II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2336 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program 

on providing intensive community care coordination and supportive services to veteran families who lack adequate access to services, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2018 

Mr. TESTER 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 carry out 

a pilot program on providing intensive community care 

coordination and supportive services to veteran families 

who lack adequate access to services, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Veteran 

5 Families Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON COMMUNITY CARE COORDINA2 TION AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES FOR VET3 ERAN FAMILIES WHO LACK ACCESS TO SERV4 ICES. 

5 (a) PILOT PROGRAM REQUIRED.—Commencing not 

6 later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

7 Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a 

8 pilot program with community partners to assess the fea9 sibility and advisability of providing intensive community 

10 care coordination and supportive services to veteran fami11 lies who lack adequate access to services furnished by the 

12 Department of Veterans Affairs or other entities of Fed13 eral, State, and local governments. 

14 (b) COMMUNITY CARE COORDINATION AND SUP15 PORTIVE SERVICES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of the 

16 pilot program, intensive community care coordination and 

17 supportive services are services provided by a community 

18 partner to improve the well-being and address the needs 

19 of veteran families who live in rural or underserved areas 

20 or who otherwise lack access to adequate services fur21 nished by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal 

22 Government, or State and local governments. Intensive 

23 community care coordination and supportive services may 

24 include the following: 

25 (1) Care coordination and case management 

26 services. 


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1 (2) Outreach services. 

2 (3) Assistance in obtaining any benefits from 

3 the Department which the veteran may be eligible to 

4 receive, including the following: 

5 (A) Vocational and rehabilitation coun6 seling. 

7 (B) Employment and training services. 

8 (C) Educational assistance. 

9 (D) Health care services. 

10 (4) Assistance in obtaining and coordinating 

11 the provision of other public benefits or available 

12 services provided by the Federal Government, State 

13 or local governments, or other community partners, 

14 including the following: 

15 (A) Marriage counseling. 

16 (B) Services for children. 

17 (C) Suicide prevention. 

18 (D) Substance abuse awareness and treat19 ment. 

20 (E) Mental health awareness and treat21 ment. 

22 (F) Financial counseling. 

23 (G) Employment assistance. 

24 (H) Transportation services. 

25 (I) Child care. 


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1 (J) Housing counseling. 

2 (K) Preparing and updating family care 

3 plans. 

4 (L) Development of strategies for living 

5 with a veteran with post traumatic stress dis6 order or traumatic brain injury. 

7 (M) Accessing emergency financial assist8 ance through philanthropic efforts. 

9 (N) Such other services as may be appro10 priate to improve the well-being and address the 

11 unique needs of veteran families who live in 

12 rural or underserved areas or otherwise lack ac13 cess to adequate services furnished by the De14 partment of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Gov15 ernment, or State and local governments. 

16 (5) Providing direct services, described in para17 graph (4), that are necessary to address the needs 

18 of the veteran families but are otherwise unavailable 

19 through existing public or private programs. 

20 (c) AGREEMENTS AND GRANTS.— 

21 (1) AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall carry 

22 out the pilot program by entering into partnership 

23 agreements with community partners to provide in24 tensive community care coordination and supportive 

25 services. 


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1 (2) GRANTS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, 

3 using a competitive and merit-based process, 

4 award grants to community partners with 

5 whom the Secretary has entered into agree6 ments under paragraph (1). 

7 (B) USE OF FUNDS.—The amounts of 

8 grants awarded under subparagraph (A) shall 

9 be used to provide intensive community care co10 ordination and supportive services under the 

11 pilot program and to assess service delivery effi12 ciencies. 

13 (C) LOCATIONS.—The Secretary may 

14 award grants under subparagraph (A) on an in15 dividual location basis and may award grants 

16 for the provision of certain services at locations 

17 that also provide other services. 

18 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Vet20 erans Affairs to carry out the pilot program $5,000,000 

21 for each of fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020. 

22 (e) REPORT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 340 days be24 fore the completion of the pilot program, the Sec25 retary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ 


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1 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Vet2 erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a re3 port on the results of the pilot program. 

4 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para5 graph (1) shall include the following: 

6 (A) The number of veteran families served 

7 under the pilot program. 

8 (B) The number of veteran families who 

9 received service linkages or referrals under the 

10 pilot program. 

11 (C) A description and assessment of the ef12 fectiveness and achievements of the pilot pro13 gram with respect to services and treatments 

14 and mitigation of risks, including risks relating 

15 to homelessness, unemployment, and suicide. 

16 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 (1) COMMUNITY PARTNER.—The term ‘‘com18 munity partner’’ means a private nonprofit organiza19 tion. 

20 (2) VETERAN FAMILY.—The term ‘‘veteran 

21 family’’ means a family with respect to which the 

22 head of the household or the spouse of the head of 

23 the household is a veteran. A family that consists of 


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1 a single individual who is a veteran shall be consid2 ered a veteran family. 

Æ 


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