SECTION 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as the “Vet Center Eligibility Expansion Act”.
Vet Center Eligibility Expansion Act
An Act
To amend title 38, United States Code, to furnish Vet Center readjustment counseling and related mental health services to certain individuals.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SEC. 2. Expansion of Vet Center Services.
Section 1712A of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
by striking “ clauses (i) through (iv)” both places it appears and inserting “ clauses (i) through (vi)”;
by striking “ in clause (v)” both places it appears and inserting “ in clause (vii)”;
in subsection (a)(1)(C)—
by redesignating clauses (iv) and (v) as clauses (vi) and (vii), respectively; and
by inserting after clause (iii) the following new clauses:
“(iv) Any individual who is a veteran or member of the Armed Forces, including a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces, who served—
“(I) on active service in response to a national emergency or major disaster declared by the President; or
“(II) in the National Guard of a State under orders of the chief executive of that State in response to a disaster or civil disorder in such State.
“(v) Any individual who participated in a drug interdiction operation as a member of the Coast Guard, regardless of the location of that operation.”
; and
in subsection (h), by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
“(4) The term ‘active service’ has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10.
“(5) The term ‘civil disorder’ has the meaning given that term in section 232 of title 18.”
SEC. 3. Plan to Provide Vet Center Services to Veterans Living in Areas Where No Vet Center Is Located.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a plan to provide Vet Center services to veterans living in geographic areas where no Vet Center is located, including in the United States insular areas.