I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1712 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a grant program 

to improve the monitoring of mental health and substance abuse treatment programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mrs. ROBY (for herself, Ms. TITUS, Mr. WALZ, and Mr. ZELDIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 

grant program to improve the monitoring of mental 

health and substance abuse treatment programs of the 

Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Protection and Advo5 cacy for Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE 

2 MONITORING OF MENTAL HEALTH AND SUB3 STANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS OF 

4 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 

6 Affairs shall establish a grant program to improve the 

7 monitoring of mental health and substance abuse treat8 ment programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

9 (b) GRANTS.— 

10 (1) MAIN GRANT.— 

11 (A) AWARD.—In carrying out subsection 

12 (a), the Secretary shall award a grant to four 

13 protection and advocacy systems under which 

14 each protection and advocacy system shall carry 

15 out a demonstration project to investigate and 

16 monitor the care and treatment of veterans pro17 vided pursuant to chapter 17 of title 38, United 

18 States Code, for mental illness or substance 

19 abuse issues at medical facilities of the Depart20 ment. 

21 (B) MINIMUM AMOUNT.—Each grant 

22 awarded under subparagraph (A) to a protec23 tion and advocacy system shall be an amount 

24 that is not less than $105,000 during each year 

25 that the protection and advocacy system carries 


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1 out a demonstration project described in such 

2 subparagraph under the grant program. 

3 (2) COLLABORATION GRANT.— 

4 (A) AWARD.—During each year in which a 

5 protection and advocacy system carries out a 

6 demonstration project under subparagraph (A) 

7 of such paragraph, the Secretary shall award a 

8 joint grant to a national organization with ex9 tensive knowledge of the protection and advo10 cacy system and a veterans service organization 

11 in the amount of $80,000. 

12 (B) COLLABORATION.—Each national or13 ganization and veterans service organization 

14 that is awarded a joint grant under subpara15 graph (A) shall use the grant to facilitate the 

16 collaboration between the national organization 

17 and the veterans service organization to— 

18 (i) coordinate training and technical 

19 assistance for the protection and advocacy 

20 systems; and 

21 (ii) provide for data collection, report22 ing, and analysis in carrying out para23 graph (1)(A). 

24 (3) AUTHORITY.—In carrying out a demonstra25 tion project under paragraph (1)(A), a protection 


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1 and advocacy system shall have the authorities pro2 vided by section 105(a) of the Protection and Advo3 cacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 10805(a)) with respect to a medical facility 

5 of the Department. 

6 (c) SELECTION.—In selecting the four protection and 

7 advocacy system to receive grants under subsection 

8 (b)(1)(A), the Secretary shall consider the following cri9 teria: 

10 (1) Whether the protection and advocacy sys11 tem has demonstrated monitoring and investigation 

12 experience, along with knowledge of the issues facing 

13 veterans with disabilities. 

14 (2) Whether the State in which the protection 

15 and advocacy system operates— 

16 (A) has low aggregated scores in the do17 mains of mental health, performance, and ac18 cess as rated by the Strategic Analytics Im19 provement and Learning database system (com20 monly referred to as ‘‘SAIL’’); and 

21 (B) to the extent practicable, is representa22 tive of both urban and rural States. 

23 (d) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall ensure that each 

24 protection and advocacy system participating in the grant 

25 program submits to the Secretary reports developed by the 


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1 protection and advocacy system relating to an investiga2 tion or monitoring conducted pursuant to subsection 

3 (b)(1)(A). The Secretary shall designate an office of the 

4 Department of Veterans Affairs to receive each such re5 port. 

6 (e) DURATION; TERMINATION.— 

7 (1) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 

8 the grant program established under subsection (a) 

9 for a period of five years. 

10 (2) TERMINATION.—The Secretary may termi11 nate a demonstration project under subsection 

12 (b)(1)(A) before the five-year period described in 

13 paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines there is 

14 good cause for such termination. If the Secretary 

15 carries out such a termination, the Secretary shall 

16 award grants under subsection (b) to a new protec17 tion and advocacy system. 

18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

20 out the grant program under subsection (a) $500,000 for 

21 each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022. 

22 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) The term ‘‘protection and advocacy system’’ 

24 has the meaning given the term ‘‘eligible system’’ in 

25 section 102(2) of the Protection and Advocacy for 


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1 Individuals with Mental Illness Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 10802(2)). 

3 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

4 States, territories, and possessions of the United 

5 States, the District of Columbia, and the Common6 wealth of Puerto Rico. 

Æ 


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