Bill would create suicide mortality review team at Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs

Senator George Dungan, representing Legislative District 26, introduced LB414 to establish a suicide mortality review team housed in the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs (NDVA). The bill directs the team to collect and analyze suicide mortality data, develop investigation protocols, assess gaps in training and services, and make recommendations to reduce preventable suicides.

"The review team is going to do the following: develop a suicide mortality data collection system, conduct an annual analysis of the incidences and causes of suicides in the state," Dungan said. He described existing meetings and cooperation among practitioners and county officials and said the review team would create a "clearing house or a hub" to aggregate mortality information and surface actionable recommendations.

Jennifer Acierno, agency legal counsel for the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, testified in support and said NDVA received federal grant funding to assist establishment of a state-based suicide mortality review team. She said the NDVA would provide administrative support and that the team would "collect necessary data to evaluate what kind of resources are needed to facilitate support to our veterans and to combat veteran suicide." Acierno also said NDVA recognizes privacy concerns and "will take every step necessary to protect the information and to de-identify data for review purposes." She said the team would provide a yearly report that "may include recommendations to prevent future death by suicide."

Sponsor Dungan described two pending changes in an amendment under development: changing the definition of the bill’s director from "director of behavioral health for the Department of Veterans Affairs" to "director of the Department of Veterans Affairs or their designee" to avoid creating a new position and related fiscal note, and requiring subpoenas originating from the review team to be processed through the Attorney General. He said those two changes should eliminate a projected fiscal note and address NDVA concerns.

Committee members asked about privacy protections, military representation on the team, how the team would add value relative to existing reporting systems, and what the team would do after data are gathered. Committee members repeatedly emphasized that veterans and military perspectives should be included in the group and suggested the sponsor consider language to secure veteran appointees and to explore analytic models that could support prevention efforts.

For the hearing record the committee reported proponents 7, opponents 1, neutral 1. No committee vote on final passage was recorded during the hearing. Dungan said he planned to request a speaker priority and expected to file an amendment clarifying the director/designee language and subpoena processing.

Ending: The committee closed the hearing and moved to the next bill; no committee floor vote was recorded at this hearing.