President Signs Veterans Suicide Prevention & COLA Bills

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President Bush signs Veterans Suicide Prevention and COLA bill into law

VVA Legislative Update – November 6, 2007

On Monday, November 5, the President signed into law H.R. 327, the "Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act," now P.L. 110-110 directs the Secretary to develop and carry out a comprehensive program designed to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans. Requires the program to include: (1) mandatory training for appropriate staff and contractors of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) who interact with veterans; (2) screening for suicide risk factors veterans who receive medical care at a Department facility; (3) tracking of veterans; (4) referral of at-risk veterans for counseling and treatment; (5) designation of a suicide prevention counselor at each Department medical facility; (6) research on best practices for suicide prevention; (7) mental health care for veterans who have experienced sexual trauma while in military service; (8) 24-hour veterans' mental health care availability; (9) a toll-free hotline; (10) outreach and education for veterans and their families; and (11) peer support counseling.

Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the program.

Also on Monday, November 5, the President signed into law H.R. 1284, now P.L. 110-111 the "Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2007," directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to increase, as of December 1, 2007, the rates of veterans' wartime disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled adult children, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children.

Requires each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance [OASDI]) of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date.

VVA will post these new laws on our legislative action center at www.vva.org click on government affairs and go to the legislation action center when they become available. 

You can also view these new law at Thomas at www.thomas.loc.gov