II 

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. 

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 ‘‘Treto Garza South 

5 Texas Veterans Inpatient Care Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF MEDICAL CENTER OF DEPART2 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS IN HARLINGEN, 

3 TEXAS, AND INCLUSION OF INPATIENT 

4 HEALTH CARE FACILITY AT SUCH MEDICAL 

5 CENTER. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 

8 (1) The current and future health care needs of 

9 veterans residing in South Texas are not being fully 

10 met by the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

11 (2) According to recent census data, more than 

12 108,000 veterans reside in South Texas. 

13 (3) Travel times for veterans from the Valley 

14 Coastal Bend area from their homes to the nearest 

15 hospital of the Department for acute inpatient 

16 health care can exceed six hours. 

17 (4) Even with the significant travel times, vet18 erans from South Texas demonstrate a high demand 

19 for health care services from the Department. 

20 (5) Ongoing overseas deployments of members 

21 of the Armed Forces from Texas, including members 

22 of the Armed Forces on active duty, members of the 

23 Texas National Guard, and members of the other re24 serve components of the Armed Forces, will continue 

25 to increase demand for medical services provided by 

26 the Department in South Texas. 


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1 (6) The Department employs an annual Stra2 tegic Capital Investment Planning process to ‘‘en3 able the VA to continually adapt to changes in de4 mographics, medical and information technology, 

5 and health care delivery’’, which results in the devel6 opment of a multi-year investment plan that deter7 mines where gaps in services exist or are projected 

8 and develops an appropriate solution to meet those 

9 gaps. 

10 (7) According to the Department, final approval 

11 of the Strategic Capital Investment Planning pri12 ority list serves as the ‘‘building block’’ of the an13 nual budget request for the Department. 

14 (8) Arturo ‘‘Treto’’ Garza, a veteran who 

15 served in the Marine Corps, rose to the rank of Ser16 geant, and served two tours in the Vietnam War, 

17 passed away on October 3, 2012. 

18 (9) Treto Garza, who was also a former co19 chairman of the Veterans Alliance of the Rio Grande 

20 Valley, tirelessly fought to improve health care serv21 ices for veterans in the Rio Grande Valley, with his 

22 efforts successfully leading to the creation of the 

23 medical center of the Department located in Har24 lingen, Texas. 


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1 (b) REDESIGNATION OF MEDICAL CENTER IN HAR2 LINGEN, TEXAS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The medical center of the 

4 Department of Veterans Affairs located in Har5 lingen, Texas, shall after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act be known and designated as the ‘‘Treto 

7 Garza South Texas Department of Veterans Affairs 

8 Health Care Center’’. 

9 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in any law, 

10 regulation, map, document, paper, or other record of 

11 the United States to the medical center of the De12 partment referred to in paragraph (1) shall be 

13 deemed to be a reference to the Treto Garza South 

14 Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care 

15 Center. 

16 (c) REQUIREMENT OF FULL-SERVICE INPATIENT

17 FACILITY.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 

19 Affairs shall ensure that the Treto Garza South 

20 Texas Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care 

21 Center, as designated under subsection (b), includes 

22 a full-service inpatient health care facility of the De23 partment and shall modify the existing facility as 

24 necessary to meet that requirement. 


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1 (2) PLAN TO EXPAND FACILITY CAPABILI2 TIES.—The Secretary shall include in the annual 

3 Strategic Capital Investment Plan of the Depart4 ment a project to expand the capabilities of the 

5 Treto Garza South Texas Department of Veterans 

6 Affairs Health Care Center, as so designated, by 

7 adding the following: 

8 (A) Inpatient capability for 50 beds with 

9 appropriate administrative, clinical, diagnostic, 

10 and ancillary services needed for support. 

11 (B) An urgent care center. 

12 (C) The capability to provide a full range 

13 of services to meet the health care needs of 

14 women veterans. 

15 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

17 shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

18 Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

19 House of Representatives a report detailing a plan to im20 plement the requirements in subsection (c), including an 

21 estimate of the cost of required actions and the time nec22 essary for the completion of those actions. 

23 (e) SOUTH TEXAS DEFINED.—In this section, the 

24 term ‘‘South Texas’’ means the following counties in 

25 Texas: Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Calhoun, Cameron, DeWitt, 


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1 Dimmit, Duval, Goliad, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jim 

2 Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, 

3 Starr, Victoria, Webb, Willacy, Zapata. 

Æ 


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