II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2357 

To provide for improvements in the consistency of data collection, reporting, 

and assessment in connection with the suicide prevention efforts of the 

Department of Defense. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2014 

Ms. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To provide for improvements in the consistency of data collection, reporting, and assessment in connection with the 

suicide prevention efforts of the Department of Defense. 

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 ‘‘Department of Defense 

5 Suicide Tracking Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF CONSISTENCY IN COLLECTION, 

2 REPORTING, AND ASSESSMENT OF DATA IN 

3 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SUICIDE PREVEN4 TION EFFORTS. 

5 (a) POLICY FOR STANDARD SUICIDE DATA COLLEC6 TION, REPORTING, AND ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of 

7 Defense shall prescribe a policy for the development of a 

8 standard method for collecting, reporting, and assessing 

9 suicide data and suicide-attempt data involving members 

10 of the Armed Forces, including reserve components there11 of, and their dependents in order to improve the consist12 ency and comprehensiveness of— 

13 (1) the suicide prevention policy developed pur14 suant to section 582 of the National Defense Au15 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Public Law 

16 112–239; 10 U.S.C. 1071 note); and 

17 (2) the suicide prevention and resilience pro18 gram for the National Guard and Reserves estab19 lished pursuant to section 10219 of title 10, United 

20 States Code. 

21 (b) SUBMITTAL OF POLICY AND CONGRESSIONAL

22 BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit the pol24 icy developed under subsection (a) to the Committees on 

25 Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Represent26 atives. At the request of the committees, the Secretary 


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1 also shall brief the committees on the policy and the imple2 mentation status of a standardized suicide data collection, 

3 reporting, and assessment method pursuant to the policy. 

4 (c) CONSULTATION AND IMPLEMENTATION.—In the 

5 case of the suicide prevention and resilience program for 

6 the National Guard and Reserves referred to in subsection 

7 (a)(2)— 

8 (1) the Secretary shall develop the policy re9 quired by subsection (a) in consultation with the 

10 Chief of the National Guard Bureau; and 

11 (2) the adjutants general of the States, the 

12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Co13 lumbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands shall imple14 ment the policy within 180 days after the date of the 

15 submittal of the policy under subsection (b). 

16 (d) DEPENDENT DEFINED.—In this section, the 

17 term ‘‘dependent’’, with respect to a member of the Armed 

18 Forces, means a person described in section 1072(2) of 

19 title 10, United States Code, except that, in the case of 

20 a parent or parent-in-law of the member, the income re21 quirements of subparagraph (E) of such section do not 

22 apply. 

Æ 


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