Senate panel hears $300,000 proposal to fund veteran suicide-prevention grants

Sen. Mike Yakawich, sponsor of Senate Bill 95, asked the Senate Finance and Claims committee to approve a one-time allocation of $300,000, drawn from the Tobacco Trust interest fund, to support grant programs focused on veteran suicide prevention. "Senate Bill 95 is asking for an allocation of $300,000 for a 1 time ask that will be allocated over 2 years," Yakawich said, and told the panel DPHHS would administer the funds and require a report on outcomes.

Carl Rossston, suicide prevention coordinator at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, told the committee his office would implement the grant program if the money is allocated and that proposals will include measurable outcomes. "Each proposal that is accepted will have metrics and will be able to provide a report about how they measured the outcomes," Rossston said, adding the special-revenue fund would be the likeliest source for any future continuation if outcomes warrant it.

Veteran-affiliated organizations and military officials spoke in favor of the request. Brig. Gen. Renee Dorval, deputy director for the Department of Military Affairs, and Duane Cunningham, adjutant for the Montana American Legion, urged passage. "$300,000 sounds like a lot of money until you consider that it could be your son, your daughter... where that money goes to save a veteran's life," Cunningham said.

Committee members asked how the program would be evaluated and whether the funding is intended as recurring support. Rossston said suicide prevention outcomes are difficult to attribute to one program but cited a 24 percent decrease in veteran suicides in Montana over the last three years (from about 74 in 2022 to 56 last year) and noted that the office files a biennial state suicide-prevention plan for the legislature. He said funded programs would be chosen via an RFP with measurable metrics and that favorable results could open the possibility of continuation.

Yakawich closed by reiterating the bill's one-time, two-year funding structure and the sponsor's expectation that the grants would seed community-based, peer-support efforts. The committee closed the hearing on SB95 with no vote recorded in the transcript; members indicated they would take up votes on several bills at a later session.