Establishes the Task Force on Responding to Veterans in Crisis and directs the task force to submit a report to the interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to emergency management and veterans no later than September 15, 2026.
HB 4099 establishes the Task Force on Responding to Veterans in Crisis. The task force is charged with developing a statewide proposal to ensure every Oregon county has a veteran crisis response team made up of at least two properly trained individuals. Its work is intended to address how veterans in crisis are identified, contacted, and transferred to specialized response teams, and to recommend any needed legislative changes to make that system work.
The bill specifies a broad membership for the task force, including legislative appointees, veterans’ advocates, law enforcement representatives, county and city representatives, the Oregon Health Authority, the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and the Department of State Police. It must study organizational structure, funding, training and certification standards, a possible government-issued identification card for veterans in crisis, and a possible flag in the Law Enforcement Data System. The task force must report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by September 15, 2026, and the act sunsets on December 31, 2027.
The bill does not directly change substantive criminal, veterans, or public safety law, but it creates a temporary interagency task force that may recommend future statutory changes. It directs the Department of State Police to provide staff support and requires state agencies to assist the task force to the extent allowed by confidentiality laws. The bill also contemplates possible future changes to the Law Enforcement Data System, transfer procedures for veterans in crisis, and related identification and training requirements, which could affect law enforcement, county and city governments, veterans’ services, and public safety agencies if later enacted.
The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support and moved through both chambers unanimously, with no recorded dissent in committee or on the floor. The voting history suggests a generally favorable view of the measure as a planning and coordination effort focused on veterans’ crisis response. The absence of opposition in the available record indicates the concept was not politically controversial in its current form.
There is little visible contention in the available materials, but the bill’s most potentially sensitive issues are the proposed creation of a crisis flag in the Law Enforcement Data System, the use of a government-issued identification card for veterans in crisis, and the criteria for law enforcement to transfer a veteran to a crisis response team. Those topics raise practical and privacy-related questions, as well as concerns about implementation, training standards, funding, and interagency coordination. The bill addresses these issues by assigning them to the task force rather than resolving them directly in statute.