HB39

The filed bill sought “cause of death,” used “gender” and set an initial September 2026 report. The House substitute narrowed death information to manner of death only for suicide or homicide, used “sex,” and postponed the first report to 2027. Filed text; House substitute.

The amendment index lists two adopted amendments. Toth and colleagues’ House amendment added previous use of psychotropic drugs. The Senate substitute limited that information to what was reasonably available and moved the reporting deadline from September to December. Parker’s Senate floor amendment then removed the drug-use field altogether and added the three statewide legislative/executive leaders as report recipients. Drug-history collection was a proposal, not part of the enacted requirement. The Senate packet also records adoption of its complete substitute. Amendment index; House amendment; House-passed text; Senate substitute; Parker amendment; Senate amendments packet.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Veterans’ organizations, lawmakers and the public could gain a clearer picture of deaths among the covered population and use it to identify questions for prevention or support services. Deidentification and aggregation limit public disclosure of personal details. The law does not establish that any particular treatment caused a death, and it does not itself demonstrate that reporting reduces deaths.

The health department must organize the information transfer, and the Veterans Commission must analyze and publish it. The final posted fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact, assuming costs can be absorbed within existing resources. That is a workload estimate, not a promise that reporting takes no staff time. HB39 itself appropriates no money. Final fiscal note.