H.R. No. 1431


R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital serves every county in Texas and is the only Veterans Affairs hospital in the state that provides psychiatric care as its principal function; and WHEREAS, The federal government has invested significantly in the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital, having spent $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 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, The Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital is known as a national referral facility for blind rehabilitation; the hospital provides superior care for its approximately 1,800 psychiatric, posttraumatic stress disorder, and blind rehabilitation patients annually, as well as outstanding service for its outpatients with medical and psychiatric conditions, whose visits number approximately 100,000 per year; and WHEREAS, Enjoying strong community support, the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital annually contributes an estimated $203 million to the local economy; it has 750 employees and directly and indirectly accounts for approximately 2,000 jobs throughout Central Texas; and WHEREAS, Any 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 79th Texas Legislature hereby oppose any proposal to close the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital and urge concerned Texans and veterans to express their support of the hospital and its retention. Dunnam ______________________________ Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 1431 was adopted by the House on May 25, 2005, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House