Bill Text: CA AB2032 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Ending Military and Veteran Suicide Task Force.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Vetoed) 2022-09-27 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2032 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2032-Enrolled.html
|
Enrolled
August 26, 2022 |
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Passed
IN
Senate
August 23, 2022 |
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Passed
IN
Assembly
August 24, 2022 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
August 11, 2022 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 16, 2022 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2032
| Introduced by Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia and Mathis (Coauthor: Assembly Member Voepel) |
February 14, 2022 |
An act to add Section 131321 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to suicide.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2032, Eduardo Garcia.
Ending Military and Veteran Suicide Task Force.
Existing law, the California Suicide Prevention Act of 2000, allows the State Department of Health Care Services, contingent upon appropriation, to establish and implement a suicide prevention, education, and gatekeeper training program to reduce the severity, duration, and incidence of suicidal behaviors. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to establish the Office of Suicide Prevention to, among other things, convene experts and stakeholders, including, but not limited to, stakeholders representing populations with high rates of suicide, to encourage collaboration and coordination of resources for suicide prevention.
This bill would require the department to establish an Ending Military and Veteran Suicide Task Force within the Office of Suicide Prevention to systematically reduce military and veteran suicides and to
develop a plan to eliminate all military and veteran suicides in the state, as specified. Commencing June 1, 2025, the bill would require the task force to submit a specified report to the Governor and the Legislature on the state of veteran suicide prevention, as specified, including, among other things, an analysis of the plans, activities, strategies, and programs undertaken pursuant to the task force’s recommendations and their effects on reducing military and veteran suicides in the state.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 131321 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:131321.
(a) The department shall establish the Ending Military and Veteran Suicide Task Force within the Office of Suicide Prevention to systematically reduce, on an annual basis, military and veteran suicides and to provide a plan by June 1, 2025, for the elimination of all military and veteran suicides in the state by January 1, 2030. The task force shall recommend comprehensive strategies aimed at addressing suicide among military members and veterans in California and shall recommend ways to establish and execute plans and programs to implement those strategies.(b) The task force shall consist of all of the following:
(1) Stakeholders from the Military Department’s mental health,
chaplaincy, and other programs tasked with morale and welfare.
(2) The Department of Veterans Affairs shall provide one representative.
(3) The department shall invite representatives from the United States Department of Defense and each of the armed services.
(4) The department shall invite other veterans service organizations, state and local mental health officials, and researchers with relevant subject matter expertise.
(c) The department shall support the task force and ensure the task force is able to carry out its duties. The department may use its existing resources to absorb the task force’s costs in implementing this subdivision. The
department may accept and expend funds from nongovernmental sources for its work with the task force.
(d) The task force shall, at a minimum, meet quarterly. The task force may meet virtually.
(e) Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for participation in the task force and shall not receive any per diem.
(f) (1) The department shall submit a report to the Governor and
the Legislature by June 1,
2025, and annually thereafter, that includes all of the following:
(A) An analysis of the plans, activities, strategies, and programs undertaken pursuant to the task force’s recommendations and their effects on reducing military and veteran suicides in the state. This part of the report shall include a specific set of near-, intermediate-, and long-term benchmarks that can be used to measure the state’s progress toward the goal of eliminating military and veteran suicides by January 1, 2030.
(B) A survey and analysis of existing programs currently available from
federal, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental agencies that deal with suicide, military suicide, and veteran suicide.
(C) An analysis of the success achieved by each program that can lead to recommendations from the task force on how California can eliminate the military and veteran suicide problem.
(D) An analysis of the factors of alienation, strained relationships, finances, family disruptions, and career challenges associated with suicidal ideation and how to provide services to address those factors as experienced by military members, California National Guard members who live in geographically diverse areas that are far from military bases and mental health care facilities, and veterans.
(2) A
report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
