118 HR 6873 IH: To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include information relating to the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department of Veterans Affairs. U.S. House of Representatives 2023-12-19 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I118th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 6873IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESDecember 19, 2023Mr. Reschenthaler (for himself, Mr. Kilmer, and Mr. Van Orden) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' AffairsA BILLTo direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include information relating to the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

1.

Findings

Congress finds the following:(1)Each year since 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs has produced an annual report regarding suicide mortality of veterans, defined as persons who—(A)were activated for Federal military service; and(B)were not performing such Federal military service at the time of death.(2)Since 2020, the National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department has not included information relating to the rate of suicide among former members of the Guard or Reserve who were never activated for Federal military service.(3)In 2018, there were 538 suicides among former members of the Armed Forces who were never activated for Federal military service, an average of 1.5 suicide deaths per day according to the 2020 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.(4)According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there is ongoing collaboration between suicide prevention and surveillance scientists in the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs with respect to suicide mortality among former members of the Armed Forces who were never activated for Federal military service.

2.

Inclusion of rate of suicide among covered Reserves in National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Reports

(a)

In general

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall include the rate of suicide among covered Reserves in each National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention of the Department (or any successor document). (b)

Definitions

In this section:(1)The terms active military, naval, air, or space service and reserve component have the meanings given such terms in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.(2)The term covered Reserve means a former member of a reserve component of one of the Armed Forces who did not serve in the active military, naval, air, or space service.