II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2324 

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments to encourage women members of the Armed Forces who separate 

or retire from the Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to participate 

in the Women’s Health Transition Training Program of the Department 

of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2019 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of 

the military departments to encourage women members 

of the Armed Forces who separate or retire from the 

Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to participate 

in the Women’s Health Transition Training Program 

of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Servicewomen’s Health 

5 Transition Training Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Women are now the fastest growing cohort 

4 of veterans and are expected to double in population 

5 by 2045. 

6 (2) Women comprise approximately 2,000,000 

7 veterans in the United States and 10 percent of the 

8 total veteran population. 

9 (3) Women veterans are nearly two times more 

10 likely to commit suicide than civilian women. 

11 (4) On average, women do not connect with the 

12 Veterans Health Administration until 2.7 years after 

13 separating from military service. 

14 (5) Female veterans have a higher rate of 

15 homelessness than their male counterparts. 

16 (6) One in five female members of the Armed 

17 Forces report experiencing military sexual trauma. 

18 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY OBJECTIVES.—It is in 

19 the national interest of the United States to ensure women 

20 veterans receive a high quality of care by promoting pro21 grams and initiatives that— 

22 (1) educate women separating from active duty 

23 in the Armed Forces on the services available to 

24 them through the Department of Veterans Affairs; 


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1 (2) encourage women to enroll in the system of 

2 annual patient enrollment of the Department under 

3 section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code; and 

4 (3) increase the number of women receiving 

5 health care from the Department. 

6 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in piloting 

8 the Women’s Health Transition Assistance Program, has 

9 found that the pilot program has— 

10 (1) educated hundreds of women in the process 

11 of separating or retiring from the Armed Forces on 

12 the care they can receive from the Department of 

13 Veterans Affairs, 99 percent of whom would rec14 ommend the program to others; 

15 (2) improved awareness among pilot program 

16 participants of services available from the Depart17 ment by 56 percent; and 

18 (3) increased the intent of pilot program par19 ticipants— 

20 (A) to enroll in the system of annual pa21 tient enrollment of the Department under sec22 tion 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, by 

23 13.1 percent; 

24 (B) to use health care services from the 

25 Department by 15.6 percent; and 


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1 (C) to use suicide prevention services from 

2 the Department, if needed, by 19.3 percent. 

3 SEC. 3. PARTICIPATION IN THE WOMEN’S HEALTH TRANSI4 TION TRAINING PROGRAM OF THE DEPART5 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall di7 rect— 

8 (1) each Secretary of a military department to 

9 encourage women members of the Armed Forces 

10 who separate or retire from the Armed Forces dur11 ing fiscal year 2020 to participate in the Women’s 

12 Health Transition Training Program of the Depart13 ment of Veterans Affairs at locations selected by the 

14 Secretary concerned; and 

15 (2) each commander of a military installation 

16 that has a center for the Transition Assistance Pro17 gram under sections 1142 and 1144 of title 10, 

18 United States Code, to advertise the Women’s 

19 Health Transition Training Program to women 

20 members described in paragraph (1). 

21 (b) REPORT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 1, 

23 2021, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with 

24 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall submit to 

25 Congress a report regarding participation in the 


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1 Women’s Health Transition Training Program of 

2 the Department of Veterans Affairs as described in 

3 subsection (a). 

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

6 (A) The number of participants in the pro7 gram. 

8 (B) The number of program sessions and 

9 the locations where the sessions were held. 

10 (C) An assessment of available metrics in11 cluding course satisfaction and improved aware12 ness of health services furnished by the Sec13 retary of Veterans Affairs. 

14 (D) A description of barriers to expanding 

15 the program to reach more women members of 

16 the Armed Forces. 

17 (E) A description of barriers to offering 

18 the program online to reach women members of 

19 the Armed Forces who cannot attend in person. 

20 (F) Recommendations for legislation to im21 prove or expand the program. 

Æ 


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