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 treat-
ment 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection and Advo-
cacy for Veterans Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE 
MONITORING OF MENTAL HEALTH AND SUB-
STANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS OF 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall establish a grant program to improve the 
monitoring of mental health and substance abuse treat-
ment programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
(b) GRANTS.— 
(1) MAIN GRANT.— 
(A) AWARD.—In carrying out subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall award a grant to four 
protection and advocacy systems under which 
each protection and advocacy system shall carry 
out a demonstration project to investigate and 
monitor the care and treatment of veterans pro-
vided pursuant to chapter 17 of title 38, United 
States Code, for mental illness or substance 
abuse issues at medical facilities of the Depart-
ment. 
(B) 
MINIMUM
AMOUNT.—Each 
grant 
awarded under subparagraph (A) to a protec-
tion and advocacy system shall be an amount 
that is not less than $105,000 during each year 
that the protection and advocacy system carries 
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out a demonstration project described in such 
subparagraph under the grant program. 
(2) COLLABORATION GRANT.— 
(A) AWARD.—During each year in which a 
protection and advocacy system carries out a 
demonstration project under subparagraph (A) 
of such paragraph, the Secretary shall award a 
joint grant to a national organization with ex-
tensive knowledge of the protection and advo-
cacy system and a veterans service organization 
in the amount of $80,000. 
(B) COLLABORATION.—Each national or-
ganization and veterans service organization 
that is awarded a joint grant under subpara-
graph (A) shall use the grant to facilitate the 
collaboration between the national organization 
and the veterans service organization to— 
(i) coordinate training and technical 
assistance for the protection and advocacy 
systems; and 
(ii) provide for data collection, report-
ing, and analysis in carrying out para-
graph (1)(A). 
(3) AUTHORITY.—In carrying out a demonstra-
tion project under paragraph (1)(A), a protection 
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and advocacy system shall have the authorities pro-
vided by section 105(a) of the Protection and Advo-
cacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (42 
U.S.C. 10805(a)) with respect to a medical facility 
of the Department. 
(c) SELECTION.—In selecting the four protection and 
advocacy system to receive grants under subsection 
(b)(1)(A), the Secretary shall consider the following cri-
teria: 
(1) Whether the protection and advocacy sys-
tem has demonstrated monitoring and investigation 
experience, along with knowledge of the issues facing 
veterans with disabilities. 
(2) Whether the State in which the protection 
and advocacy system operates— 
(A) has low aggregated scores in the do-
mains of mental health, performance, and ac-
cess as rated by the Strategic Analytics Im-
provement and Learning database system (com-
monly referred to as ‘‘SAIL’’); and 
(B) to the extent practicable, is representa-
tive of both urban and rural States. 
(d) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall ensure that each 
protection and advocacy system participating in the grant 
program submits to the Secretary reports developed by the 
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protection and advocacy system relating to an investiga-
tion or monitoring conducted pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1)(A). The Secretary shall designate an office of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to receive each such re-
port. 
(e) DURATION; TERMINATION.— 
(1) DURATION.—The Secretary shall carry out 
the grant program established under subsection (a) 
for a period of five years. 
(2) TERMINATION.—The Secretary may termi-
nate a demonstration project under subsection 
(b)(1)(A) before the five-year period described in 
paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines there is 
good cause for such termination. If the Secretary 
carries out such a termination, the Secretary shall 
award grants under subsection (b) to a new protec-
tion and advocacy system. 
(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
out the grant program under subsection (a) $500,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘protection and advocacy system’’ 
has the meaning given the term ‘‘eligible system’’ in 
section 102(2) of the Protection and Advocacy for 
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Individuals with Mental Illness Act (42 U.S.C. 
10802(2)). 
(2) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 
States, territories, and possessions of the United 
States, the District of Columbia, and the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico. 
Æ 
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