Substitute For

HOUSE BILL NO. 5276

A bill to create the office of mental health and suicide prevention in the Michigan veterans affairs agency and provide for its powers and duties; and to provide for the powers and duties of certain state governmental officers and entities.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "protecting veterans mental health act".

Sec. 3. As used in this act:

(a) "Agency" means the Michigan veterans affairs agency.

(b) "Department" means the department of military and veterans affairs.

(d) "Office" means the office of mental health and suicide prevention created in section 5.

(e) "Veteran" means that term as defined in section 1 of 1965 PA 190, MCL 35.61.

Sec. 5. (1) The office of mental health and suicide prevention is created in the agency. The director of the agency shall appoint an individual who has career experience, as determined by the director of the agency, in veteran mental health and substance use disorders as the manager of the office. The manager is not exempt from the state classified civil service. The manager shall report to any official designated by the director of the agency. The director of the agency may assign additional responsibilities to the manager in addition to the responsibilities described in this act.

(2) The office shall collect data on all of the following in this state:

(a) Veteran mental health and substance use disorders, including, but not limited to, statistics related to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, substance use disorder and addiction, and suicide and suicidal ideation.

(b) Efforts by the department to address veteran mental health and substance use disorders described in subdivision (a).

(c) Efforts undertaken and data collected through the interagency agreement with the department of health and human services under section 322 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.722.

(d) The yearly strategic goals of the office.

(e) Utilization of the buddy-to-buddy program created in section 323 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.723.

(3) By not later than March 1 of each year, the office shall submit a report to the director of the agency and the standing committees of the house of representatives and senate on military and veterans affairs on the data collected under subsection (2) and the information described in section 6(6).

(4) The office may, on appropriation and at the direction of the director of the agency, administer grants to local units of government, nonprofit organizations, or other entities, as determined by the director of the agency, in support of programs and resources for service members and veterans consistent with this act.

(5) Any data collected under this act must not include personally identifying information.

(6) The office shall, to the best of its ability, ensure that data collected under this act is timely and accurate, including data collected by the office for programs run by the office, agency, or department or data aggregated from reputable sources outside of the office, agency, or department.

(7) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the agency, department, or office in the performance of an official function under this act and that contains information specific to an individual service member or veteran is not subject to disclosure under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.

Sec. 6. (1) The office shall create and publish a mental health and wellness resource guide. The office shall make the resource guide available on request at no cost to the requestor.

(2) The resource guide must include, but is not limited to, both of the following:

(a) A self-assessment and scoring rubric as described in subsection (3).

(b) Available mental health treatment resources and all of the following information for each organization or provider listed:

(i) Organization or provider name.

(ii) Address.

(iii) Phone number.

(iv) Website, if applicable.

(v) Email address, if applicable.

(vi) Brief summary of services and resources provided.

(3) The office shall adopt a mental health self-assessment and scoring rubric that includes questions that allow a military servicemember or veteran to have an easy-to-understand and basic view of that military servicemember's or veteran's current mental health status. The self-assessment must contain a disclaimer that the self-assessment is for informational purposes only and does not replace a full evaluation conducted by a licensed mental health or medical professional. The office may use an existing product as the self-assessment and scoring rubric if it meets the requirements of this subsection or may design and create a self-assessment and scoring rubric that meets the requirements of this subsection.

(4) In addition to including the self-assessment and scoring rubric in the resource guide, the office may offer the self-assessment and scoring rubric as a standalone resource if the office considers it necessary. If the office offers the self-assessment and scoring rubric as a standalone resource, it must do so at no charge to the user.

(5) The office may list any resource in the resource guide under subsection (2)(b) that the office considers beneficial but may not include only resources connected directly or indirectly to the agency or department.

(6) The office must, in the report required under section 5(3), specify the number of resource guides it distributes each year and the types of organizations in which the resource guides are distributed based on the following or similar categories:

(a) Veteran service organizations.

(b) Local units of government.

(d) State or federal departments or agencies.

(e) Department or agency sections.

(f) For-profit businesses or organizations.

(g) Other.

(7) The office shall update the resource guide as it considers necessary but not less than once every 3 years.

(8) As used in this section, "resource guide" means the mental health and wellness resource guide created under subsection (1).

Sec. 7. (1) In addition to any other powers and responsibilities granted to the manager under this act or delegated by the director of the agency, the manager shall oversee and supervise both of the following programs:

(a) The transition bridge program created in section 321 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.721.

(b) In conjunction with the department of health and human services, the interagency agreement on mental health resources and outreach created under section 332 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.722.

(2) The manager may, at the manager's discretion and with the approval of the director of the agency, delegate day-to-day administrative or operational functions of the programs listed under subsection (1) to other officials in the agency or department as the manager considers appropriate. However, the manager retains the powers and duties of supervising, data collecting, and reporting, and must give final approval for implementing and changing the programs listed under subsection (1) and those assigned to the manager by the director of the agency.

Sec. 8. The manager shall serve as a public point of contact for servicemembers, veterans, and the families of servicemembers and veterans and other stakeholders on mental health, suicide prevention, and related resources and information throughout this state's servicemember and veteran population. The manager shall be a primary point of contact within the agency and department to ensure that programs, resources, and outreach efforts undertaken by the agency or the department related to mental health and suicide prevention are designed and implemented in a manner that ensures those efforts are able to increase awareness and improve outcomes for servicemembers, veterans, and the families of servicemembers and veterans.

Enacting section 1. This act does not take effect unless all of the following bills of the 102nd Legislature are enacted into law:

(a) House Bill No. 5277.

(b) House Bill No. 5279.

(d) Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5720 (request no. 05797'24).