICAL CENTER.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The current and future health care needs of veterans 
        residing in 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 South Texas.
            (3) Travel times for veterans from the Valley Coastal Bend 
        area from their homes to the nearest hospital of the Department 
        for acute inpatient health care can exceed six hours.
            (4) Even with the significant travel times, veterans from 
        South Texas demonstrate a high demand for health care services 
        from the Department.
            (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 in South Texas.
            (6) The Department 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, 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 medical center of the Department located in Harlingen, 
        Texas.
    (b) Redesignation of Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas.--
            (1) In general.--The medical center of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs located in Harlingen, Texas, shall after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as 
        the ``Treto Garza South Texas Department of Veterans Affairs 
        Health Care Center''.
            (2) References.--Any reference in any law, regulation, map, 
        document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
        medical center of the Department 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, as designated under subsection (b), 
        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, as so designated, 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 health care 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) South Texas Defined.--In this section, the term ``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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