By:  Mabry                                                        H.R. No. 111



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, The Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital in Waco serves 
every county in Texas as the only VA hospital in the state that 
provides psychiatric care  as its principal function; and
	WHEREAS, The federal government has invested significantly 
in the Waco VA Hospital, spending $12.4 million to enhance a 
facility for acute psychiatric care and $11.3 million to renovate 
and modernize a psychiatric-geriatric building; and
	WHEREAS, State government also invested in the Waco VA 
Hospital by locating a Texas Veterans Commission regional office 
near the facility to provide integrated services to the large 
concentration of veterans in the area; and
	WHEREAS, Operating 15 rehabilitation beds to serve blind 
veterans, the Waco VA Hospital is known as a national referral 
facility for blind rehabilitation; and
	WHEREAS, In the past year alone, the Waco VA Hospital treated 
1,800 psychiatric, posttraumatic stress disorder, and blind 
rehabilitation patients, plus another 17,000 outpatients for 
medical and psychiatric conditions, attesting to its importance to 
Texas veterans from throughout the region; and
	WHEREAS, Enjoying strong community support, the Waco VA 
Hospital annually contributes an estimated $203 million to the 
local economy and directly and indirectly accounts for 
approximately 2,000 jobs throughout Central Texas; and
	WHEREAS, A VA proposal to close the Waco facility would 
interrupt the seamless delivery of services to many Texas veterans 
and do great harm to the local economy; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th 
Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby oppose any proposal to 
close the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital and urge concerned Texans 
and veterans to attend related hearings to lend their support for 
the hospital and its retention.