I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1294 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South Texas 
Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a 
full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 4, 2015 
Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself, Mr. VELA, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 
CUELLAR, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, and Ms. 
JACKSON LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that 
the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center 
in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service Department 
of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 
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 ‘‘Meeting the Inpatient 
Health Care Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 
2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The current and future health care needs of 
veterans residing in the Far South Texas area are 
not being fully met by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs. 
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs esti-
mates that more than 117,000 veterans reside in 
Far South Texas. 
(3) In its Capital Asset Realignment for En-
hanced Services study, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs found that fewer than 3 percent of its enroll-
ees in the Valley-Coastal Bend Market of Veterans 
Integrated Service Network 17 reside within its 
acute hospital access standards. 
(4) Travel times for veterans from the market 
referred to in paragraph (3) can exceed six hours 
from their residences to the nearest Department of 
Veterans Affairs hospital for acute inpatient health 
care. 
(5) Even with the significant travel times, vet-
erans from Far South Texas demonstrate a high de-
mand for health care services from the Department 
of Veterans Affairs. 
(6) Current deployments involving members of 
the Texas National Guard and other members of the 
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reserve components of the Armed Forces who reside 
in Texas will continue to increase demand for med-
ical services provided by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs. 
SEC. 3. INPATIENT HEALTH CARE AT THE SOUTH TEXAS 
VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE CENTER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall ensure that the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health 
Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service 
Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care fa-
cility and, if necessary, shall modify the existing facility 
to meet this requirement. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives a report outlining the specific actions the Sec-
retary plans to take to satisfy the requirements in sub-
section (a), including a detailed estimate of the cost of 
such actions, if any, and the time necessary for completion 
of any modification required by such subsection. 
Æ 
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