As a staunch advocate for the health and well-being of New York’s veterans, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation in 2021 to prevent veteran suicides. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you’re on, we can all agree this is a worthy endeavor. With these suicides continuing at an alarming rate, however, it’s become necessary to expand on that effort in order to prevent as many needless tragedies as possible.
Veteran suicide is a significant public health crisis in New York. With nearly 600,000 veterans, we have one of the largest populations of any state. Although New York’s overall suicide rate is lower than the national average, veterans in the state die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of non-veterans. Younger veterans, ages 18 to 34, are particularly at risk, having the highest suicide rates. Nationally, more than 6,400 veterans died by suicide in 2022, underscoring the urgency of targeted and sustained prevention efforts.
New York state has already committed, as a matter of policy, to addressing this epidemic through participation in federal veteran-suicide prevention and mortality-review initiatives led by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. New York has formally joined the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Veteran Suicide, and has convened stakeholder meetings and implementation discussions to develop a Veteran Suicide Mortality Review process.
Despite these commitments, however, the review board has not been fully implemented or operationalized, because it lacks a clear statutory framework requiring interagency cooperation, data sharing and coordinated review. As is the case with other mortality review efforts, the absence of statutory authority has resulted in fragmented and incomplete implementation.
Under current law, state agencies are not mandated to share information, participate in reviews or align their efforts in a unified manner. As a result, data remains fragmented across the Department of Health, the Office of Mental Health, the Division of Veterans’ Services, medical examiners and federal partners, undermining the state’s ability to conduct comprehensive reviews, identify systemic failures and make effective policy recommendations. Without clear statutory direction, participation remains discretionary, reviews are inconsistent and the state is unable to fully analyze the circumstances surrounding veteran suicide deaths or identify systemic gaps in care, services and transitions. This lack of coordination significantly limits the state’s ability to develop evidence-based recommendations to prevent future deaths.
With this in mind, I am sponsoring a bill establishing the statutory structure necessary to implement existing state policy as intended. It does not create a new program or duplicate existing efforts. Rather, it codifies and formalizes the Veteran Suicide Mortality Review Board within the Department of Health, ensuring that the work already underway is conducted in a coordinated, multidisciplinary and non-fragmented manner. The board has already identified funding streams, and intends to operate within the existing Department of Health infrastructure. This legislation simply provides the legal authority required to mandate interagency participation, protect confidentiality and ensure consistent review and reporting.
By placing the Veteran Suicide Mortality Review Board in statute, this bill ensures accountability, durability and effectiveness. A statutory mandate is the only mechanism that will allow New York state to fully implement its existing commitments, eliminate silos between agencies and carry out meaningful, data-driven suicide-prevention work for veterans across the state.
I lost high school classmates in Vietnam and had a cousin killed in the World War II, so the plight of those who have fought for our country after returning home is especially important to me. This is why I’m also sponsoring a bill to create a Suicide Awareness and Remembrance Flag, to remember and honor those who have fallen victim to this epidemic and to raise awareness and break the stigma of suicide, which are key to preventing this unnecessary loss of life.
Veterans face unique risk factors that generic suicide-prevention structures alone cannot address. We must meet such challenges head on in order to protect those who risked their lives to protect our democracy from perhaps their worst and most powerful enemy — themselves.
Charles Lavine represents the 13th Assembly District.
