Honorable Richard Peña Raymond, Chair, House Committee on Defense & Veterans' Affairs
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2356 by Neave (Relating to a veteran suicide tracking system and required reporting of veteran suicides by certain persons.), As Introduced
The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined at this time due to the unavailability of information regarding the systems needed to collect veteran suicide data from a number of entities across the state.
The bill would amend the Government Code, Chapter 434, to require the Texas Veterans Commission, in coordination with the United State Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to develop a system that would track the number of veteran suicides across the state and determine how many were receiving services from the VA. The bill would require a person who knows the cause of death for a veteran to be suicide to report to TVC. This includes medical examiners, a justice of the peace, or a health facility licensed under Subtitle B, Title 4, Health and Safety Code, which includes a number of institutions such as hospitals, mental health facilities, and specialty care centers. The agency is unable to determine at this time the cost of a system that could collect, store, aggregate and analyze this data from each of these entities across the state, as well as the personnel and resources needed to meet the requirements of the bill.
Local Government Impact
The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined at this time.
Source Agencies:
403 Veterans Commission, 529 Hlth & Human Svcs Comm