Last Wednesday, lawmakers introduced new legislation that would provide direct support to families who have lost a loved one to suicide. Sponsored by Rep. Eric Morrison and Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos, House Bill 174 would create a fund for surviving families of suicide victims to help cover the costs related to their loss, including funeral expenses, mental health counseling, temporary housing, and lost wages.

This fund would be modeled off of the Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program (VCAP), which provides aid to victims of violent crimes and their families. Under current federal law, families of suicide victims are ineligible for support from VCAP because suicide is not a crime. HB 174 would create a parallel fund to support these families using the existing VCAP infrastructure to proce

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